And who can we thank for this last minute resurgence? Look no further than behind the bench. Coach Gainey has implemented a system that uses players to their strengths and creates a team chemistry that helps overcome individual weaknesses.

This is the team that GM Gainey had envisioned at the beginning of the season. This is the team that, on paper, looked like it could compete deep into the playoffs.
For a minute, let’s forget about numbers. Don’t think about the fact that the Habs have earned 9 of a possible 10 points in their last 5 games.

And let’s put aside that Alexei Kovalev has 6 goals and 5 assists during a 5-game point streak. Let’s forget that Saku Koivu is also riding a 5-game point streak with 3 goals and 5 helpers. Let’s put aside that with 3 goals and 6 assists, Tanguay brings this trio up to a whopping 28 points in the last 5 games.

Let’s put that aside for now.

In general:
Shots against are down.
Our save percentage and GAA have both improved.
We’re playing more disciplined hockey.
We’re supporting each other.

Since sitting down individually with the team, Gainey has keep his word by asking players to do their job; to fill their role on the team.

The top line scores goals, especially on the powerplay.
Saku Koivu leads on and off the ice.
The forwards support the D, and the D supports the forwards.
The Max line brings energy and aggressiveness every shift.
The grinder line grinds.

The only strike against the team right now is that the second line isn’t scoring. In fact, they don’t seem to be anything. Tomas Plekanec has disappeared down a rabbit hole. I can’t remember the last time I heard a play-by-play guy (on any station) mention his name.Hopefully, playing with Higgins and Dandy will energize him into at least more of a defensive role (that can at least also threaten to score).

On a whole, the team is playing better hockey than it has in months. On a whole, the team looks happier than it has in months. The team has chemistry. Players have confidence.

Guy Carbonneau may know hockey but, it seems, he didn’t know this team.

Gainey identified the changes he wanted to make, he made them, and now the team is better off. The Canadiens are playing the type of hockey they should have been playing all year.

Tonight’s game isn’t a “must-win”. But it’s still a statement game. The Leafs have taken it to us recently (especially on Saturday nights) and we need to show ourselves that we can beat a team that we’ve struggled against.

We’ll need to know that heading into the playoffs.

Getting back to the numbers:

The Habs currently sit in 7th, with 90 points.
The 4th place Flyers have 94 points.
The 10th place Sabres have 85 points.

We have 5 games left in the rest of this (not so regular) Centennial season.
Let’s make them count.

It promises to be the usual compelling Saturday-night matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the visiting Canadiens, the two franchises playing their 692nd game. Toronto, 5-4-4, is playing better than most figured they would by this time of the season. The Canadiens are 8-1-2, and were 6-1 winners in Toronto on the first Saturday of the season, spoiling the Leafs’ home opener.

Morning skate audio:

• Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson
• Toronto sniper Mikhail Grabovski (remember him?)
• Toronto defenceman Luke Schenn, just 19. First clip, second clip.
• Mike Komisarek
• Alex Tanguay
• Tom Kostopoulos

Links updated Sunday, 5:50 a.m.

Two-goal scorer Christopher Higgins applauds the Canadiens’ Bell Centre fans, who sold out the arena for the 141st consecutive time.
Dave Sandford, Getty Images

Standings | Lineups | AP Preview | How They Match Up | Gazette Preview | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone | Audio -> Carbo Press Conference | Higgins | Price | Kovalev | Stewart | Streit

Bring on the Boston Bruins, the Canadiens’ opponent in the quarterfinal round of the NHL playoffs, likely beginning Thursday in Montreal. And is this a good time to say that Montreal swept Boston 8-0 this season?

The Canadiens defeated the summer-bound Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 at the Bell Centre tonight, and thanks to Buffalo’s 3-0 win in Boston, Montreal will play the Bruins no matter what happens Sunday in the game between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Red Fisher column is here.

Should Pittsburgh lose to the Flyers, the Canadiens win the Eastern Conference and the Flyers push Boston into eighth place, making it a No. 1 vs. 8 matchup. Should the Penguins beat Philly, Montreal finishes second and Boston winds up in seventh, again matching up the Canadiens vs. the Bruins.

In theory, tonight’s game meant nothing to the Maple Leafs, out of playoff contention for some time. But give it to Montreal’s time-honoured Original Six foe from down Highway 401 – they made a game out of it.

Mark Streit got the Canadiens on the scoreboard tonight with his 13th of the season, a harmless looking snap shot from the blue line that handcuffed Toronto goalie Andrew Raycroft at 9:00 of the second period. Raycroft had been brilliant till then, making 18 saves – at least a handful of them getting in the way of seemingly sure goals.

Christopher Higgins doubled Montreal’s lead with a bullet from the right wing at 14:03, whipping his 26th of the year over Raycroft’s glove.

Toronto got one back with 1:58 left in the period, Mark Bell left completely alone in the shallow slot to take a Kris Newberry feed from behind the net, his shot beating Habs goalie Carey Price cleanly.

But the Canadiens clicked on the power play at 7:29 of the third, a heads-up play by Bryan Smolinski setting up Higgins for his second of the night.

Bell Centre fans rose as one and gave the Canadiens a deafening standing ovation through the entire final minute – including a wild fight with two seconds left between Toronto’s Bryan McCabe and Habs’ callup Gregory Stewart, whose grin alone was enough to light the Montreal dressing room a half-hour later.

The Canadiens outshot the Leafs 36-27.

Worth a note, even if it’s a free ad for Maclean’s magazine… 

God hates the blue and white – at least, that’s what the citizens of Leafs Nation would like to believe. After 41 years of failure, supernatural explanations start to seem pretty attractive, especially when hard facts are just too painful to face. The list of disappointments could fill volumes, and now this: For the first time in Leafs history, they’ve been eliminated from the playoffs for a third consecutive season. It’d be tempting to say the team has hit rock bottom, but it’s not clear they’re done digging.

It’s not bad luck. It’s not a curse. The Toronto Maple Leafs’ mediocrity is all about economics. This week, Maclean’s deputy managing editor Steve Maich provides a point-by-point deconstruction of the Leafs’ legacy of failure: how 40 years of constant internal disarray, short-term thinking and cultural decay has yielded massive profits and little else worth celebrating. In this portrait of a team that’s built to fail, Maich reveals why building a chronic loser is harder than you think.

Canadiens’ Alex Kovalev, who might be captain for awhile if Saku Koivu is out for a stretch, drills a shot at flinching Toronto goaltender Vesa Toskala.
Dave Sandford, Getty Images Sport

Standings | Lineups | AP Preview | How They Match Up | Game Photos | Gazette Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone

On the night of Earth Hour, the Toronto Maple Leafs turned the lights out on the Canadiens.

The Habs needed only to be tied with the Maple Leafs after 60 minutes tonight to win their first division championship in 15 seasons. But without captain Saku Koivu and the versatile Mark Streit in the lineup, and 24 hours after a rewarding but draining game in Buffalo, the task wouldn’t be an easy one.

The Habs fell 4-2 to the lowly Maple Leafs in Toronto, snapping Montreal’s four-game win streak and delaying by at least another game their hoped-for Northeast Division coronation.

Koivu and Streit both were drilled in the foot with shots against the Sabres, the extent of the damage only to be known on Sunday after exams are done in Montreal. Both watched tonight’s game at the Canadiens hotel before joining their teammates for the charter flight home. And they’d be joined on the trip by two limping teammates.

Defenceman Francis Bouillon was hit in the right instep by a Leafs slap shot with about eight minutes left in the game and watched the rest of the contest from the bench from behind an expression of considerable pain. Maxim Lapierre, meanwhile, was ripped in the back of the leg by a Mathieu Dandenault shot with about three minutes to go and hobbled off the ice.

The Canadiens fell behind 1-0 at 7:25 of the second period, then tied it on a goal at 8:23 when Lapierre caromed one in off the skate of seldom-used Dandenault at close range. It was Dandenault’s eighth goal of the season.

But they surrendered the lead again just 70 seconds later. Both of Toronto’s goals were scored by Anton Stralman.

The Leafs made it 3-1 at 3:17 of the third period and added their fourth at 15:16, both of those by Jiri Tlusty, to give the home team much more than they’d need on this night.

Tom Kostopoulos made it a little closer with 16 seconds to play, notching his seventh of the year.

A dramatic come-from-behind overtime victory over Buffalo on Friday had gotten the Habs back atop the Eastern Conference. With a single point against the Leafs tonight, they’d have clinched their first division title in a decade and a half. It wasn’t to be.

The Canadiens (44-25-10) still lead the Northeast Division by six points over Ottawa with three games remaining, the Senators having lost 4-0 earlier in the day to the Bruins in Boston. Montreal was gunning for their first division crown since winning the Adams Division in 1991-92.

Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau was forced to use a short bench for 51 minutes vs. Toronto, defenceman Ryan O’Byrne given an elbowing major and game misconduct at 9:00 of the first period for crushing Toronto’s Jeremy Williams into the end boards.

That was only part of the nine minutes of penalty-killing the Canadiens had to do in the first period, which explains why Montreal was outshot 10-2 in the opening frame. The Leafs would take 37 shots in all on Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak, Montreal taking 23 on Toronto’s Vesa Toskala.

The Canadiens did have their chances – Christopher Higgins missed a penalty shot and another good chance while Montreal was shorthanded in the third, while Lapierre missed a yawning Toronto net on the backhand moments earlier, Toskala down and well out of the play.

The Canadiens will have Sunday off before they practice Monday afternoon, then bus to Ottawa for Tuesday’s game against the Senators before wrapping up their regular season back home on Thursday and Saturday against Buffalo and Toronto.

Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala stones Canadiens’ Christopher Higgins on a penalty shot.
Graig Abel, NHLI via Getty Images

A tale of two captains: how would Habs fans react if Koivu made the same call as Sundin?
Dave Sandford, Getty Images

You can’t win: Mats Sundin, one of roughly seven million players rumoured to be coming to the Canadiens by tomorrow’s trade deadline, decides he wants to finish the season, at least, as a Toronto Maple Leaf, refusing yesterday to waive his no-trade clause.

And his loyalty to the franchise, after being told by the club that they want to unload him, is to have fans rip him for selfishness, i.e., not letting the Leafs rebuild for what they might get in exchange for him. This is after Sundin chose to stay, and honour a contract which gives him the right to do so … which the club gladly signed before saying it wants to dump him.

I’m not the world’s biggest Mats Sundin fan, but I say good for him. And yet he’s shredded for his loyalty. What am I missing here?

(And while there’s no suggestion that the Canadiens have similarly asked captain Saku Koivu to waive his NTC, what would the reaction be among Habs fans if they did and Koivu responded as Sundin has?)

Canadiens defenceman Patrice Brisebois throws a hair-raising check on Toronto’s Darcy Tucker.
Christinne Muschi, Reuters

Lineups | Preview | Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone | Carbo Post-Game Audio | Players Post-Game Audio (from RIS)

You knew the Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t going to stink out the joint as they did two night ago at home, 8-0 losers to the Florida Panthers.

And you knew the Canadiens knew they were in for a fight, as they always are when their perennial rival comes to visit.

So Montreal now heads to Ottawa for a Saturday date against the Senators, having dropped a 4-2 Bell Centre decision tonight to the not-dead-yet Maple Leafs.

With a victory and a Senators loss at home to Florida, the Canadiens would have taken over top spot in the Eastern Conference. But the Senators won 5-4, and coupled with the Habs loss pull three points ahead of Montreal.

The loss tonight evened the season series at three wins apiece. It was Canadiens goaltender Carey Price’s first defeat against the Maple Leafs, having beaten them the past three meetings this season.

Montreal outshot Toronto 36-28 but ran into Vesa Toskala, a hot goalie who was named first star on the night.

Tomas Plekanec, centring the Canadiens premier line, got the Canadiens on the scoreboard at 11:09, scoring his 20th of the season to equal his output of last season in just his 55th game this year.

Plekanec had a yawning Leafs net to shovel the puck home, fed by Alex Kovalev who deflected an Andrei Markov pass from the blue line, then took a second stab at it through a Toronto defender’s skates to set up his centreman parked at the edge of Toskala’s crease.

Toronto’s Chris Newberry tied it with a one-timed blast past Price at 17:24, fed by teammate Dominic Moore who outmuscled Canadiens defenceman Mark Streit along the boards.

Darcy Tucker, Public Enemy No. 1 on most visiting rinks he plays, was left unattended by Canadiens defenceman Patrice Brisebois at 1:24 of the second period, sneaking in front of Price to take a passout from Matt Stajan to bang in the goal that put the visitors up 2-1.

Kyle Wellwood then stretched the lead to 3-1 at 19:36, banging a rebound past Price on the power play with Sergei Kostitsyn serving a hooking penalty, the Canadiens’ first penalty of the remarkably tame game.

Kovalev brought the Canadiens to within one with a shorthanded goal, on a fine head-man pass from Plekanec at 6:20 of the third after a goal-saving effort by defenceman Josh Gorges, who continues to play well on the Montreal blue line. Plekanec sent the Russian on a breakaway, Kovalev scoring on a nifty backhand deke for his 25th goal of the season.

That gave Kovalev, the night’s second star, three goals and five assists in his last four games.

Tucker then hit the vacated Canadiens net with 29 seconds remaining to round out the scoring.

Updated on Sunday with links to Red Fisher’s game story. Updated with dressing-room audio

Linesman Vaughn Rody jokes with Canadiens’ Sergei Kostitsyn after the two collided along the boards.
John Mahoney, Gazette

Audio: Koivu | Higgins 1 | Higgins 2 | Price | Carbonneau News Conference

Lineups | Preview | Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone’s Blog

On Friday, Canadiens captain Saku Koivu was discussing his personal drought, not having scored since Nov. 17 – coincidentally, the last time his team had won at home.

“I’ve been in this situation before and I’m hoping there’s a solution,” Koivu said philosophically. “Hopefully (tonight) we can talk about my goal.”

As he wishes, then.

Koivu scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season, with Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Kovalev scoring singles, to pace the Canadiens to a strong, start-to-finish 4-1 victory over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

Habs goaltender Carey Price made 28 saves, losing the bid for his first NHL shutout with 4:06 to play. It was the 20-year-old’s third consecutive victory over Toronto this season.

The Canadiens, 16-11-5, put an end to a six-game Bell Centre winless streak, one that was a single game from tying the club record set seven years ago. The Leafs, 4-0 winners in Atlanta last night, couldn’t solve the Canadiens at either end of the ice, losing for just the fourth time in their last 11 games.

Koivu put the Canadiens on the scoresheet at 9:03 of the first period on the Habs’ fourth shot, whipping a backhand from 20 feet beside Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala’s crease into a maze in front that wound up in the Toronto goal off Leaf defenceman Hal Gill’s skate. Koivu’s sixth goal of the season gave Sergei Kostitsyn an assist, his first career NHL point, with another helper going to Christopher Higgins.

Drought? What drought? Koivu scored his second of the night at 3:09 of the second period, and there was nothing fluky about this one. Higgins snapped in a gorgeous pass from behind the Toronto faceoff circle, and Koivu, having slipped in behind the Toronto defence, cradled the puck then deked around Toskala, sliding the puck in. Defenceman Francis Bouillon also picked up an assist.

The Canadiens went up 3-0 at 10:17 on a hit-me deflection off the body of Andrei Kostitsyn. The play was started by Kovalev, who showed great puck sense in waiting to find the avenue for a pass from near the boards back to Mike Komisarek. The defenceman’s wrist shot from just inside the blue line banked in off Kostitsyn for the Russian’s sixth goal of the season.

Kovalev then scored the Canadiens’ fourth and his 14th of the year, having his rebound bounce past Toskala off defenceman Tomas Kaberle’s skate at 8:32 of the third.

The Leafs’ Boyd Devereaux spoiled the party, at least a little, his knuckleball seeming to deflect off defenceman Roman Hamrlik’s stick and past Price at 15:54. Listen to how Price describes it.

Leafs defenceman Bryan McCabe left the game with a broken left wrist in the third period after an awkward hit into the boards from Andrei Kostitsyn. The wrist, which is broken in three places, will force McCabe to miss the next six to eight weeks, according to team officials.

In five games against Toronto this season, the Canadiens have won in regulation, overtime and a shootout, the Leafs winning in regulation and overtime.

Montreal is home to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday before setting off on a holiday-spanning six-game road trip.

The usual mob of raucous Maple Leafs fans puts this game almost on neutral ice, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Bell Centre-jinxed Canadiens;

Rookie Canadiens winger Sergei Kostitsyn reflects on his first game in the NHL, Thursday against the Flyers in Philadelphia. Not that he’s spoken a lot about it with his older brother, Andrei.

The Toronto Star’s Kevin McGran has this piece today on Canadiens captain Saku Koivu talking about his Leafs counterpart, Mats Sundin. And the Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons has this story on last night’s 4-0 Leafs win over Atlanta.

A little sound from the dressing room post-practice on Friday afternoon:

Canadiens captain Saku Koivu on the team’s troubles at home, playing with Sergei Kostitsyn and Koivu’s own goal-scoring drought. Clip runs 3:43.

Goalie Carey Price on fine-tuning his game, home ice, his success against the Maple Leafs and how his mother was impressed by his first apartment in Montreal. Clip runs 2:08.

Rookie forward Sergei Kostitsyn talks about his NHL debut. Clip runs 6:07.

Head coach Guy Carbonneau’s daily media conference in English and French. He begins speaking about the health of Andrei Kostitsyn and Guillaume Latendresse. Clip runs 10:47.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price (left) accepts congratulations from teammate Cristobal Huet after Price’s impressive performance.
Mike Cassese, Reuters

Look for action photos here.

Lineups | Preview | Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone’s Blog

The last time the Canadiens were in Toronto this season, earlier this month, they won on an overtime breakaway goal. By not-often-scoring defenceman Mike Komisarek, for heaven’s sake.

Tonight, they went to a five-round shootout and Andrei Kostitsyn played the more likely hero, lifting the Canadiens to a 4-3 victory with the visitors’ second SO goal at a stunned Air Canada Centre.

Sign this victory in huge part to goaltender Carey Price, who made 46 saves and won his second straight game against the Canadiens’ long-time arch-rival.

The rookie netminder is now 6-2-1 this season; on the road, he’s 5-1-0.

Toronto captain Mats Sundin scored with 18 seconds left in the third period, Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala pulled for a sixth attacker, to pull the Leafs into a 3-3 tie. Sundin was the only one of five Leafs to beat Price in the shootout.

Montreal had goals by Alex Kovalev, his 11th and 12 goals of the season, both on the power play and both from his favoured faceoff circle, and Guillaume Latendresse, who added his sixth, banging one in from short range while playing on the first line with Saku Koivu and Christopher Higgins.

Kovalev scored again in the shootout, with Tomas Plekanec, Koivu and Higgins stopped by Toskala.

The Habs, who had lost two in regulation and won one in overtime in their three games against the Maple Leafs this season, improved to 13-8-3 in the Northeast Division. Toronto fell to 8-11-6, further greasing the skids for general manager John Ferguson Jr. and Paul Maurice, who are trying to lead a club that is in great turmoil.

Montreal was easily outshot 17-6 in the first period, but rebounded to hold a 15-13 edge in the second before being outgunned 15-6 in the third for the 45-25 Toronto margin. The Canadiens had a 3-1 edge in overtime.

The Canadiens will be in New Jersey on Friday to play the Devils, before returning home Saturday to entertain Radek Bonk’s Nashville Predators.

Updated by Kevin Mio

Lineups | Preview | Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone’s Blog

The Canadiens can thank Carey Price for the two points they took home with them after a 4-3 overtime win in Toronto on Tuesday night. Mike Komisarek scored the winner on a breakaway while the teams were playing 3-on-3, slipping a shot through the legs of Maple Leags goaltender Andrew Raycroft.

Price faced 40 shots, including 39 in regulation, and made 37 saves in his first start against the Maple Leafs. Meanwhile, the Canadiens took only 25 shots on Raycroft.

Montreal’s penalty killing was also key in the win, limiting Toronto to only one goal on seven oppotunities, including a lengthy 5-on-3 in the second period.

Andrei Markov opened the scoring for the Canadiens with a power-play goal in the first period. Kyle Wellwood would put the Leafs up 2-1 in the second period with a pair of goals before Andrei Kostitsyn tied it at 2-2 with less than a minute left.

Boyd Devereaux gave the Leafs a 3-2 lead halfway through the third period, but Alex Kovalev scored his ninth of the season to tie it at 3-3 with six minutes to play. Kovalev also added a pair of assists.

This was the first time the Canadiens have defeated the Leafs this season, having lost both games prior to this by one-goal margins.

Pre-game statistics to whet your appetite: