About last night: Habs lose season finale, but future looks bright

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The Montreal Canadiens lost their final game of the 2023-24 season against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday at Bell Centre, 5-4.

With the loss, the Habs end the season with a 30-36-16 record. The Canadiens are currently 27th in the league standings and will remain there if the Arizona Coyotes lose today in the season finale.

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Juraj Slafkovski scored his 20th goal and reached 50 points in his second season in the league. In the second game, Lane Hutson recorded his second assist, and Logan Mailu had an assist in his debut as a Hab.

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Just like Monday night, the Wings came back from a multi-goal deficit to force overtime. Cayden Prime allowed a couple of fumbles, but still made 36 saves.

Alex Newhook and Brendan Gallagher continued their hot play and combined for the first goal of the game. Newhook scored his career-high 15th goal.

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With 1:31 left in the first period, Moritz Seider connected on a shot that deflected off Alex Debrincat, but the defenseman had the goal.

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In the second period, Gallagher continued his promising end to the season with his 16th goal of the campaign. He also reached the 30-point plateau for the first time since 2019-20. He finished the season with 10 points in his last eight games.

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Nick Suzuki then put James Reimer on a dunk to Slafkowski for a one-timer, but Cole Caufield was there to put the rebound away for his 28th goal. Suzuki had a career high in points long ago, and now he officially finished the season with 77 points.

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Just 36 seconds later, Joe Veleno took advantage of a delayed penalty confusion to beat Primau to cut Montreal's lead to 3-2.

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In the third period, Daniel Sprong caught Praima off guard again, this time with a shot from an acute angle that deflected off the keeper to tie the score at 3-3.

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All night long, Hutson brought Habs fans to their feet at the Bell Center when he handled the puck. He sent a shot through traffic that Slafkowski deflected in front for his second assist as a Hab. Not only did Montreal go 4-3, but Slafkowski's 20th season came with a $250,000 performance bonus, according to PuckPedia at X .

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Just like Monday night, the Red Wings were playing for a chance to reach the postseason, and with the goalie pulled and three seconds left on the clock, David Perron scored on a one-timer to tie the game at 4-4 and put it away. the two teams went to overtime for the second night in a row.

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Overtime decided nothing, even when the Habs were given a 4-on-3 power play that saw Patrick Kane sent to the box. In Bullitt, Kane was the only shooter to take down both goalkeepers. It was a quiet win for the Wings, as just minutes earlier the Washington Capitals defeated the Philadelphia Flyers to seal the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. As for the Habs, they had back-to-back finishes against the Wings on both nights of the season.

Mailu and Hutson didn't have short auditions with the big club: both tallied 21 minutes of ice time. Slafkowski and Gallagher led the way offensively and on HockeyStatCards' final impact card of the season.

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For the third straight season, the Habs finished last in the Atlantic Division. As a team, they weren't ready to fight for a playoff spot. Individually, many of the team's promising young players have made significant strides. Suzuki looked closer to being a first-line center than ever before. Slafkowski has pledged to make him the first overall pick in 2022. From Mike Matheson to Newhook to even Joel Armia, players have reached career highs in offensive production. Despite the rough finale, Primeau finished the season with an impressive .910 save percentage.

Injuries have been a hot topic for the Habs lately, so kudos to Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkowski, Matheson and Jake Evans for playing a full 82 games.

On the defensive end, there may be more questions than answers. Hutson, Mailleux and 2023 first-rounder David Reinbacher may need more seasoning on the farm, but as we've seen, they have more upside than the current crop of youngsters on the blue line. It's only a matter of time before they establish themselves at a big club.

Big thanks to the liveblog commenters for hanging in all season. It's wrong that postseason hockey isn't coming to Montreal, and while progress has been slow and steady, commentators deserve meaningful games next spring. We'll see if general manager Kent Hughes can accelerate the rebuild with a third straight day of acquisitions.

3. What have we learned from the last two games? We have to focus on finishing training camp. Among other things, of course. In important games, 2 and 3 goals can't be denied. While those weren't big games for us, they were for Detroit. If we want to take the next step at 24-25, we have to learn to finish the game strong. So, about the draft and summer deals and we'll see what happens in October.” — Habs SkiFan

2. “A glimpse into the future…Slavkofsky from 20th Hutson…wow.” – Tom Xenn

1. “To put some things in perspective: 2023-24 season: Habs finish with 76 points. 2022-23 season: 68 points. 2021-22 season: 58 points. This is with Dutch, Newhook and many others with injuries. Yes, all teams have injuries, but some more than others. Next year with good health… 85-90 points?' – Michael Way

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