Montreal Canadiens' First-Round Opponent: All but Impossible To Predict

It was probably a silly idea to start predicting possible playoff matchups in early March.

For some strange reason, I thought it was all but guaranteed that the Habs would either be meeting the Boston Bruins or the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Now, I’m the farthest thing from certain.

The Bruins stock continues to rise. If they keep on the pace that they are at going now, they will, in all likelihood, finish atop the Eastern Conference.

This is, in part, due to the recent downturn in the Philadelphia Flyers’ game-play.

It appears as if the goaltending isn’t so great in Philly after all: The Flyers suffered a frightfully embarrassing 7-0 loss to the New York Rangers on March 6.

Their goalies were exposed for all to see and they capped off a four-game skid.

Don’t look now, Philly, but Pittsburgh is creeping up.

How in the world are the Pittsburgh Penguins doing so well without their star-power?

I believe coaching is the answer that we’re looking for.

Dan Bylsma has led his Crosby-less Pens to within two points (albeit after playing two more games) of the Flyers. Philadelphia is not only in danger of losing the top-seed in the playoffs, but the lead in their division as well.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are free-falling right now and the Washington Capitals are hot. The deadline acquisitions of Jason Arnott and Dennis Wideman surely helped the Caps with their late-season playoff push.

Steven Stamkos, the Lightning’s lifeblood, hasn’t scored in the past five games and Tampa Bay has suffered for it.

Washington has taken over the lead of the Southeastern Division and the third-seed that currently comes with it.

What does this all mean for the Habs?

Well, if they continue playing the inspired brand of hockey that they have in recent games, they can make a push for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, I suppose.

Or they could just move up one seed.

Or they could remain in sixth position.

If they take a turn for the worse and put together a bad string of games like we’ve seen the Flyers and Lightning do, they could drop in the standings—perhaps even out of the playoffs completely.

The 2010-2011 NHL regular season ends in mid-April. That leaves us with nearly six weeks of hockey to play. The Habs still have 16 games left on their schedule.

That’s a ton of hockey.

Who knows what can happen with the Canadiens in that period of time?

For that matter, who knows what can happen with every other team in the playoff race.

I’ve decided that in order to prevent the headaches that have been caused by educated guesses, I’m going to take each game as it comes.

There’s no reason to predict the future, as the Habs are playing very well at the moment. As fans, we should enjoy the performances displayed.

If the team keeps it up, I like their chances against most any team.

So bring ‘em on, whoever they are!

Well, not the Flyers—that would probably be an unmitigated disaster.