The Montreal Canadiens saw their eight-game win streak end on Sunday and looked like they were heading towards their second straight loss on Tuesday night. They were down 3-2 to the Florida Panthers before Lane Hutson found Nick Suzuki to tie it up with about 20 seconds left in the third period.
That play may end up having huge playoff implications as it moved the Canadiens into a three-way tie with the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division, with each team having four games left in the regular season. The win over the Panthers now sets up a huge divisional showdown with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
Prior to that meeting, the Sabres play the New York Rangers on Wednesday night and if they were to lose, the Canadiens could be alone atop the Atlantic Division. For Montreal, they need to create some distance from the other two teams as they have already lost the tiebreakers with both Tampa Bay and Buffalo.
If the Canadiens finish the season tied with any of these teams, the first tiebreaker is regulation wins. Both the Sabres and Lightning have 39 regulation wins, while the Canadiens currently sit at 32.
Tampa Bay Lightning are struggling heading into this meeting with the Canadiens
One of the reasons that the Montreal Canadiens are even in the position they are is due to the Tampa Bay Lightning struggling down the stretch. Over their last five games, they have lost three of them, with one of those losses to the Canadiens. The other two losses were their last two games, including a 4-2 loss to Buffalo on Sunday and then a 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
While the Lightning are struggling, the Canadiens can't relax heading into this game. The Lightning is a veteran team that has been here plenty of times before and knows what is at stake, similar to Montreal.
If the Canadiens are able to get the win over the Lightning, that may be looked at as the deciding factor in this race. However, it was the play of Lane Hutson and Nick Suzuki late against the Florida Panthers that allowed them to be in this position.