Playoff Fever

Here we are, post #100 of the year.

It's been the best year of my life. Having a front-row seat to the magical ride that's been the Canadiens regular season has been unbelievable. So many amazing moments. Watching a young team come of age and veterans feeding of the youth. A goaltender who has only just begun to etch his name into history.

Carey Price is the real deal. Talking to him after the game yesterday he once again had a great, albeit brief quote when asked about the possibility of winning the Eastern conference,

"They don't hang conference titles in this rink, they raise Stanley Cup banners. It'd be kinda nice to get it but everyone here knows what the ultimate prize is."

He knows. It's a total cliche, but the real season starts when the Bruins and Habs get down to business at the Bell Centre on Thursday. This team is playing unbelievable hockey right now. Losing their captain made them kick it up a notch. Chris Higgins has been dominant of late, getting his 26th and 27th goals of the year last night.

"It was an up and down year for me, a struggle to find consistency in my game. I feel I've played better in the last couple of weeks, when it mattered most and hopefully I can continue that in the playoffs."

Well said by one of the ambassadors of the this team, and the author of what I feel is one of the big turning points of the campaign with a monster goal off a lucky bounce in Florida back in December.

However as Mr. Price pointed out, the regular season is over.

The Boston Bruins closed out their regular season with a flat effort in a 3-0 loss to Buffalo. It's hard to believe they're a playoff team. It's also hard to believe they play the Canadiens against whom their struggles have been extremely well documented. They took one out of a possible 16 points against the Habs this year. Tim Thomas was lit up by Habs players all year long. Zdeno Chara was exposed by the Canadiens speed in every game.

The thing is, none of that matters. It's a new season.