DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings still have a prayer of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so what better place to play a big game than Bell Centre in Montreal?
"It's church, church for hockey," coach Todd McLellan said. "It's where the hockey people go. When they think about a church, that's where they go. That's their cathedral."
Light a candle.
The Red Wings are trying to end an eight-season playoff drought and badly need to defeat the Montreal Canadiens in regulation Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; RDS, TSN2, FDSNDETX).
The Canadiens hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings are six points behind with a game in hand. So are the New York Rangers, who play the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Monday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, MSG, TVAS).
Montreal has won five straight. Detroit is 3-0-1 in its past four.
"Extremely excited," Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond said. "I think it'll be a great game. The atmosphere in Montreal is always good, and what's at stake [matters] as well."
The Red Wings have had an up-and-down season.
They were 13-17-4 at the holiday break Dec. 24-26, eight points behind the Ottawa Senators for the second wild card in the East.
McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde on Dec. 26. They went 15-5-1 leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off break Feb. 10-21 and had the third best points percentage (.738) in the NHL over that stretch. Only the Washington Capitals (.762) and the Winnipeg Jets (.750) were better.
Detroit held the second wild card at that point.
"I challenged our group after the 4 Nations break," McLellan said. "Who are we? … We talked about, 'The story's not done yet. We can still write another chapter or two, so let's get playing the way we can.'"
The Red Wings went 2-0-1 in their first three games coming out of the break and moved up to the first wild card, then fell out of the playoff picture again. They lost six straight in regulation and went 3-5-0 over their next eight.
Who are they?
Captain Dylan Larkin looked at the positives.
"It's a stressful time right now," he said. "But at Christmas it was … I mean, it was not good. It was bad. We struggled, and [it] felt like it was going to be the longest four months to the end of the season that could be possible, and we were just going to put our equipment on and go out there and play and suck it up.
"But we've battled, and we've had a lot of new faces in the lineup and a lot of young faces, and it's been exciting to see them come in and see how they play and see how they handle the pressure, see how they've grown in this time. There's so much difference from Christmas to now.
"We're still in this, and that's because we didn't quit. We turned it around, and we showed that we can play in big games in pressure environments and win hockey games."
They're going to have to show it again.
A bright spot lately has been 37-year-old goalie Cam Talbot, who is 3-0-1 with a 1.74 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in four consecutive starts.
McLellan said he will start again in Montreal.
"My experience with him, when he gets on a roll and gets playing, get him the rest he needs, make sure he feels good, put him back in," said McLellan, who also coached Talbot with the Edmonton Oilers (2015-19) and Los Angeles Kings (2023-24). "We believe he can keep doing it. He's been excellent."
The Red Wings made a late push for the playoffs last season, finishing with back-to-back 5-4 wins against the Canadiens -- in overtime at home April 15 and a shootout at Bell Centre on April 16. They barely missed out. Although they tied the Capitals with 91 points, Washington ended up with the first wild card in the East thanks to the regulation-wins tiebreaker (32-27).
"I feel like these are the kind of games you want to play," Raymond said. "If you don't get excited for that, I don't know what will. Just a great opportunity. I think we're ready for the task and excited to get out there."
Montreal finished 15th in the East last season, though. The Canadiens are much better this time.
Light a candle.
"It's a big game," Larkin said. "Our season's on the line. We've put ourselves in that position, whether good or bad, and we're going into a hockey game where we've got to win, and that's exciting. Great building to go into and have a game like that."
