Don't look now, but the Montreal Canadiens are occupying one of the wild card positions in the Eastern Conference. The upstart Canadiens are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and it's brought them into a tie with the Ottawa Senators for fourth place in the Atlantic Division and into a playoff spot for the first time during the 2024-2025 season.

There have been stages the Canadiens have gone through in showing maturity as a young team, in learning how to win. They’ve gone through stages where they’ve learned the value of puck management, the value of game management, the value of risk management.

Jake Evans scored the winning goal with 2:15 remaining to rally the Montreal Canadiens past the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2.

The Canadiens will have cap space, and there's a player who has recently shown interest in joining Montreal via free agency.

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings head into a matchup with the Montreal Canadiens after losing three in a row. Detroit is 5-8-1 against the Atlantic Division and 21-21-5 overall. The Red Wings are 3-6-3 in games they serve more penalty minutes than their opponents.

Game time is 7 p.m. ET and you can watch it on NHL Network or live stream it on ESPN+, fubo TV (FREE trial, add-on), Sling TV (discount, add-on) or DirecTV Stream (FREE trial and discount, add-on).

The Montreal Canadiens have a great history of rookie goaltenders changing their franchise's fortunes. Could Jakub Dobes be next in line?

The Rangers have won 4 of their last 5 games, while the Canadiens have taken 5 of their last 7. But it looks like New York is givin

The Detroit Red Wings return home both a bit deflated and encouraged. They take a three-game winless streak against Atlantic Division rival Montreal Canadiens on Thursday after a day off that will allow them to decompress from playing four games on a six-day trip.

Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel scored for Tampa Bay, which opened a four-game road trip with a 5-3 loss to Toronto on Monday.

Led by goalie Igor Shesterkin, the New York Rangers dominated the Ottawa Senators 5-0 at Madison Square Garden.