MONTREAL (AP) — In Tuesday night’s regular-season finale, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 thanks to a Patrick Kane shootout goal; nonetheless, the Red Wings were knocked out of the postseason.
With 89 points, the Red Wings and Washington were tied for the second wild-card slot in the East going into the evening. The Capitals, on the other hand, secured the final playoff place with a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, holding the tiebreaker over Detroit with more regulation wins.
For eight years running, Detroit has failed to make the playoffs.
Detroit (41-32-9) also had goals from David Perron, Joe Veleno, and Moritz Seider in addition to Daniel Sprong’s goal and assist. A day earlier, on home ice, the Red Wings defeated the Canadiens 5-4 in overtime.
For Montreal, Brendan Gallagher and Juraj Slafkovsky each had a goal and an assist, and other scorers included Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook (30-36-16). 36 saves were made by Cayden Primeau.
Fans of the Canadiens get their first looks at some of the team’s future blueliners. After playing with the Laval Rocket of the American Hockey League for the whole season, Logan Mailloux made his NHL debut. The 21-year-old’s first NHL point came from one assist.
As everything was going on, 20-year-old Lane Hutson demonstrated his skills, drew enthusiastic cheers, and provided an essential assist in his first-ever performance at the Bell Centre. On Monday, he made his debut in Detroit and recorded one assist.
After trailing 3-2 after 40 minutes, the Red Wings hit a shot from beyond the net that bounced over Primeau’s pads and into the net, tying the score 3:31 into the third period.
At 12:46, Slafkovsky scored his 20th of the year after deflecting a Hutson point attempt to give Montreal the lead again.
With 1:48 left, the Red Wings withdrew their goalkeeper in an attempt to duplicate their late-game comeback from Monday, with their season on the line. Indeed, they did.
Perron’s one-timer from the point with 3.3 seconds remaining forced overtime and gave the Red Wings a brief breather after Montreal iced the puck.
