The Red Wings will start James Reimer tonight against Montreal with playoffs hanging in the balance

In a ceremony to celebrate goaltender James Reimer’s 500th NHL game before Monday’s game against Montreal, his Red Wings teammates gave him a unique gift: admission to flight school, helping him chase his post-NHL dream of being a pilot.

It’s fitting that Reimer is the netminder who could determine the end of the Red Wings season. After all, it will take the poise of a pilot to land Detroit’s turbulent season safely into the playoffs in Tuesday’s rematch at the Bell Centre. With such little margin for error when his team needs at least a point to have a chance at the playoffs, Reimer will have to play well for the Red Wings to make it, just like he did Saturday against Toronto.

“He battles, and I think the way he battles inspires us,” Lalonde said after Reimer’s 500th game on Saturday. “We know he’s gonna give us everything every night, and he did that tonight and it kept us in the fight.”

Keeping the Red Wings in the fight now comes down to keeping them in the air. If Washington loses to Philadelphia tonight in any fashion, a Detroit win puts it in the playoffs. But the Canadiens will likely give the Red Wings some trouble. Their offense is opportunistic and Detroit’s defense played far too sloppily on Monday in front of Alex Lyon. Reimer’s copilot let in four goals on 21 shots last night, not the type of performance anyone wants to see with playoff hopes in the cargo hold.

To bring the season home safely, Reimer can look to his performance against the Maple Leafs as inspiration. He wasn’t perfect — allowing four goals on 35 shots — but he played well enough with a number of clutch shots in the final minutes to earn the win. He battled, as Lalonde frequently praises, and that’s what it takes to close out key games. Even a precarious win still gives the Red Wings the points needed to have a chance at making the playoffs.

Such a situation thus puts a lot of pressure on Reimer’s shoulders. He’s the last line of defense who’s probably going to get a lot of blame or credit for the result depending on how it goes. Just like a pilot, goaltenders are singled out for so much responsibility in navigating their team to victory. At 35 and on an expiring contract, this might also be one of the last meaningful games Reimer plays before he makes the leap to flight school. With all the layers of meaning, the stakes tonight are sitting at 30,000 feet, and Reimer has to rise to the moment.

So, Reimer is compartmentalizing. Even after his 500th game, Reimer turned his focus toward only the guaranteed portion of his future.

“We just have one game, one period, that’s all it is,” Reimer said Saturday. “I think we’re doing a great job of breaking it down and playing well in the moment. So right now, we’ve just got the first period against Montreal on Monday and that’s all we’re thinking about.”

Well, Detroit bought another first period against Montreal tonight, and it’s Reimer who will be in control of it. He’s the guardian of victory, the pilot of their dreams. A great performance can gracefully take them to the playoffs, while any hiccups could crash the season in its final, 82nd game.

Reimer has played well in recent weeks to expect the former. He’s won four of his past five starts, with his offense shut out by Carolina in the lone loss. More so than results, Reimer has battled in clutch moments to come up with saves and stop plays when the Red Wings need him to. On a Maple Leafs power play late in Saturday’s game, for example, Reimer made a series of big stops on seven Toronto shots during that sequence. They came from the likes of Auston Matthews and John Tavares, who had beaten him earlier in the game, and yet Reimer rose to the present moment to guarantee a future.

“What a story,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said Saturday. “To come in, and again he’s done it all year for us where he’s come in and depending on his workload where he hasn’t had much action, he’s come in and gave us a performance like he did tonight and that third period by him was unbelievable.”

Now, in his 501st game, Reimer has to deliver to a similar level against the Canadiens. With Lyon resting after a poor start yesterday, Reimer is tasked with landing the Red Wings’ season safely. It’s a little test run of what his life will be like after hockey, with so many people depending on him to deliver in the moment.

If he’s successful, flight school just might have to wait.

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