The Montreal Canadiens had an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot on April 11 against the Ottawa Senators. It would've been a fitting way to do it, proving they were here to contend against one of their hottest rivals. They failed to win that game, but luckily, they had another chance to do it the next night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, they also failed to win that game. It led to plenty of stress for Canadiens fans, as it took until Game 82 to finally book their spot.
The Senators game was the 79th of the season, which meant the Habs could've rested some of their players over the final three games to get them ready for the postseason. The first round playoff series against the Washington Capitals looked like a team who had just gone through two weeks of playing must-win hockey against a team that had their spot clinched for over a month and were going through the motions until Game 1.
It was easy to point towards that as a reason why the Canadiens lost, but some would argue that the Habs entering that series already in playoff mode could've helped them. In a way it did, as they jumped on the Capitals early in Game 1 and took the game to overtime. The problems arose towards the end of the season when some of their best players looked beaten and tired. Now that the year is over, we learned that failing to clinch in those three games before Game 82 done much more harm than good.
An interesting quote last week by Habs captain Nick Suzuki, on playing through injuries, that kinda flew under the radar:
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 8, 2025
“We were just trying to earn a playoff spot. If we had a playoff spot secured, maybe I would’ve rested a little bit more but I didn’t have that option. I… pic.twitter.com/VkzuxgMSl3
"“We were just trying to earn a playoff spot. If we had a playoff spot secured, maybe I would’ve rested a little bit more but I didn’t have that option. I was trying to do anything to help the team…” "Nick Suzuki
Winning that game against Ottawa could've offered Suzuki the chance to rest up and get ready for Game 1. However, the losses forced him to dress for every game and enter the playoffs with some sort of nagging injury. He didn't have his usual effectiveness in the postseason, and it's easy to see now what the problem was.
More than just the Canadiens playoffs hopes
The Canadiens are Suzuki's No. 1 priority. However, we now know that those nagging injuries might've cost the captain something else in his career. He could not get clearance from the doctors to attend the Men's World Hockey Championship, which could be detrimental to his chances of making the Olympic roster next year.
The rumors were that Suzuki wasn't in consideration to make the 4 Nations Face-Off this year because of the many times he turned down Team Canada for the world championships. It seems like he was ready to go this year, which would've been a strange move after all the times he declined when the Canadiens didn't make the playoffs. The only thing you can gather from that is the rumors were true about the 4 Nations, and he was trying to make it up to Hockey Canada.
Maybe Hockey Canada will be a bit more lenient, considering it was a doctor's decision and not Suzuki's. Regardless, if Suzuki doesn't make the Olympic roster next year for an undetermined reason, we could trace it back to that three-game losing streak in Games 79-81 that forced him to play through an ailment.