The Montreal Canadiens will host the defending champions Chicago Blackhawks this Tuesday at the Center Bell Arena. This will be the lone meeting between the two teams during the course of the season. The last time that these two met was during the last season
which saw the Blackhawks coming up with a 3-2 win after a close battle between the two sides.
This is one of those rare cross-conference games that if lost by either of the teams can knock them out of the play-off contention. The result at Center Bell will for sure determine the destiny of both teams for the upcoming play-offs as to whether the see
the play-offs or play in them.
The Stanley Cup win last year may still yet be a fresh memory for the Blackhawks and their fans but the fact that they are in danger of getting knocked out means that this might be the only good memory they will have. If the Blackhawks are knocked out of
post season then this will happen for the time since 2007 when the Hurricanes were knocked out of the cut.
The Blackhawks will not be challenged from the ninth placed Calgary Flames considering the fact that they have three games in hand over them. However, the real threat comes from teams like Dallas Stars who are three points behind the Blackhawks and have
the same amount of games left as the Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks are the stumbling rock for themselves as they have failed to register a regulation time win in the last five games that they have played and lost the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. A win for the team in the game would help them a great
deal as it would give them some breathing space between the chasing pack and also put them above the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference standings.
The Blackhawks have played 78 games so far in the season out of which they have won 42 games in regulation time, eight games in overtime to score a total of 92 points. They occupy the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference. The Canadiens have played
79 games during the course of the season out of which they have won 42 games in regulation time, seven games in overtime to score a total of 91 points. The Canadiens occupy the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference but are only one point out of the eight positions.
The Canadiens are in the play-off cut but they need to improve on their performance and all of their remaining games if they want to stay in the play-off cut. They came up with a decent performance which saw them winning the game 3-1 against the New Jersey
Devils.
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