With the disastrous first half of the season he experienced, we quickly mourned a possible participation of the Canadian in the playoffs. It only remained to be seen when the exclusion would be official. It’s done, since Friday evening.
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By collecting at least one point against the Sabers in Buffalo, the Washington Capitals put an end to the hopes of Habs players (thanks to a 4-3 shootout win).
First team to be out of the portrait, the CH learns of its exclusion with still 18 games to play on its calendar.
According to the NHL’s statistics bureau, never since the big expansion of 1967 has the Montreal team been shown the exit door so quickly. Even in the 2000-2001 and 2017-2018 seasons, two of three record-breaking 40-loss campaigns in regulation time, the Canadian had survived longer. On each occasion, his exclusion from the playoffs had been formalized with eight games to play on the schedule.
The CH will therefore miss the playoffs for the third time in five seasons and the fourth time in seven.
Do not worry. The Habs are not the first club to miss the spring dance after taking part in the final the previous season. It happened to the Dallas Stars just last year. The Los Angeles Kings had experienced the same affront in 2015. In their case, it was worse. They had been expelled after winning the Stanley Cup.
Photo Martin Chevalier
Martin St-Louis and his troops have already been eliminated from the playoffs, with 18 regular games left to play.
A deep chasm
To return to the Canadian, this unenviable mark of 40 defeats, established in 1983-1984, could be lowered in the coming weeks. Nick Suzuki and his teammates have 37 losses on the clock.
With a harvest of 44 points so far, Montreal will reach the plateau of 70 of pain and misery. This is the reality that awaits formations unable to align two gains before the 50e game of the season. Luckily, the situation has improved since the arrival of Martin St-Louis. Otherwise, the abyss would be even deeper.
The series of nine failures in the first half of December contributed greatly to this exit and this thin harvest. Just like the streak of 10 consecutive losses, including eight in a row in regulation time, from January 20 to February 13. A series of failures which led to the dismissal of Dominique Ducharme.
In a campaign of 82 games, it is a historic threshold that the Canadiens reached in 2000-2001. For a schedule of at least 70 games, the team’s record for mediocrity stands at 65 points, in 1950-1951. That spring, the Glorieux had still made it to the Stanley Cup final.
Needless to say, that won’t happen this season.