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La deuxième série des éliminatoires de la LNH est terminée. Pour la première fois dans leurs cent ans d'histoire, d'une décennie s'écoulera sans un championnat Canadien de Montréal.
In many ways, the story of the second team eliminated from the NHL playoffs is the antithesis of the first. At the All-Star Game- pardonnez-moi- le Match des étoiles- the Canadiens were riding high in the Eastern Conference standings and garnered starting nods at four of the six positions for the game, held in Montréal. The Habs' Alexei Kovalev scored the game winning goal as well.
Unfortunately for les Bleu, Blanc et Rouge, the season lasts eighty-two games, not forty-one, and in that second half, the Canadiens flirted aggressively with going from being a serious contender to missing the playoffs entirely- needing a tiebreaker edge to award them the eighth spot over the Florida Panthers, and ending the season on a four game losing streak which extended to eight as the Boston Bruins swept the Canadiens out of the playoffs.
Where rookie netminder Steve Mason was brilliant for St. Louis, sophomore Carey Price and third-year Jaroslav Halak split the goal-tending chores for Montréal, with the 20-year-old Price getting the call for all four games in the playoffs. Unfortunately, Price is still notable for the same flaws which plagued his game during his tenure with the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans- when he's on, he can be phenomenal, but when off, he gives up bad goals and big rebounds.
Injuries plagued the Habs down the stretch, leaving the team without the services of Andrei Markov for the playoffs, and without blueliners Mathieu Schneider and Patrice Brisebois and forward Alex Tanguay for the final game.
Another point of contrast with the Blues, who will return a nucleus of young, talented players: the Canadiens roster features significantly older talent, many of whom will be eligible for free-agency and who are considered unlikely to return to the city with the most credible claim to being the birthplace of hockey as a spectator sport.
In many ways, the story of the second team eliminated from the NHL playoffs is the antithesis of the first. At the All-Star Game- pardonnez-moi- le Match des étoiles- the Canadiens were riding high in the Eastern Conference standings and garnered starting nods at four of the six positions for the game, held in Montréal. The Habs' Alexei Kovalev scored the game winning goal as well.
Unfortunately for les Bleu, Blanc et Rouge, the season lasts eighty-two games, not forty-one, and in that second half, the Canadiens flirted aggressively with going from being a serious contender to missing the playoffs entirely- needing a tiebreaker edge to award them the eighth spot over the Florida Panthers, and ending the season on a four game losing streak which extended to eight as the Boston Bruins swept the Canadiens out of the playoffs.
Where rookie netminder Steve Mason was brilliant for St. Louis, sophomore Carey Price and third-year Jaroslav Halak split the goal-tending chores for Montréal, with the 20-year-old Price getting the call for all four games in the playoffs. Unfortunately, Price is still notable for the same flaws which plagued his game during his tenure with the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans- when he's on, he can be phenomenal, but when off, he gives up bad goals and big rebounds.
Injuries plagued the Habs down the stretch, leaving the team without the services of Andrei Markov for the playoffs, and without blueliners Mathieu Schneider and Patrice Brisebois and forward Alex Tanguay for the final game.
Another point of contrast with the Blues, who will return a nucleus of young, talented players: the Canadiens roster features significantly older talent, many of whom will be eligible for free-agency and who are considered unlikely to return to the city with the most credible claim to being the birthplace of hockey as a spectator sport.
