The Montreal Canadiens were on their way to a third consecutive season without playoffs before the entire hockey world came to a screeching halt. They had a pair of eight game losing streaks that were impossible to overcome and they became sellers at the trade deadline, basically waving the white flag in the process.
They just missed out on the postseason last year as they finished with 96 points but could not get into a wild card position that was taken by the Columbus Blue Jackets who had 98 points.
It was not going to be as close this season, and it looked certain that the Habs would finish somewhere in the bottom ten of the league standings.