Music: {allcanada} ALOUETTES LOOK FOR BREATHING ROOM IN THE EAST AGAINST STAMPS

MONTREAL -- As the Toronto Argonauts held on for a 27-22 upset victory in Winnipeg, the Montreal Alouettes cheered them on.

The loss by Winnipeg (10-7), which shared first place after beating the Alouettes last week, put Montreal (10-6) back in the driver's seat in the race for top spot in the CFL East Division.

Catch the game live on TSN and TSN Mobile TV at 1pm et/10am pt.

But it will all go for nought unless they follow it up with a victory of their own on Sunday against the visiting Calgary Stampeders (9-7), who are in a dog fight of their own for first place in the West with Edmonton and B.C.

"I got real fired up," CFL receiving leader Jamel Richardson said Saturday of the last-place Argos' win. "I was tweeting about it all game. Just to see (Winnipeg) go down and lose, it opened our eyes that you got to know how to handle success."

When asked to elaborate on what sounded like a shot at the Bombers, Richardson smiled and said "I'm not going to say anything. My focus is on the Stampeders now."

The Alouettes' wish is to beat Calgary and then have the Stampeders down the Bombers in their regular season finale next week. Montreal can do the Stamps a favour by beating the Lions in Vancouver in their last game. Calgary will probably need to win both their remaining games.

"Now is the big test playing Montreal, Winnipeg and then playoffs, so well see how the team does," Calgary coach John Hufnagel said this week. "I'm glad we're playing them because it's a test.

"They need it. We need it. It's going to be one of those games where there's no excuses."

Montreal must finish ahead of Winnipeg to take first place for a fourth year in a row because if they end in a tie, the Bombers get top spot and the bye to the division final. Winnipeg has the advantage because it has won the season series between the two teams.

"We've got a little smirk on our face here, but it doesn't mean anything if we don't go out and play," said defensive lineman Eric Wilson. "I think guys understand that. You hope they do. Calgary's an excellent team and they're playing well. There's a new quarterback (Drew Tate) and (Jon) Cornish is running the ball hard. We've still got to line up on Sunday."

Five of the six teams that beat two-time defending Grey Cup champion Montreal this season have lost their game the following week. The exception was Calgary, which followed a wild 38-31 win over the Alouettes on Aug. 27 with a 35-7 pounding of Edmonton on Sept. 5.

Montreal is coming off perhaps its worst game of the season, a 26-25 defeat in Winnipeg in which they blew a fourth quarter lead and Anthony Calvillo threw an uncharacteristic three interceptions.

At that point, first place looked lost, but then the 5-12 Argos gave them hope again.

"It definitely made all of us a lot happier and opened up a window for us," said kicker Sean Whyte. "Now you can see the morale in the locker room's gone way up. We've already forgot about the loss last week. Everyone's excited and ready to take advantage of the opportunity."

The first task will be to stop Cornish, who missed a practice this week for treatment of an infection in a leg but who is ready to play. The tailback is averaging 7.3 yards per carry and is also effective catching the ball out of the backfield.

Tate, who took over the starting job from the faltering Henry Burris in a win last week over Saskatchewan, is also a threat to run.

Calgary will be looking to slow down the rampaging Richardson, who last week tied a CFL record with his 11th 100-yard receiving game of the season. The tall slotback whose specialty is picking up extra yards after a catch leads the CFL with 105 catches and 1,661 yards -- 471 yards more than second-place Geroy Simon of the Lions.

Richardson needs seven more catches to tie the retired Ben Cahoon's 2003 team record of 112 in a season and 253 yards to tie Hal Patterson's team mark set in 1956 for receiving yards in one campaign.

He is likely to see a fair amount of Quincey Butler, who is to make is CFL debut at defensive back for Calgary in place of the injured Greg Fassitt.

The Alouettes will also have a newcomer in kick returner Rashaud Slaughter, who took over after Floyd Perry was cut this week. Fumbles and short returns on kicks have been a trouble spot for most of the season.

Montreal may also be without linebacker Diamond Ferri, who was ill this week with a recurring stomach ailment.

Calvillo needs 192 yards to reach the 5,000-yard passing mark for a sixth time in his career.

And tailback Brandon Whitaker will be looking to add to his league leads in rushing yards (1,295) and yards from scrimmage (1,894).

The Baylor University product was torn between watching the Argonauts' win on TV and his Texas Rangers' loss to St. Louis in Game 7 of the baseball World Series on Friday night.

"It was a bittersweet night for me," he said. "But now we're in control of our own destiny."