One word for Canadiens: remarkable

[Habsfan84]

So tell me, how many among us felt the Canadiens would be on top of the Eastern Conference with only five games remaining in the regular schedule? Or that they would have been the first team in the East to clinch a playoff spot? Remarkable is the first word that comes to mind. So is the second following this astonishing 7-5 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Even with so few games remaining, only Atlanta and Tampa Bay are out of the playoffs, which makes this race a crapshoot likely to remain in play until the final weekend of the season for several teams, but while we're waiting for that, why don't we play a little game of 'what if'?
There's still a lot of hockey to be played for several teams, including the Canadiens, in this tight-collar race for conference supremacy, but 'what if' today's Top Eight standings are what you'll be seeing when the regular season ends on April 6? 'What if' the Canadiens finish on top ahead of Pittsburgh, Carolina, New Jersey, Ottawa, the Rangers, Philadelphia and Boston, in that order?

What that would mean are first-round matchups of Canadiens-Boston; Pittsburgh-Philadelphia; Carolina-Rangers and New Jersey-Ottawa.
It doesn't get better than that for the Canadiens. On the one hand, they would be taking on a team they've owned this season ... a Bruins bunch they've beaten the eight times they met. Oh joy!
Granted, the playoffs represent a new season and what you can expect from Canadiens and Bruins players - if they do meet - in the days preceding the start of the playoffs are these carefully tailored quotes:
Canadiens: "We've got to forget what happened during the regular season and focus on what we've got to do to win now."
Bruins: "The Canadiens are a good team. We've got to find a way to beat them."
Canadiens: "The Bruins are a good team. They'll be looking for revenge."
Bruins: "We didn't get the bounces during the regular season. Hopefully, we'll get a few in the playoffs."
File and forget 'em. I agree upsets happen, but trust me on this: if a vote were taken among the Canadiens about which team they'd want to meet in the first round, Boston would be their choice - for all of the right reasons.
Add this: the teams the Canadiens would not want to meet in the first round - and won't - are the Senators or the Devils. The best possible news is that if the matchups hold up, one won't be around after the first round.
There's no question that offence is what Ottawa is all about, starting with the Jason Spezza-Dany Heatley-Daniel Alfredsson line. They're why the Senators have had their way with the Canadiens during the regular season, winning five of seven, but I ask you: which Martin would you rather meet in the post-season: Brodeur or Gerber?
Don't ask! While the Senators played last night as if they were lost in a fog on a night when they needed a lot of help from their goaltender, Gerber didn't remind anyone of Jacques Plante, particularly on Andrei Kostitsyn's first goal only 1:40 into the game. For that matter, he didn't look particularly good on Kostitsyn's second, which was why he was replaced by Ray Emery for the start of the second period.

Goaltending is what winning in the playoffs is all about and if Gerber is the best the Senators have, it won't be nearly enough. Neither is Emery. On the other hand, Brodeur has been there, done that. More importantly, he's at his best in the playoffs when low-scoring games are the rule rather than the exception.
I suspect the Canadiens weren't thinking about the Bruins, Gerber or Brodeur last night while going about the business of delivering a formidable statement to the Senators. On the other hand, they may have been thinking about what Guy Carbonneau suggested was the reason his troops were going into the game with a 1-5 record against Ottawa.
"You have to respect your opponent," Carbo said, "but I think we respect them too much. We haven't brought our 'A' game against them yet."

'A' game? Last night, at least in the first two periods, what they brought was the entire alphabet.