As the Canadiens have worked through the final third of their doomed season, each opponent has brought with them a different cruel reminder.
The Buffalo Sabres can't help but remind the Habs and their fans of the crucial points Montreal gave up to inferior teams earlier in the campaign. Similarly, a second meeting with the Dallas Stars dredged up the memory of the Tricolore failing to keep pace with one of the league's stronger squads.
Tonight's game with the Minnesota Wild harkens back to perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Montreal's slump-turned-death-sentence.