The Montreal Canadiens' season will be on the line Thursday night when they take the ice for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. After losing both Game 3 and Game 4, the Canadiens are now down 3-1 in the series and facing elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
While improbable, it isn't impossible for the Canadiens to come back in the Eastern Conference Finals. If they are able to do so, they will join the 2000 New Jersey Devils as the only other team to be able to come back and win a conference finals being down 3-1 in the series.
There are plenty of parallels between how that series began and how this series for the Canadiens has begun. In Game 1 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, the Devils would win on the road after scoring three goals in the first period to take a 3-1 lead. As for the Canadiens, they were slightly better as they had a 4-1 lead after the first period and cruised to a 6-2 win.
Unfortunately, the Devils would lose the next three games, including both of their home games, which is exactly how this series for the Canadiens has gone. For the Devils, it didn't matter as they would win their next three games to earn a trip to the Stanley Cup Final and beat the Dallas Stars in six games.
While it sounds easy, it certainly is not, and that is why the Devils are the only team in NHL history to be able to come back from being down 3-1 in a conference finals. In fact, it has happened 73 times over the course of the league's history, but this series between the Canadiens and Hurricanes has been closer than the series record might indicate.
Montreal Canadiens have been more competitive than the series record might indicate
Two of the four games so far have gone to overtime, and Game 4 was the first time in the entire series that the Carolina Hurricanes had more than a one-goal lead. There is no question that the Canadiens have plenty to work on, like getting pucks on net, but it may not be as insurmountable as it seems.
If the Canadiens can tweak a few things ahead of Game 5 and take it one game at a time, there is certainly the chance they could be the second team in NHL history to reach the Stanley Cup Final after falling behind 3-1 in a series.
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