The Montreal Canadiens 13-game process to make the playoffs
The Montreal Canadiens are in the final stretch of the regular season, and the next 13 games will determine whether they make the playoffs or not.
We are in the final stretch of the regular season Montreal Canadiens fans, and a lot of things have been going on over the last two weeks. The Carolina Hurricanes look like a legitimate team to make the playoffs, Pittsburgh is going on their annual end-of-the-year hot streak, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are still trying to figure out who they are after their trade deadline acquisitions.
Pittsburgh defeated the Boston Bruins 4-2 to propel them into third in the Metropolitan Division while Columbus beating the Penguins the night before has them back in a playoff spot. Bad news for the Montreal Canadiens though who are right on the outside because of the Blue Jackets. Although they have the same number of points, Columbus has more overall wins.
And to make matters worse, the Blue Jackets have one game in hand.
The Montreal Canadiens picked the worst time to not only put up another set of stinkers, but have one of those stinkers come at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks. But that’s in the past now. The Habs have 13 games left in the regular season to reclaim the playoff spot they’ve been in for the majority of the year.
It’ll be a grind, especially with the team having to play four games in the final week of March, however, it’s something the Canadiens will have to overcome in order to be one of the eight teams to continue playing mid-April.
The 13-game process can be separated into four weeks. Think of this as the Montreal Canadiens own NFL season.
Week 1
The Habs have been off since their 8-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday. They’ll be getting back into action Tuesday at the Bell Centre against the Detroit Red Wings. On the surface, this should be an automatic win for the Montreal Canadiens.
The Red Wings are a bottom five team in the NHL and are 1-7-2 in their last ten. Their most recent loss saw the Florida Panthers score six goals including two NHL firsts from Josh Brown and Dryden Hunt. Whether Detroit is tanking or they’re just a bad team, probably a combination of both, their efforts have resulted in a lot more losing than winning with little to no goal scoring.
Montreal had a crazy win against the Red Wings the last time they faced off where Andrew Shaw scored his first career hat-trick. A similar result needs to happen. Not only because of the needed points but because the Habs need a confidence boost to start their run to the end.
The next game will be more difficult with a night in Brooklyn against the New York Islanders. With Pittsburgh winning more games, the Islanders are at risk of losing their position in the Metropolitan Division. Additionally, they’ve proven to be a different and heavier team this season, and their goaltending has taken them over the top more often than not.
Chicago is in a similar but different boat. They’ve turned their story around looking to pull a Pittsburgh and go on a late run into the playoffs. However, they’re seven points out of the second wild-card spot.
It’s a battle between three other teams in the west, and the Blackhawks will need that win to keep themselves in it.
Week 2
This is the big week and will have the Montreal Canadiens take on two teams out of the running. That said, one of those two could be something to watch out for.
Philadelphia aren’t too far behind Montreal and Columbus. They sold a little bit at the deadline but shored up their goaltending with adding Cam Talbot from the Edmonton Oilers. Additionally, they’re on a decent streak, so much so that there is only a four-point deficit between themselves and the two teams ahead of them. The Habs need that win to keep the Flyers at bay.
The following two games are back at home against the Islanders again and Buffalo Sabres. We’ve one over the Islanders, and that situation likely doesn’t change when the Habs take them on for the second time in two weeks. They’ll want that win and an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot to rest some of their starts. But until then, the foot will be heavily laid on the gas.
Buffalo, on the other hand, is likely going on the spoiler route for the rest of the season. The Sabres had an excellent start to the season including a ten-game winning streak and slowly let that slip out of their fingers. Their ten-point deficit is way too much to overcome though games against Buffalo usually get intense. Additionally, Jack Eichel has looked pretty angry over the last few weeks, and in his case, that equates to offensive production.
The Habs will travel to Carolina on the second half of the back-to-back. Who knows if Carolina’s position changes between now and then but the Montreal Canadiens need to win that game as the Hurricanes could be where Columbus is now.
Week 3
Here we have one of each type of game you see at the end of the season. There’s a game against a team who is out of the running, a direct competitor for the playoffs, and a top team in the NHL.
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Florida is higher than Buffalo in the standings, but their situation hasn’t changed. Who knows what happens between now and March 26th, though, the Panthers do share the tendency of late-season “Will they do it?” runs with the Carolina Hurricanes. What they lack in those efforts are the goaltending as their tandem has been a little shaky this season with injuries and inconsistent play.
It’s possible they score their way out of it, but it shouldn’t be against Montreal. These two teams have had a good rivalry going after what happened between Max Domi and Aaron Ekblad in the preseason. That should drive the tempo up of the game.
The Thursday night game in Columbus is a must-win. Any game against the Blue Jackets, Hurricanes, or Penguins for the remainder of the year is a must-win. The issue there is Columbus looks to be on the verge of putting things together, and Sergey Bobrovsky could be an irritating factor. That said, Carey Price will have to do the same.
Finally, it’ll be Hockey Night in Canada in Winnipeg. The Habs had a solid 5-2 performance against the Jets last month and not only will getting the points be a positive, but it’ll be another good test against a team expected to do damage in the playoffs.