Red Wings rally from down 3 to top Canadiens in OT, stay alive in playoff race

DETROIT -- Lucas Raymond scored with 25 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Detroit Red Wings rallied from three goals down to keep their Stanley Cup Playoff hopes alive with a 5-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Little Caesars Arena on Monday.

“It’s amazing that we could find a way to get two points again tonight,” Raymond said. “We obviously don’t want to put ourselves in that position, but this was huge.”

Raymond won it when he took a pass from Dylan Larkin and beat Montembeault blocker side from the right circle.

“I thought [Larkin] was going for a breakaway, but he was tired, so I tried to jump into the play,” he said. “I was pretty tired, too, so I just want to get off a shot.”

The goal came after Raymond tied it 4-4 with 1:17 remaining in the third period. Moments after Shayne Gostisbehere leapt to catch a high clearing attempt, Raymond took a pass from David Perron, found some room in front and beat Sam Montembeault for his 30th goal of the season.

“He’s shown so much growth this season, and he’s turned into a player who loves these moments,” Lalonde said of the 21-year-old forward. “Things weren’t going in for him, but he had the maturity to keep battling and score two huge goals.”

J.T. Compher scored twice, and Shayne Gostisbehere had three assists for Detroit (40-32-9), which also won 5-4 in overtime at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Alex Lyon made 17 saves.

The Red Wings needed at least one point to stay in contention for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings and Washington Capitals, who defeated the Boston Bruins 2-0 on Monday, each have 89 points, but Washington owns the tiebreaker with more regulation wins. Each team will play their regular-season finale on Tuesday.

“We know that all we did tonight was give ourselves an opportunity to finish the job tomorrow,” Compher said. “All we can do is control our game, but we have a chance.”

Brendan Gallagher had two goals, and Jake Evans had three assists for Montreal (30-36-15). Montembeault made 30 saves.

“We did a pretty good job of silencing the crowd for most of the game,” Gallagher said. “They got a couple goals, got a couple octopuses on the ice, and the building really got going.”

Compher pulled Detroit to within 4-2 with his second goal of the game at 15:59 of the second period. Alex DeBrincat then scored from the left face-off circle to make it 4-3 at 10:38 of the third period.

Gallagher gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 4:25 of the first period. Lane Hutson, who was making his NHL debut, got an assist on the play when his centering pass deflected off Jeff Petry and to Gallagher, who knocked it in.

“This was really special, especially having all of my family here,” said Hutson, who is from Holland, Michigan.

Justin Barron made it 2-0 at 6:15, but Compher put in a rebound to get the Red Wings to within 2-1 at 8:11.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard put Montreal up 3-1 at 5:15 of the second period, taking a pass from Evans and beating Lyon.

Gallagher got his second of the game to make it 4-1 at 15:26, beating Lyon from the slot after Evans forced a turnover by Simon Edvinsson.

“I think they had five serious chances in the first two periods and four of them went in,” Lalonde said.

NOTES: The Red Wings have a chance to avoid setting a franchise record by missing the playoffs for the eighth straight season. … The Canadiens blocked 33 shots while the Red Wings had 11. … Lalonde announced after the game that James Reimer will start against Montreal on Tuesday. … Hutson played 21:54 and was minus-1.