If you told Montreal Canadiens fans they would make the playoffs in December, they may have laughed.
According to Kayla Douglas of theScore, the Habs were in last place in the Eastern Conference on Dec. 16 with an 11-16-3 record. Since then, they’ve rebounded, going 29-15-8.
On Wednesday night, Montreal (40-31-11, 91 points) beat the Carolina Hurricanes (47-29-5, 99 points), 4-2, in a home game, clinching the last spot in the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Canadiens eliminated the Columbus Blue Jackets (39-33-9, 87 points).
“Just really proud of our group,” Canadiens center Nick Suzuki said in a postgame interview with Sportsnet’s Shawn McKenzie. “I think there’s not a lot of people that believed in us and didn’t think that we could do this. We’ve been working every single day for this opportunity. To clinch our spot in the last game seems pretty fitting for us.”
