Montreal Canadiens: Just How Close Are The Flames To Catching Habs?

Montreal Canadiens playoff chances felt like they took a huge nosedive over their past few games.

In their past three games, they have hardly shown up at all, and have only scored three goals in those three contests. One goal per game doesn’t usually lead to much success, but the Canadiens did fine one win to go 1-2-0 in that short stretch.

The big problem is those two losses felt like the two worst games we have seen the Canadiens play in years.

It started with a no-show against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. The Habs were outplayed, hardly created any scoring chances, and would lose 4-1. They did “bounce back” with a 2-1 win over the Flames on Friday, but it wasn’t their best performance either. Then, the Canadiens failed to show any emotion in a 4-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday evening.

The Sens are the worst team in the Canadian Division, but they have been a thorn in the Habs side all year. In eight games with the Sens, Montreal is 3-3-2 and have been outscored 20-24.

This latest loss seemed to give the Flames a little life in the Canadian playoff race. It’s the most Canadian of playoff races ever, with both teams looking like they didn’t want the other team to lose, and apologetically winning a game apiece last week.

Even with their embarrassing performance to close out the week with the Senators, the Canadiens hold a fairly firm grasp on the final playoff spot.

Montreal is six points up on the Flames and the Habs have played two less games. The Canadiens have 14 more games to play while the Flames are down to a dozen left on their schedule.

There are three head to head matchups in Calgary at the Saddledome that loom large. If the Flames are going to have any chance of jumping the Habs for that final playoff spot, they are going to need to win all three of those games.

In fact, the Flames are going to have to win pretty much all of their games to finish fourth and knock off the Canadiens.

With 12 games left, if the Flames were to finish out their schedule by winning them all, they would finish with 65 points. The Canadiens could finish with 66 points by going 9-4-1 in their final 14 games.

Even if the Flames finish hot and go 9-3-0 over their final 12, the Habs would only need to go 6-7-1 to close out their schedule and hang on to the final playoff spot.

If the Flames are okay and go 6-6-0 in their remaining schedule, just seven points or a 3-10-1 record would be enough for the Canadiens to stay ahead of the Flames.

Of course, there are two other teams that haven’t waved a white flag yet. The Vancouver Canucks are finally back after a lengthy break due to a huge Covid outbreak within the team’s dressing room. They are 12 points back of the Canadiens but have played five less games. Their schedule is ridiculous to close out the season, and most of their team is battling the aftereffects of a terrible virus, so it is difficult to imagine they close out their season on a huge hot streak.

The Senators are 13 points back of the Canadiens and have just 11 games left. They won’t be chasing anyone down this season.

So, how close are the Flames? Well, winning three in a row against the Habs would make things very interesting, but even if the Canadiens close out their season 7-7-0, it would be virtually impossible for the Flames to catch them.