Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT

In the Canadiens region: RDS (French)

In the Blackhawks region: CHSN

Streaming: Prime Video (Canada), ESPN+ (USA)

There was another chance for the Montreal Canadiens to clinch a playoff spot on Sunday when the Columbus Blue Jackets faced the Washington Capitals for a second time on the weekend. Like the first game on Saturday afternoon, however, the Blue Jackets got the required win to stay alive and put the ball back in Montreal’s court. If the Canadiens need another source of motivation to claim their spot on their own, watching their potential first-round opponent get outscored 11-1 over two games versus the other option the Capitals could face in the opening round should be more than enough.

Thanks to the point earned on Saturday night, Montreal doesn’t need to win in regulation tonight even though Columbus can still claim that first tiebreaker, The new task is a tiny bit simpler: a win of any kind, giving Montreal one more point than what the Blue Jackets can achieve, does the trick. One point at least forces Columbus to claim two more regulation wins to finish above the Canadiens, so there is still value in that result.

After two losses to follow up their six-game winning streak, one point shouldn’t even be on the minds of the Canadiens players, however. They earned themselves four chances to claim a post-season berth on their own, and are now about to have attempt number three. It’s by far the worst opponent of the four the Canadiens had on their end-of-season schedule they’ll play tonight, with the 31st-place Chicago Blackhawks in town.

Canadiens Statistics Blackhawks 39-31-10 Record 23-46-11 47.6% (27th) Scoring-chances-for % 42.3% (32nd) 2.95 (17th) Goals per game 2.71 (27th) 3.20 (24th) Goals against per game 3.58 (31st) 20.3% (21st) PP% 24.0% (11th) 81.4% (7th) PK% 80.0% (13th) 0-1-0 Head-to-Head Record 1-0-0 On Saturday, Chicago celebrated the careers of Alec Martinez and Pat Maroon, a couple of three-time Stanley Cup winners, who played their final NHL games at home. Neither player had a major role on the team this year, but that does mean two veterans have been removed from the Blackhawks lineup as they finish the season with a younger squad.

In that game, Chicago managed to take the Winnipeg Jets, the team that just claimed the Presidents’ Trophy on Sunday as the NHL’s regular-season champions, to a shootout. With that result they claimed at least a point in more than half of their 41 home games, and that includes a win back on January 3 versus Montreal that was the only one a team earned during the Habs’ post-Christmas road trip. On the road, Chicago holds an 8-26-5 record. A win over the even-more-woeful Boston Bruins on April 10 snapped a streak of seven losses away from the United Center. On the flipside, the Canadiens have gone 9-0-1 in their past 10 games played on home ice. The Bell Centre fans, though now growing a little bit nervous as the games tick away, have provided a big boost of energy for their team down the stretch.

On paper this doesn’t look like much of a matchup, but it’s the mental state of the players on both sides that could make this game more even than it otherwise would be. Montreal eagerly wants the two points to cap off all the good work they’ve done since the 4 Nations and stop having to watch the scoreboard every night. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, have nothing to play for but getting experience for the future, and a shot at significantly hampering the playoff chances of a fellow Original Six franchise is the closest they can come to winning a Stanley Cup this season.

Montreal should be growing weary of starting games off poorly as they have for several weeks now and come out firing tonight. Only two teams in the league allow more shots than the Blackhawks do, and no team generates fewer. There will be no excuse for the Canadiens getting outshot in any period this evening, and a fast start will be the best way to settle the nerves of the players and fans alike.