Habs go Wild in Minnesota

Um, didn’t see that one coming.  Honestly, I’m always surprised when the Habs score more than 3 goals, let alone 8, and that with a full line-up. Scoring 8 goals without 8 regulars is kind of well, absurd, but I’m not complaining.  It was clearly a game where one team, the Wild, pretty much gave up playing after the first minute of play.  Minnesota is currently in that in-between zone, too good to be considered spoilers, and not good enough to be considered playoff contenders.   It’s really the last place you want to be in, emotionally speaking.  Around a week ago they were fighting for a playoff spot, and right in the thick of it.  But after their recent streak of losses, it’s pretty much clear that it’s not going to happen for them, and last night’s game was a collective swan song.  You can never say that a team has completely given up on the season, but the Wild are as close as you can get to that.  The Canadiens took full advantage of the situation, as they should have, and got the much needed two points.  The Habs are still on the outside looking in for the coveted 4-5 spot in the conference, a position that would greatly enhance their chances of passing on to the second round.  As it stands, fate seems to have the Habs barreling head long into a match-up with the Bruins, either with home-ice advantage or not.  Hard to know if that would be good or bad news, but I bet if you ask Montreal players their opinion on the subject, they’d probably say they relish the chance at beating Boston.  Personally I’d rather avoid them, but I know that’s a just due to the worry of getting another one of our players severely concussed.  Because besides that, Montreal has for the most part handled the Bruins quite well this season.  The team that looks the most dangerous at the moment seems to be the Capitals, who have to learnt how to win the close games by playing actual defense.

Personally, I’m at the point where I’ve decided that any kind of winning in the playoffs, be it a couple of games let alone rounds, is pure gravy for this season.  With all the injuries, horrible misfortunes, and under-performances by key players, this team has incredibly overachieved this year.  It’s almost a carbon copy of my Louisville Cardinals, and when they lost in their first round game, I was sad but not altogether surprised.  Overacheiving takes a lot out of you, and sometimes you simply have nothing left in the tank by season’s end.  So here’s hoping the Habs do well in the playoffs, but I think we should all tip our hat to the coaching staff and the GM, for just making the playoffs in the first place—a remarkable accomplishment in itself due to the calamity which was and is the Canadiens 2010-2011 season.