5 Impressive Facts About the Canucks' 2025 Postseason Push – The Hockey Writers – Montreal Canadiens

After their last win, the Montreal Canadiens find themselves tentatively in the playoffs. Let's remember that as recently as December 16th, they were the last-place team in the entire Eastern Conference.

While that's impressive in itself, as this team has the fifth-worst record in 2023-24, it's just the tip of the iceberg. really how They've made a comeback in the standings over the past period, which is even more impressive. Here are the five most important facts about their playoff advance.

5. No Ryan or Savard last week

Indeed, the Canadiens were last in the Eastern Conference on Dec. 16. Starting with a 2-1 overtime win over the New York Islanders on Dec. 3, the Habs are 11-5 (hockey point average .690, well above the .600 they theoretically need to clinch a berth from here on out) ).

RELATED: What the Canadiens need to do to make the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs

It's probably no coincidence that the win marked Patrik Laine's regular-season debut (after a preseason knee injury). Needless to say, while Ryan is known for his inconsistent performances, he is still a game-breaking talent, with eight goals in 13 games this season (50-goal pace).

From a morale standpoint, Ryan appears to have helped rejuvenate the team, as they've still managed three games without his services (flu-like symptoms) or linebacker David Savard (upper body injury) since New Year's Eve. Success continues in the competition, which runs until 2025.

4. The Canadiens suddenly outscore their opponents

For a long period of time, the Canadiens were outplayed, outplayed, outplayed, and arguably took a step back from their goal of becoming an offensive team that could determine the tempo of a game. A few steps. The fact that they still get results from time to time may lead some loyal fans to believe that the end justifies the means. However, now that they're almost consistently outshooting their opponents in field goal percentage, it has to be said: Hab is not only getting there, he's playing well.

Since Dec. 3, the aforementioned 16 games, the Canadiens have defeated their opponents in the regular season nine times. The previous 24 games? Only five times, that should be cause for outright rejection of any game plan that calls for over-reliance on goaltending, let alone cautious optimism that it will all be sustainable. Simply put, they're playing like a playoff team.

3. The Canadians often come back to win in games

An important part of this is the ability they have to fight back during the game. They have won 11 games since the beginning of December, six of them trailing.

They had only won twice before December: on November 11 against the Buffalo Sabers and on November 27 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Only against the Sabers, though, did they have to come back in the third inning (and they actually held the lead after two, only to lose the game and still win).

All in all, leading the Canadiens after two periods is already a win. But starting in early December? In four of those six wins, they came back in the third quarter, three of which came after trailing after two quarters.

If you really wanted to, you could talk about how have to Coming back speaks to a lack of dominance, but no one is accusing the Canadiens of being dominant, just unabashedly “good” based on their recent win-loss record, which in turn is based on a number of factors that need to be made clear, including their constant search for re- The ability to return a match method.

2. Dobes scored two wins on debut

One of them came after trailing two sets to win, the infamous January 4 game against the Colorado Avalanche. Scored a goal in the second half. Of course, they only came away from a goal down in a penalty shootout to win. Still, all things considered, including the quality of the play, this was one of their better games and a further sign that this team is entering the next phase of its rebuild in order to be consistently competitive.

It also shows that the Canadiens and head coach Martin St. Louis are regaining confidence in their backups. Assuming the Habs start deploying Dobes in the right way, that can only mean good things for Montebault's effectiveness when games in March and April become more important. Of course, Dobes, who is now 2-0, also won his first start and marked his NHL career with a historic shutout of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on December 28. A huge success. Without his impressive performance thus far, the Habs wouldn't be where they are in the standings. This is true. Without a backup they can rely on, the playoffs will remain a pipe dream rather than something they can actually achieve in the second half of the season now.

For a goaltender who has never played more than 41 games in any career season, Montebault is not exactly what the Canadiens have identified as their go-to player so far in the 2024-25 season. The Canadiens played him 32 times in 40 games (31 starts), presumably choosing to rely heavily on him because of a lack of confidence in Dobbs' predecessor, Caden Primo.

That's 66 games full season, and that's Carey Price's number. Honestly, while Montebault's rise to starting status is admirable, it overstates his skill level a bit. As a team, our goal should be to surpass the ceiling of the Canadiens in the past, who often relied too heavily on Price or their goaltenders. If their unexpected run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals taught Habs fans anything, it's how far the team still has to go to regularly compete with the league's elite, ultimately losing 4-1 to a more complete Tampa Bay Chargers.

1. Four wins over the last four Stanley Cup champions

It would be one thing if the Canadiens only beat teams below them in the standings, and that's basically the case, so let's get started on what has been a good stretch of late. Since the break, however, the Habs have defeated the Lightning, Avalanche, Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights, all four Stanley Cup champions who have clinched playoff berths as we speak.

The Canadiens could also be added to that list as they take on the Washington Capitals (2018) on Friday night. They also beat the St. Louis Blues this season (in 2019), but, for the purposes of this article, the win over Team USA is more important because a) the Habs beat the Blues in October and b) the Blues' current, team Occupying a playoff spot, the team with 26 wins, 10 draws and 4 losses is currently the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Furthermore, it’s not like the Canadiens beat these teams every once in a while. Again, these wins came in a short period of time, during which the team showed significant improvement. That alone should dispel the idea that it was just luck that helped them win. Based on all the above factors, shorting them is becoming increasingly difficult.