DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings will live to see another day in the Stanley Cup Playoffs race, thanks to an unwavering team belief and Lucas Raymond’s late-game heroics.
After scoring the game-tying goal with 1:17 left in regulation, Raymond netted the game-winner at 4:35 of overtime to lift the Red Wings past the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4, at Little Caesars Arena on Monday night.
“A lot of emotions, up and down,” Raymond said about Detroit’s 2023-24 regular-season home finale. “Found a way again to be able to get two points, which is huge. Obviously we don’t want to put ourselves in those positions, but we ended up there and I think we handled it pretty good.”
On Tuesday night, the Red Wings (40-32-9; 89 points) can clinch a postseason berth by earning two points against the Canadiens (30-36-15; 75 points) and if the Washington Capitals (39-31-11; 89 points) earn no more than one point against the Philadelphia Flyers (38-32-11; 87 points). Washington and Detroit are tied in the standings, but the Capitals hold the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot because it has the tiebreaker with more regulation wins.
Detroit goalie Alex Lyon made 17 saves, while Montreal netminder Sam Montembeault finished with 30.
“We know what we need to do,” said J.T. Compher, who also scored two goals. “All tonight did was give us an opportunity to finish the job tomorrow. We’ll control what we can control, which is our game. All we did was give ourselves a chance to finish the job tomorrow.”