Montreal Canadiens clinch playoff spot as P.K Subban leads them to victory over Chicago Blackhawks in OT
Defending Stanley Cup champions, Chicago Blackhawks, witnessed its playoff hopes diminishing as it lost on Tuesday night. P. K Subban led his team to their second consecutive victory, beating Blackhawks by 2-1 in overtime at the Bell Centre in Montreal,
Quebec.
Both teams met for the first and final time this season in a Western Conference versus Eastern Conference battle. Montreal capitalised and secured the sixth playoff berth in the East for the fourth straight time.
"It definitely felt like a playoff game", Canadiens goalie Carey Price said. "Both teams were battling to get points and it came down to the end. That's exactly the type of game we were expecting".
Both goalies locked down their rival teams during the first and final period.
Price made an exceptional 42 saves off 43 attempts while opposing goalkeeper, Corey Crawford, was able to make 33 of 35.
Crawford fell short during overtime, but managed to make some crucial rejections during regulation time, including multiple power-play attempts.
Montreal’s left wing, Mike Cammalleri, scored the first goal of the match, 6:55 into the second period.
Andrei Kostitsyn fed Cammalleri the puck from behind the opposition’s net which deflected off Blackhawks’ Brent Seabrook to slip in past Crawford.
Patrick Kane added his 27th of the season midway through to tie up the game. It extended a long series of Chicago being able to score only four times in its last four matchups and being shut out twice as well.
"I thought after we scored we pretty much took over the game, especially the last half of the second period, we had so many chances", Kane said. "It would have been good to score a goal there and get that 2-1 lead going into the third".
At least they earned a single point by losing in overtime which slightly widened the margin between them and below the border line teams.
Calgary Flames and Dallas Starts are now tied for ninth place with 91 points and are only shy of two points to tie it with Chicago for eighth.
Regulation time ended with a 1-1 tie between both teams.
Montreal’s exceptionally well performing defenseman, P.K. Subban, scored the winning goal during OT.
Controlling the puck from the centre of the ice, Subban fired a slap shot past Crawford with a little less than four minutes remaining.
Subban took advantage of the power-play opportunity awarded to Montreal after the away teams’ captain, Jonathan Toews, was penalised for tripping him.
Canadiens managed to retain its lead over Buffalo Sabres who are one point below at seventh place with 92 points. They play their second last game of the season on Thursday against Ottawa.
Chicago still has three games remaining and enough time to secure its position if it can just win. They have lost three times in the past four matchups.
Chicago Blackhawks host the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
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