What a difference a single year makes. Last season the Montreal Canadiens finished atop the Eastern Conference standings, and the Boston Bruins had just squeaked into the playoffs, snagging the 8th spot. Montreal had dominated the Bruins all year, and fans and media alike were predicting a quick sweep by the Habs. Well, the Bruins surprised everyone. Rookie Milan Lucic led the way, hitting everything in sight and scoring clutch goals, eliciting comparisons to Cam Neely as he dominated the offensive zone. Montreal managed to win the series, but in a nail-biting 7 games, a far cry from the easy coast through the first round everyone was predicting. The grueling series took its toll on the Habs, who bowed out in 6 against the Philadelphia Flyers in the next round.

This season the roles are reversed. Boston has been the surprise of the league, and has led the Eastern Conference standings almost wire to wire, while the Habs have struggled since the midway point of the season, and didn't secure the 8th and final playoff spot until game 81 of the season. The Bruins have dominated the season series, much like the Canadiens did a year ago, winning 5 of the 6 meetings between the clubs. Now sophomore Milan Lucic has again been front and center in the heated rivalry, and his lopsided fight with Mike Komisarek back in November is pointed at as the turning point in the Habs' season.

The Bruins improvement has been nothing short of miraculous. Sure, they were expected to improve this year with plenty of young talent on their roster, but no one predicted they would finish this season with a whopping 116 points, just one shy of the 117 San Jose earned to nab the President's Trophy. Several Bruins players had breakout seasons, led by goaltender Tim Thomas, who led the NHL is both goals against average and save percentage, and is one of the favorites to capture the Vezina Trophy this year. 3rd year player Phil Kessel finally lived up to the potential that caused the Bruins to draft him 5th overall in the 2006 NHL entry draft, finishing with a team-leading 36 goals, despite only playing 70 games. Sophomore David Krejci was even more of a surprise, finishing his 2nd NHL season with 73 points and a league-leading +37 rating. Krejci showed superstar potential this season, scoring several highlight reel goals along the way. Rookie Blake Wheeler completes the trifecta. Wheeler finished his inaugural campaign with a respectable 45 points and an incredible +36 rating, second in the league behind only Krejci. With these 3 great young players, along with Lucic the future looks bright indeed for the Bruins.

However, no matter how talented a team is you don't win in the playoffs without grit, leadership and experience, and captain Zdeno Chara has plenty of those 3 qualities. The towering rearguard had another outstanding season, and will get his fair share of votes for the Norris Trophy. Chara is going to be an absolute nightmare for the small Habs forwards to contend with, with his punishing physical play and incredible reach. He can also punish the Canadiens on the powerplay with his booming slapshot, and the mere threat of that point shot really opens up the down-low play so the crafty Marc Savard can work his magic. Look for Chara, more than any other player, to be the key to the series for the Bruins.

There is significantly less for Habs fans to be excited about heading into this series. They have limped their way through the second half of the NHL season, and for a while there it didn't even look like this storied franchise would make the playoffs in the year they are celebrating their 100th season. In a desperate attempt to right the ship GM Bob Gainey fired coach Guy Carbonneau and stepped behind the bench himself. However, the Habs haven't fared much better since Gainey took over, and never did have that honeymoon phase that teams often enjoy when a new boss steps behind the bench. To make matters worse for the Habs they lost their #1 defenseman, and 2nd leading scorer when Andrei Markov was injured in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs last weekend. Markov gets it done at both ends of the ice for the Habs and is the key element in their 5 on 5 breakout as well as their quarterback on the powerplay.

The very fact that Markov finished 2nd in team scoring is another cause for concern. He finished only a single point behind teammate Alexei Kovalev, who led the team with a paltry 65 points. The team is going to need to find some scoring touch if they are going to have a hope against the powerful Bruins offense. One bright spot has been the play of Kovalev, Koivu and Tanguay as a line. Ever since Gainey put the trio together the line has been arguably the hottest in the league, torching opposing teams on a nightly basis. However, though the trio have found instant chemistry, putting them together has left the Canadiens other 3 lines with some serious depth issues, and the team's 2nd line, centered by Tomas Plekanec has yet to find any spark.

Another bright spot for the Habs has been the recent resurgence of goaltender Carey Price. Just a few short weeks ago Carey Price looked headed for a breakdown. He was playing with no confidence and was fighting the puck on even the simplest of shots. During the stretch drive though he has finally found some of the swagger that made him so great in his rookie year, and his spectacular play is the main reason his Habs managed to eke their way into the playoffs. Price will most certainly be the wild card in this series. If he can avoid cracking under the pressure, and play like he has the last few games of the regular season he will at least give the Habs a hope in this series.

That being said, a Habs victory has to be considered a longshot at best. The Bruins are better than the Habs at every single position right now, and the gaping hole left by the Markov injury is impossible to plug. This is one of the most bitter rivalries in professional sports though, so don't expect the Canadiens to just roll over and give the series to the Bruins. Every inch of ice will be hotly contested, and there will be lots of bumps and bruises on both sides when this one is over.

Prediction: Boston Bruins win the series 4-2

Even though their team lost in overtime tonight to the hated Boston Bruins Habs fans everywhere breathed a huge sigh of relief tonight as the stumbling Canadiens nabbed the single point they needed to clinch a playoff spot in the NHL's tight Eastern Conference. By sneaking into the playoffs on game 81 of the season the Canadiens avoided a massive disaster. There would have been riots in the streets if the storied franchise had missed the playoffs in their centennial season. No doubt Gary Bettman and the rest of the NHL brass are happy as well as the Canadiens are one of the biggest cash cows in the league, and they can use all the money they can get in this difficult economic environment.

The game itself was a possible preview of a first round playoff match between the Bruins and Canadiens and players on both sides played as though the playoffs had already started, neither side giving an inch as the 2 teams racked up 76 minutes in penalties between them. Former Hab Mark Recchi played the spoiler, scoring the OT winner and picking up a pair of assists against his old team. Montreal defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who had been expected to miss the rest of the year with a shoulder injury, was back in the lineup and scored a key goal to stake Montreal to a 4-3 lead late in the second period. Giant Bruins rearguard Zdeno Chara tied it up early in the third to set the table for Recchi's OT heroics.

The New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers, both embroiled in a three way race with the Habs for the final 2 playoff spots, won their respective games tonight. The Florida Panthers wound up being the odd man out as they were officially eliminated by Montreal's single point. The Habs and Rangers finished the night tied with 93 points, and playoff seeding will not be decided until game 82 of the regular season. Montreal and New York will play either the Boston Bruins or the Washington Capitals depending on how things wind up. At this point Habs fans don't care who their team faces, they are just glad they'll get to see some playoff hockey...one round anyways.

It really is a shame that the NHL playoffs are not starting tonight because if they were fans everywhere would be treated to some of the most intriguing playoff match-ups in recent memory.

If the puck were to drop on the NHL playoffs starting tonight the match-ups would be as follows:

1 (Boston Bruins) vs 8 (Montreal Canadiens)
2 (New Jersey Devils) vs 7 (New York Rangers)
3 (Washington Capitals) vs 6 (Pittsburgh Penguins)
4 (Philadelphia Flyers) vs 5 (Carolina Hurricanes)

With the notable exception of the Philadelphia/Carolina match-up all of these series would have plenty of compelling drama, fueled by both history and mutual hatred.

Bruins vs. Canadiens - Despite the wide point spread between Boston and Montreal a series between these two teams would almost certainly be wildly entertaining. These two clubs have had decades to develop an almost religious hatred of one another, and recent history has only added more fuel to this already incendiary rivalry. First of all the Canadiens eliminated the Bruins from last year's playoffs in a bitter 7 game series, and there can be little doubt the powerful Bruins are hungering to return the favor. Then there is the little incident that took place early this season between the Habs' Mike Komisarek and Bruins' bruiser Milan Lucic. The two, who'd had an ongoing war dating back to last year's playoffs, decided to drop the mitts in a game on November 13. Lucic won the bout handily then proceeded to crow his victory while standing over Komisarek. The incident naturally didn't sit well with any of the Habs players, and was only made worse when it was discovered Komisarek injured his shoulder in the fight. Komisarek missed a month with the injury and has been only a shadow of his former self since the scrap took place. If this series does indeed happen look for these two proud warriors to go head to head in battle for the ages.

Devils vs. Rangers - Hockey's version of the Subway Series has always been a heated rivalry, but last year's playoff match-up between the two clubs raised the temperature to the boiling point. At the heart of the battle were none other than the NHL's biggest headache - also known as Sean Avery - and hockey's all time winningest goalie - Mr. Martin Brodeur. Avery spent the bulk of the series in Brodeur's crease, antagonizing the usually unflappable keeper with a bevy of unsportsmanlike antics, including waving his stick blade in front of Brodeur's face. Even after the series was over Avery couldn't take the high road and while his "Fatso" comment after Brodeur neglected to shake his hand wasn't as controversial as his now infamous "sloppy seconds" sound bite you can bet Brodeur remembers it well and is anxious for a little payback. It is almost as though fate is conspiring to put these two guys at one another's throats. Avery started the season with the Dallas Stars, and Brodeur missed months with a torn biceps, yet here they both are, back with the Rangers and Devils, on another collision course. Hopefully fate continues to make them dance to this merry tune, and fans get to see their rivalry renewed come April.

Capitals vs. Penguins - You can rest assured that Gary Bettman is absolutely salivating at the possibility that these two clubs will meet up in this year's playoffs. It was a crushing disappointment last season when Philadelphia scored the overtime winner against the Caps in game 7 of their first round playoff series last year. Had Ovechkin and the Capitals come out of that series they would have met up with Crosby's Penguins in a legendary clash featuring many of the game's greatest young stars. Now, a year later, the rivalry has had even more time to fester, and ongoing feuds involving Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin and Semin have made a potential playoff series between these two clubs much more than just a showcase of talent. If these two teams were to collide you can bet that TV ratings would be through the roof, and that sort of exposure is exactly what the NHL needs, especially in this difficult economy.

Unfortunately, as tight as the Eastern Conference playoff race is there is a good chance we won't see one of these match-ups, let alone all. However, if fate smiles on us and the planets align the potential is there for fans everywhere to see some of the best playoff hockey in years. Cross your fingers folks.