Jun 7, 2021
By the Numbers: History on Habs' side ahead of Game 4
The Montreal Canadiens stand at the precipice of a trip to the NHL's final four for the first time since 2014 and there's good reason to believe that they can get there.
TSN.ca Staff
The Montreal Canadiens stand at the precipice of a trip to the NHL's final four for the first time since 2014 and there's good reason to believe that they can get there.
Ahead of Monday night's Game 4 against the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell Centre, a look back at club history shows that Les Habitants have gotten the job done when in a similar position in the past.
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How sweep it is?
This is the 34th occasion in team history that the Canadiens have taken a 3-0 lead in a series. In the 33 previous series, the Habs have won all of them. In 22 of those series, the Habs completed the four-game sweep. The 22 series sweeps are an NHL record. The team's last such sweep came in 2014 in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but a more interesting one came in 1993.
While Habs fans are quick to look for augurs of '93, the year in which the team last won the Stanley Cup, there is an interesting parallel to what happened in the first two rounds of that famous postseason. After defeating the Quebec Nordiques in six games in the opening round of the Adams Division playoffs, the Habs came up against the Buffalo Sabres in the division final. The Sabres were fresh off of a four-game upset sweep of the Boston Bruins, capped off by Brad May's memorable overtime winner in Game 4 that was made famous by Rick Jeanneret's "May Day!" call. Riding high, the Sabres were promptly eliminated by Montreal in a four-game sweep, marking the last time the Habs swept a team coming off of a sweep.
To make matters all the more dire for the Jets, the team has never come back to win a playoff series in which it has trailed at any point.
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Going streaking
Speaking of 1993, the Habs' current six-game winning streak is the longest such run for the club in the playoffs since the year they last won the Cup. In '93, Montreal won the final two games of its series with the Nords, swept the Sabres and went up 3-0 on the New York Islanders before losing Game 4 by a score of 4-1 to end that streak at nine games.
2021 NHL PLAYOFF WINNING STREAKS
TEAM | WINS | DATE |
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Montreal Canadiens | 6 | Active |
Colorado Avalanche | 6 | May 17-June 2 |
Boston Bruins | 5 | May 17-May 29 |
Winnipeg Jets | 4 | May 19-May 24 |
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Don't fall behind
The last time the Habs trailed a game was back in Game 4 against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. Since that 4-0 loss, Montreal has either been on even terms or ahead in their last six games, which equals 376:14 of game time. This team can set the all-time playoff record for not trailing if they can repeat the feat for two more games. The current record is 488:38 held by the 1960 Montreal Canadiens...who also happened to win the Stanley Cup that year.
LONGEST PLAYOFF STREAKS WITHOUT TRAILING
TEAM | YEAR | TIME |
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Montreal Canadiens | 1960 | 488:38 |
Boston Bruins | 2013 | 436:48 |
Chicago Blackhawks | 1992 | 405:59 |
Montreal Canadiens | 1978 | 388:43 |
Montreal Canadiens | 2021 | 376:14 |