Sad news: Detrol’s major player has died.

In his post-game press conference, coach Derek Lalonde emphasized the necessity of putting yesterday night’s emotions aside and focusing on tonight’s game, which presents an opportunity Detroit has fought toward all season.

“I know they’re excited, but this is a business trip from this moment on,” he went on to say. “I understand that emotions are high. We didn’t receive the assistance we had hoped for from the league. We have to channel it. We’re going to board the plane at the scheduled time, get your therapy, and rest. It wasn’t full of rah-rah. It was time to turn the page. Again, here we are. Nobody predicted we’d make the playoffs at the start of the season. Most people had us ranked seventh.J.T. Compher, who scored twice in last night’s triumph, both of which stemmed the tide of building

Canadian momentum, sent a similar message. “I don’t think there’s a challenge in the mindset, and we know what we need to do,” he told reporters. “All tonight did was allow us to finish the job tomorrow. We will control what we can, and that is our game.”

Detroit’s season ended ignominiously last year after a two-night, two-game series with the Ottawa Senators in February. Tonight, the Red Wings have the opportunity to erase that memory with a different result in an even higher stakes back-to-back against a Canadian opponent.The Red Wings’ simplest path to the playoffs is a regulation win tonight, followed by the Washington Capitals picking up no more than one point against the Flyers (with puck drop at the same time as Detroit-Montreal).

If the Red Wings lose in OT to the Canadiens tonight, they can still advance, but they won’t be able to clinch until tomorrow night. In that scenario, Detroit would need Washington to lose in regulation tonight against Philadelphia and the Penguins to pick up no more than one point against the Islanders tomorrow.