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head coach: Alain Vigneault

roster: C - Saku Koivu, Marc Bureau, Vincent Damphousse, Scott Thornton. LW - Shayne Corson, Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet, Terry Ryan, Brian Savage, Patrick Poulin. RW - Mark Recchi, Mick Vukota, Turner Stevenson, Jonas Hoglund. D - Vladimir Malakhov, Stephane Quintal, Patrice Brisebois, Peter Popovic, Craig Rivet, Igor Ulanov, Zarley Zalapski. G - Jocelyn Thibault, Andy Moog.

injuries: Saku Koivu, c (broken left hand, indefinite); Shayne Corson, lw (abdominal strain, day-to-day); Scott Thornton, c (shoulder surgery, indefinite); Patrice Brisebois, d (sprained knee, day-to-day); Stephane Quintal, d (sprained ankle, day-to-day).

transactions: None.

standings:

Eastern Conference - Northeast Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
y-Pittsburgh 82  40  24  18    98  228  188 
x-Boston     82  39  30  13    91  221  194  
x-Buffalo    82  36  29  17    89  211  187  
x-Montreal   82  37  32  13    87  235  208  
x-Ottawa     82  34  33  15    83  193  200  
Carolina     82  33  41   8    74  200  219   

y - Clinched division
x - Clinched playoff spot

game results:

04/06 at Washington T 2-2
04/07 at Rangers    W 3-2
04/10 at Buffalo    L 2-1
04/11 Islanders     T 3-3
04/15 Boston        L 6-2
04/16 at  Ottawa    W 2-0
04/18 Buffalo       T 3-3

team news:

by Jacques Robert, Montreal Correspondent

Good news: Habs to meet Pittsburgh in first round.

Bad news: Koivu remains sidelined for a week.

As opposed to last year's final regular season game, Montreal fans were not on the edge of their seat; expecting a big win to open doors to a playoffs spot. In fact, the big questions were: will they finish sixth or seventh in the Eastern Conference? Will they play Philadelphia or Pittsburgh in the first round? After tying the game with Buffalo, Montreal will meet Pittsburgh. It's not bad news since the Habs have played them pretty well this season, despite a 2-3-1 record. But bad news: Koivu will remain sidelined for part of the first round. Hopefully, both Moog and Tbo will stay hot...

In fact, what the last 15 days shed some light on is the fact that Montreal is a fragile, inconsistent team once again. For sure, they got their final OK for the post-season one game earlier than last year at the same stage. But Damphousse's teammates are lacking depth except in the net. Thibault and Moog are likely to share the duties as of this week. And as far as the psychological aspect of the team is considered: the players have been unable to post back-to-back wins since they entertained the N.Y Rangers (W 4-1 - 03/12) and New Jersey (W 4-2 - 03/14) in the middle of March. They also failed to win their most important game of the season against the Capitals on April 6, when home ice was still up for grabs.

Bordeleau Woke Up... at Last

Vigneault's boys managed to tie the Caps (2-2), but it was merely not enough to secure a fourth spot since this tie kept Montreal three points back of fourth place Washington. This game was pretty weird since Koivu was injured and Bordeleau, who has been idle all season long, scored his 5th and 6th goals of the season. At the same time, Jocelyn Thibault was hot: he's posted a 3-1-2 record in his last six starts and his goals-against average is 2.34.

The disappointing game played in Washington left Habs fans kind of speechless prior to meeting the Rangers. Whereas Canadiens veterans had not shown up the last day and despite the absences of Koivu, Rucinsky and Savage, the key players stepped in - Vinnie Damphousse and Thornton, Brisebois and Recchi. A big disappointment though: Patrick Poulin is still in a slump. He has gone 11 games without a point and has a goal and two assists in his last 20 games.

Fourth Place Gone in Buffalo

As a matter of fact, the next visit in Buffalo was nothing but a must-win game. Alas, with a couple of defensive mistakes the Habs' chance to finish fourth went up in smoke! What a mess... imagine that they outplayed the Sabres for 55 minutes and then, Malakhov and Rivet made two enormous mistakes in front of the net that erased a 1-0 advantage provided by Stevenson. Frustrating, eh!

Prior to entertaining the Islanders the equation was easy: if a fourth spot was still being expected, Montreal had no choice but to win three out of the four remaining games. But they ended up with a tie that made the possibility to finish fourth pretty elusive. The positive point? The line made of Stevenson-Bureau -Brunet. Of course, this line is a defensive one, but considering that Montreal is deeply hurt by injuries, good grinders are desperately needed by Vigneault...

Savage: Two Goals Against Buffalo

Another example showing Montreal is inconsistent these days was given in Boston. The worst game of the year! The Bruins scored four times with a man-advantage... Ouch! Fortunately, the Habs reacted properly in Ottawa (2-0), clinching seventh place in the Eastern Conference for good. And avoided a first round playoffs match up against the Devils. Ulanov's return in the line-up was also very successful.

Finally, Montreal never gave up as they played Buffalo at home in the last game of the season. At least they battled until the end to get away with the victory. Which is kind of encouraging, coming back twice from a one-goal deficit.

Quote of the Week

Dave King: "I cannot figure out what made us play that way (against Boston). It was our longest game of the season."

ON MY NOTE PAD

Brunet in Montreal until... 2002

Benoit Brunet, 29, signed a four-year contract with the Canadiens. This year he played 65 games, scored 11 goals and had 19 assists.

Habs not below .500 mark at home since... 1940

At the Keg, Montreal was 2-2-2 before playing Buffalo in the final season game. The Habs are also playing below the .500 mark (5-14-5) at home for the first time since the... 1939-1940 season.

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