MONTREAL -- It took longer than they expected because they made it harder than it had to be.

But the Detroit Red Wings finally clinched a playoff berth Thursday, in their second-to-last game of the season.

And they backed their way in.

Lars Eller scored at 1:21 of overtime to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings at the Bell Centre. However, with the Boston Bruins' 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers, the Red Wings clinched a playoff berth.

The Red Wings extended their playoff streak to 24 seasons, the longest current run in the four major professional sports. It is by far the longest active streak in the NHL (Pittsburgh, at eight seasons, has the second-longest run).

The Red Wings won't know where they'll finish in the Atlantic Division (third or fourth) or who they'll play (Montreal, Tampa Bay or the New York Rangers) until after Saturday's season finale at Carolina.

Tomas Tatar, Pavel Datsyuk and Darren Helm scored for the Red Wings. Henrik Zetterberg had a pair of assists.

Trailing 3-2 and already on a power play, the Canadiens got a huge break when Brendan Smith was penalized for interference on a bizarre play. He was cited for batting the puck back onto the ice while sitting on the bench.

The Canadiens had a five-on-three advantage and Tomas Plekanec scored on a bad-angle shot against Jimmy Howard at 11:39 to tie it.

Helm scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway at 3:34 of the third period to put the Red Wings ahead 3-2. He intercepted a pass from Andrei Markov that was intended for P.K. Subban, raced down the ice and beat Carey Price for his 15th goal.

Datsyuk scored on a wicked wrist shot at 8:07 of the second period to tie the game at 2-2. He snapped a shot from the slot that beat Price low on the far side. It was his 26th goal.

The Canadiens were quicker and dominated play earlier in the period. They took a 2-1 lead when defenseman Jeff Petry split the defense of Jonathan Ericsson and Marek Zidlicky and fired a shot through Jimmy Howard's five-home at 6:24.

The Red Wings couldn't capitalize on a pair of power plays in the latter half of the period.

The Red Wings started strong, controlling the first half of the opening period. But the Canadiens finished stronger.

They were tied 1-1 at the intermission, with each club registering nine shots.

Tatar opened the scoring at 10:19 with his team-leading 29th goal, just his fourth in the past 20 games. Datsyuk made it happen by stealing the puck in the offensive zone and passing to an on-rushing Tatar.

The Canadiens tied it at 17:36 as Andrei Markov blasted in a one-timer from the blue line on a pass from P.K. Subban. David Desharnais won the offensive-zone faceoff from Riley Sheahan to set up the play.