Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.33

www.afootinthecrease.com

By virtue of pulling off the unthinkable and overcoming a three games to one series deficit to defeat the President`s Trophy winning Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, everything accomplished from here on out should be considered a bonus for the Montreal Canadiens. Yes, any season that doesn`t end in a Stanley Cup in Montreal is viewed as a failure but let`s be honest, that`s nice to say; however, it rarely is accurate.

Obviously, no team goes into a season hoping not to win the Cup but when only one out of thirty teams goes away happy, expectations have to be set appropriately by the remaining teams to avoid being in constant states of depression. To look sensibly at the situation, there are just some years where expecting to win the Stanley Cup just isn`t a reasonable goal. This was one of those years in Montreal.

Did anybody actually expect the Canadiens to upset the Capitals? A team that barely made the playoffs going up against one of the most high octane teams in the NHL, that series did not bode well for the Canadiens. But they managed to squeak by with an impressive commitment to team defense and two all world netminding performances from Jaroslav Halak. In the Pittsburgh Penguins though, the Canadiens face a far more formidable opponent, one with more depth, more playoff experience, better goaltending and frankly, one with more ways to win.

Down a game already in the series and losing their top defenseman in Andrei Markov, the Canadiens have their work cut out for them. Although just as nobody should have predicted when they went up against the Capitals, nobody should be expecting the Habs to defeat the Penguins. If they do, well that’s what good stories are made of but if they don’t, it shouldn’t be considered a disappointment. They’ve already exceeded their realistic expectations. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.