The Canadiens 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers Friday night was their 11th win in 15 December games, a remarkable turnaround for a team that lost it’s last five November games and appeared as the month began to be fulfilling pre-season predictions of another losing season.

Their 20th win of the season moved the Canadiens ahead of the Bruins into the Eastern Conference’s first wild card berth. They are only two points behind third place Buffalo in the Atlantic Division.

It was a terrific hockey game. A come-from-behind win against a Las Vegas team that hardly ever loses at home. The Canadiens came back three times before they won 4-3 in overtime.

The headliners were Phillip Danault who registered his first career hat trick and Paul Byron who won it in overtime.

Carey Price had to work to get his 300th career NHL victory. The Canadiens were playing their third game in four nights with travel between and it showed. By the midway point of the first period their legs started to go. Arizona dominated the final 50 minutes of the game, but in turn, Price dominated the the Coyotes stopping 36 of 37 shots.

The Canadiens were in desperate need of a transfusion in Denver 48 hours after Monday night’s dreadful performance against the Bruins. They rebounded nicely but it wasn’t enough to survive the NHL’s highest scoring forward line.

Everything seemed right for the Canadiens against the Bruins Monday night. The Bruins were dealing with injuries to key players. They were in a minor slump and they were playing their second game in twenty-four hours.

All the Canadiens had to do was show up. And they didn’t. They were a well-beaten 4-0 losers. And with their win, the Bruins were able to move a point ahead of the Canadiens in the wild card race.

There are a few ways one could take the Canadiens 6-4 win over Carolina Thursday night.

Importantly, it was a nice bounce-back from the 7-1 thrashing they suffered at Minnesota on Tuesday with a major contribution from the so-called secondary players.

On the other hand, despite a decided edge in shots on goal and territorial play the Canadiens could never get complete control over the comeback-minded Hurricanes which led to a tense but entertaining goal-filled third period.

Every team has it’s nemesis; a team that they just can’t find a way to beat and more often than not are not only beaten by them but beaten-up.

Nothing in recent years has acted as cooler for the Canadiens like a trip to St. Paul Minnesota. The team hasn’t won a game at the Xcel Energy Center since March 2011.

In the six straight losses at Minnesota the Canadiens have been outscored 30-12 and over the last three seasons the Canadiens have lost 7-1, 6-3 and on Tuesday night 7-1 again.

With the score tied 2-2 the Canadiens spent half of the third period shorthanded including six straight minutes after Tatar was hit with his third penalty of the game and then, as he was stepping back on the ice Jordie Benn received four minutes for high sticking. The Canadiens killed all of that. In all the Hawks had eight power plays in the game and managed to score once.

Two games against the Senators in three nights and two wins for the Canadiens during which they convincingly outscored Ottawa 10-4.

Along with outshooting the Senators 43-21 the Canadiens got goals from each of their four lines. Paul Byron scored twice including an empty netter. Jeff Petry had a goal and assist. Andrew Shaw’s game-winning goal was the 100th of his career.

There have been times over the last month when Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin haven’t exactly been on the same page. They had it back in spades against the Senators. Three point nights for both of them and it was all speed. Domi set up Drouin off a two-on-one to make it 1-0 and with it tied at 1-1 it was Drouin to Domi twice in the span of 48 seconds to ultimately decide the game.