The Habs once again came out strong, took a lead, and were ultimately able to hang on for the 3-2 win on Wednesday night as they split the road game giving them home-ice advantage moving forward.

The Habs came out strong on Monday but couldn’t beat a floundering Marc-Andre Fleury. Ten minutes later, the Knights woke up and the Habs didn’t have an answer other than Carey Price’s continued heroics but it wasn’t enough as the Golden Knights opened the series with a 4-1 win.

The Habs were the better team for most of Monday’s Game 4 which was surprising given the fact that the Jets had their season on the line. Montreal let up enough in the second for Winnipeg to get back in the game, but the Suzuki-Caufield overtime magic was just too irresistible as they found an open Toffoli to end the series with a 3-2 victory, sending the Habs to a final-four appearance.

The Habs got another early lead and didn’t look back. Joel Armia had a pair of shorthanded tallies as special teams played a big role on Sunday night as Montreal skated away with a 5-1 victory, extending their series lead on Winnipeg to 3-0.

It was a full team, complete-game effort that gave the Habs a 5-3 win in Game 1 against Winnipeg. That needs to remain the focus after a disgusting end to the game that should mean the end of Mark Scheifele for most of the series if not the rest of it.

Carey Price offered another all-world performance on Monday night in a 3-1 victory to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a stunning upset over the heavily favoured Toronto Maple Leafs as they overcame a 3-1 series deficit to move on to face Winnipeg in the second round.

The Habs came out strong and played physical enough to keep the Leafs from being too comfortable. Carey Price saved the team on numerous chances and the team finally supported him with some goals with Nick Suzuki potting the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory.

Same recipe, same disaster. The Habs couldn’t score with only one line generating offence because of an obsession with shutting down Matthews instead of trying to win. Carey Price stood on his head again but can’t do it by himself. The end result was the Habs losing 4-0 on Tuesday night and they now trail 3-1 in the series.

With the last change on Monday night, Dominique Ducharme created a defensive line and played them until the Habs were behind and running out of time to get back in the game. The Leafs defended well in the third and that was the story as the Habs coached themselves to a 2-1 series deficit, losing the game by that same score.

Thursday’s series opener was a typical playoff game where both teams battled in the corners and the physicality was absolutely ramped up. While the Leafs had more scoring chances, they were faced with beating the Habs star in Carey Price who was on top of his game. The result was a defensive battle that saw the Habs come out ahead 2-1 to take the ultra-important 1-0 series lead.