Montreal Canadiens finish season strong

Finishing strong

Gionta makes history against Cam Talbot

Since a 3 game losing streak in early March the Canadiens have been on fire, finishing with an 11-3-1 record over the last 15 games of the regular season, despite going 1-1-1 in their last 3 games where the only win was a record breaking 1-0 overtime game at home to the Rangers. Somewhat surprisingly Brian Gionta's nifty penalty shot goal was the first ever to decide a game 1-0 in overtime. The habs have peaked at exactly the right time of year and will look to continue this streak deep in the playoffs.

Head to Head

Plekanec and Pyatt face-off

Tampa had the edge over the habs in the regular season with a  3-0-1 record, winning one in overtime and one by shootout. In contrast Montreal had a 1-1-2 record, the only win coming in a shootout. They scored only 1 goal in of the each games and did not look convincing in their final meeting. Despite expectations they habs bounched back and scored more goals than the entire regular season series just in Game 1 of the playoffs, defeating the Lightning 5-4 in OT to steal home ice advantage.

 

Since they last met

2003/04 Champions Tampa Bay Lightning

In 2003/04 Montreal were swept by the Lightning on route to their only Stanley Cup. Since then Montreal have had limited playoff success, going 10-16 at home, 10-17 away, and only winning 3 series in 9, two of those coming on route to the Conference finals in 2009/10 where they beaten by the Flyers in 5 games. Tampa have only featured in the playoffs 3 times since winning the cup, losing in the first round in '06 and '07 and reaching the conference finals in '11 where they were defeated by the eventual winners the Boston Bruins.

The final pieces

 ThomasVanek

Montreal made arguably the best deadline acquisitions of the season in Thomas Vanek, Dale Weise and Mike Weaver. Montreal has been desperate for more consistent goalscorers and Vanek has answered that call scoring 15 points in 18 games including a hatrick against the Avalanche in Patrick Roy's homecoming spoiler. Along with David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty the Canadiens have one of the most potent offensive lines going into the playoffs.

Dale Weise scores the OT winner

Since joining the habs from Vancouver, Dale Weise has had 4 goals, including 2 crucial game winners in 19 games. His previous 10 NHL goals took him 168 games to score. He is a key component in Montreals successful and deep 4th line. He scored his first playoff goal and arguably the most important goal of his career in Game 1 to break the overtime deadlock and earn Montreal the 1-0 series lead on the road.

Mike Weaver

Mike Weaver is another player who has come to life since joining the habs, going 1G 7A and a plus 11 rating in 19 games. He had 6 points and a minus 9 rating in 55 games with the Panthers to start the season. He has secured a placed in the 3rd defensive pairing playing alongside Francis Bouillon, keeping Douglas Murray and Jarred Tinordi out of lineup.

Bourque to the his best

Rene Bourque scores his second goal on the wrap-around

After a relatively average season finishing with 9G 7A and his 16 points outside the top 400 players, Rene Bourque appears to have come to life in the playoffs. After a decent first game performance Bourque went on to score 2 goals, including the game winner in Game 2. As hard as his linemates tried to give him the empty netter in the closing minutes he unfortunately could not cap off the hatrick, narrowly missing a chance to score from Dale Weise late on.

 

What the future holds

Datsyuk receives recognition for game winner

Providing Montreal can continue its dominance over Tampa, they will face either the Boston Bruins or the Detroit Red Wings in the Conference Semi's. Montreal was one of the few teams with a winning record against the Bruins; who are the favourites to win the Eastern bracket. Expect a animated and brutal series if the Bruins prevail against Detroit. They will have their work cut out though as Detroit has stolen home ice advantage by winning its first game on the road 1-0 against the Bruins, Pavel Datsyuk scoring the winner at 16:59 in the 3rd to break the deadlock in a highly exciting game.

1977-78 Montreal Canadiens

Montreal split its season series with Detroit but won the last 2 games including a spectacular back and forth display on March 27th where the Canadiens emerged victorious 5-4. The last time these two teams met in the post-season was back in 1978 when the habs prevailed 4-1 en-route to their 21st Stanley Cup. Either way Montreal will face an Original-Six rival in the next round. It is possible that Montreal if continue to win they could face-off Original-Six rivals all the way through to the final this year for the first time since 1979, providing the Rangers win their divisional bracket and Chicago wins the Western bracket.

- images courtesy of NHL.com