With a victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night at the Bell Centre, the Montreal Canadiens could achieve what would have been unthinkable at the start of December: seize a position giving access to the playoffs.
After 39 matches, CH claims 39 points in the standings. With two points, he will bring his total to 41 to join the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team currently holding the last ticket in the Eastern Association.
However, as the CH will have played 40 games after the clash with the Canucks, compared to 41 for the Penguins, it would hold, with a victory, the tiebreaker by virtue of the percentage of points.
At the time of writing, the Canadians’ chances of taking part in the spring tournament are at 31% according to the specialized website playoffstatus.com. They have probably never been so high.
The CH will, however, have to maintain the pace if they want to continue to believe in it and the challenge will be important in the coming days. In addition to the Canucks, an excellent team, at least on paper, he has appointments with the Washington Capitals and the Dallas Stars.
We are entitled to a fight to finish in the East, where parity is king this season in the National Hockey League (NHL). New York Islanders (37 points), New York Rangers (37 points), Detroit Red Wings (38 points), Philadelphia Flyers (39 points), Canadiens (39 points), Blue Jackets Columbus (40 points), Ottawa Senators (41 points) and Pittsburgh Penguins (41 points) all have reasonable chances to make the playoffs.
In the midst of rebuilding, the Canadiens have not played spring hockey since their trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.
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