RECAP: Red Wings’ Wild-Card hopes take hit in 4-1 loss at Canadiens

MONTREAL -- After falling to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1, at Bell Centre on Tuesday night, the Detroit Red Wings now trail their Original Six and Atlantic Division rival by eight points for the Eastern Conference’s second Wild-Card spot, a tough position to be in but certainly not out of the race just yet with five regular-season games still to go.

“This just makes our road a little harder,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “Anything can happen. Look at what has gone on since the Trade Deadline in our conference. We got to win. It’s a tough back-to-back [on Thursday and Friday] and tough matchups the rest of the way. If we play like that tonight, I think we’re going to win some hockey games down the stretch.”

Detroit (36-34-7; 79 points), which got 17 saves from goalie Cam Talbot, does have one game in hand on Montreal (39-30-9; 87 points), which saw netminder Sam Montembeault turn aside 35 shots.

“We’re still alive,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re not dummies. We know we’re on life support and we need help, but let’s rely on each other.”

Detroit controlled the first period, outshooting Montreal 23-5 but only had a 1-0 lead to show for their effort. That goal was scored by captain Dylan Larkin, who tapped home a pass from Patrick Kane on a 3-on-1 rush at 9:54.

Larkin, who is one goal away from his fourth consecutive 30-goal campaign, passed Reed Larson for the most career NHL points (571) by a U.S.-born skater in Red Wings history with his game-opening tally.

“That’s hockey, right? Some games are like that, where you control the play,” Kane said. “We dominated the first 20 minutes and we’re still in a good spot with a one-goal lead but would have been nice to get that second one.”

The Red Wings’ penalty kill erased two power-play chances the Canadiens got around the halfway point of the second period before Cole Caufield managed to backhand a loose puck past Talbot to tie it 1-1 with 3:31 in the frame.

“We take the two penalties in about a five-minute span,” McLellan said about Detroit’s second period. “At that point, we lost some players. We were able to roll four lines, but lost some plays there and had to get them back quickly. What I mean by that is just momentum. You could feel it swing a little bit in their favor and the fans started to get into it.”

Josh Anderson gave Montreal a 2-1 lead at 10:48 of the third period. After colliding with Albert Johansson behind the net, Anderson found himself wide open while the Red Wings’ rookie defenseman was picking up his helmet, which had fallen off, to avoid taking a penalty. That unfortunately gave Anderson plenty of time to deposit Christian Dvorak’s feed into the back of the net.

“You couldn’t draw it up any worse for us than that because [Johansson] would have been in perfect position to kill that play,” McLellan said about Anderson’s decisive goal.

Detroit continued to push as the third period went on, then pulled Talbot with 2:44 left to try to find the equalizer. But empty-net strikes from Brendan Gallagher (18:54) and captain Nick Suzuki (19:07) ensured Montreal would stretch its late-season winning streak to sixth consecutive games.

“I think it can sit for tonight,” Moritz Seider said about Tuesday’s tough loss. “It should hurt, but other than that, once we get to Florida tomorrow, it should be out of our heads already. We’re playing good opponents back-to-back and hopefully we can make up some ground.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will visit the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday night to kick off a back-to-back set as part of their current three-game road trip.

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on what stood out to him from Tuesday’s game

“Great start, great first period. You’d like to be up more than 1-0 going in, there’s certainly concern about that. It gives the other team a chance to regroup and get themselves in the game.”

Larkin on how much missed opportunities linger in their minds

“Yeah, it lingers. It’s fresh right now. You think about it, replay it and it’s hard after a game that big. Some big missed chances. I thought everyone was going tonight and played well, but we just got a little safe in the third period until we were down a goal, then we pushed and it was too little today.”

Larkin on the message following Tuesday’s setback

“You look around the room and there’s a lot of guys who took this one pretty hard. It’s about regrouping, moving on and doing what you need to do to be ready to go for our next game in Florida.”

Kane on Talbot’s play on Tuesday and as of late

“He’s been great for us. A lot of big saves. Obviously, I think the last couple games maybe we’ve lacked some scoring and offense. He’s been great for us. He did his job.”