After a home-ice win over their closest pursuers, the Canadiens will begin the penultimate week of the NHL regular season with a three-point lead atop the Atlantic Division.
Sound familiar?
This is where we were at last Monday, after the Canadiens swept a home-and-home back-to-back against Ottawa.
The weekday schedule included home games against Detroit and Carolina, neither of which were in the playoff picture.
Ottawa had to visit Boston before playing a home game against Pittsburgh.
The race looked everything but over.
Then it wasn’t.
The Canadiens salvaged a loser’s point against Detroit and then lost badly to Carolina.