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Montreal Canadiens: Lessons Playoff Teams Can Learn From Habs 2021 Stanley Cup Final Run

By Ken MacMillan

MONTREAL, QUEBEC - JUNE 24: Artturi Lehkonen #62 of the Montreal Canadiens. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC - JUNE 24: Artturi Lehkonen #62 of the Montreal Canadiens. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /
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MONTREAL, QUEBEC – JULY 05: Josh Anderson #17 of the Montreal Canadiens. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC – JULY 05: Josh Anderson #17 of the Montreal Canadiens. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images) /

Forget everything about the regular season

The Canadiens 2021 regular season got off to a tremendous start. After ten games, they were 7-1-2 and looked like they were going to run away with the Canadian Division championship. They were looked as a legit juggernaut by many after their first ten contests.

But then it pretty much fell apart and they never got going again. The regular season was just 56 games, and the Canadiens went 17-20-9 over the final 46 games. After their great start they went six weeks without winning consecutive games.

They won three in a row late in the regular season to all but lock up the final playoff spot in the Canadian Division, but nearly choked it away by losing their final five games and only clinching a playoff spot because the Calgary Flames ran out of runway down the stretch.

It was a fantastic ten game start followed by a mediocre-at-best run of 46 games that included five straight losses at the end of the regular season.

But, that all didn’t matter once the playoffs began. All teams have to do is get in and then worry about what happens next. The Dallas Stars almost blew their playoff chances by losing to the Arizona Coyotes late in the season, but that doesn’t matter. They face a much better opponent in the Calgary Flames, but that also doesn’t matter.

The Canadiens showed last season you don’t have to enter the playoffs on a hot streak, and you don’t have to be the highest ranked team to win a series. Teams can flip a switch after the regular season ends and go on a long playoff run.

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