The Canadiens 4-0 win over the Islanders Thursday night was impressive. After a string of second-rate efforts, it was the second straight game in which the Canadiens held things together for the entire sixty minutes. It was also the second straight game in which Carey Price wasn’t left with the feeling that he was manning the ramparts alone. A week ago in New York the Canadiens were totally owned by the Islanders especially in the neutral zone. Only Price prevented a 2-1 loss from becoming a 6-1 rout. With home ice advantage Thursday night the Canadiens completely reversed their fortunes. Not only was the defence impeccable, but they also found some of the offence that he been missing over the last month.

After spending most of the month of March digging their own grave, the Canadiens postponed attending their own funeral with an impressive 3-1 win over the Flyers in Philadelphia Tuesday night.It was the first Canadiens regulation win in Philadelphia since Jaroslav Halak shut the Flyers out 1-0 on April 2nd 2010. This game involved two teams with backs against the playoff wall. The Canadiens rose to the occasion. For some reason, the Flyers didn’t……………

Well, that pretty much did it. There is not much left the Canadiens can do to preserve even a minuscule shot at a playoff berth without a lot of outside help.In the long eighty-two game NHL schedule there is practically no chance for a team to hide built in flaws and weaknesses. For some teams they become obvious from the season’s start (witness last season’s Canadiens). In the case of this edition of the Canadiens all of the warts have surfaced in the season’s final twenty games.

It’s not that the Canadiens lost in New York on Thursday night, after all the Islanders have surprised more than a few teams this season.It’s the way they lost. For whatever possible reason, the Canadiens didn’t come to play and, but for some heroic work by Carey Price, earned themselves a 6-1 loss rather that the 2-1 defeat that showed on the game-ending scoreboard.Some will say that, because of that late game-winning goal, the loss was a heart-breaker but the only member of the Canadiens who should be heartbroken is Price himself. His teammates didn’t put in enough work to merit a win.

Carey Price had to work harder that we might have expected in order to nail down his record setting 315th career victory.

Among the 21 shots he faced, eight were high danger scoring chances. With the game still scoreless he stopped Justin Abdelkader on a 2-on-1 that might have changed the complexion of the game. A minute later Max Domi scored the game’s first goal.

It was in the third period with the Canadiens leading 2-1 that Price really got the “Carey, Carey” chants going.

For teams struggling to squeeze into the playoffs, every play, every goal and every coaching decision is subject to intense scrutiny and, more often than not, heavy second guessing.

For the Canadiens fan base, the second-guess du jour will be Claude Julien’s decision to play Antti Niemi in Thursday night’s game at San Jose, leaving Carey Price to face Anaheim Friday night.

The second guessers have a point. In San Jose, the Canadiens put in one of their strongest road games of the year but the under-utilized Niemi let in two terrible early goals forcing his teammates to unsuccessfully play catch-up the rest of the night. …….

The lofty goal of the three game California trip was to win two of the three games. Considering the two decade losing streak in San Jose, the best chance of reaching that goal were wins in Los Angeles and Anaheim. So Claude Julien made Antti Niemi the sacrifical lamb against the Sharks. No one could have predicted the Canadiens would come up with one of their best road games of the year in San Jose. Sadly, Niemi was the goaltender we have seen in all but four or five of his starts this season. He let in two soft goals on the first five shots he faced and the Canadiens were in a hole out of which they unable to climb.

Carey Price doesn’t get too many gifts these days. The Kings made him work for what for his 314th career win. Not that we should be surprised considering the Canadiens miserable record in California over the last seven years. The Kings had five high danger scoring chances in the game, which isn’t a lot. But the Canadiens had only one.

The reality is, after sixty six games, the Canadiens and Penguins have established themselves as bubble playoff teams.  For that reason, Saturday night’s meeting had the makings of a terrific late season matchup. 

The Canadiens had all the tools to make a game out of it except one. Their entire lineup couldn’t match what Sidney Crosby can do when he’s on his game and in hindsight the game was over in twenty-one seconds.

The Canadiens had two days to enjoy the bright lights of Broadway and it took over a period for them to shake the lead out of their hockey pants and finally get control of their game against the Rangers Friday night.

The rebuilding Rangers, who have almost as much built-in speed as the Canadiens, forechecked them to a near standstill in the first period and then held a 7-0 shots-on-goal advantage in the second period before Brendan Gallagher changed the course of the game with his goal in the eighth minute. From that point on the roles reversed. It was the Canadiens who took control in the Rangers end of the ice and they skated away with their comeback 4-2 win.