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Expectations are a funny thing. If you'd said to Habs fans back on April 8th, a few minutes after the Montreal Canadiens squeaked into the playoffs via the single point they earned in an uninspiring OT loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, that their team would bow out in the Stanley Cup Playoff semi-finals, after dispatching the President's Trophy-winning Washington Capitals and the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins along the way, they'd have taken that outcome in a heartbeat.

However, now that that extremely unlikely possibility has become reality Habs fans have a new set of expectations. They want to see their beloved team capture the Stanley Cup that has been denied them (or fans of any Canadian-based hockey club) for the past 17 years. Right now, anything less than Stanley Cup glory will be deemed a failure. The achievements of the past two rounds have already been forgotten, and there is very much a "What have you done for me lately?" attitude among the fan base right now.

While this might seem unfair, this is reality in professional sports. These are highly paid athletes, who are expected to perform at the peak of their ability when the big prize is on the line. By not scoring a single goal in the first two games of the series, the stars of the Habs have clearly been unable to fulfill that unwritten contract with their fans. Should they again fail to find the net in game three at the Bell Centre the cheers they've heard so often during this Cinderella playoff drive will quickly change to boos.

Yes, it is do or die tonight for this Cinderella team. A loss tonight would put them in a 3-0 hole in the series, and extinguish all but the faintest spark of hope for a Stanley Cup parade this June. Yes, the Flyers managed to overcome those same odds just last round, but given the fact they were the first team in 35 years, and the third ever to do so, it seems more than a little unrealistic to expect the Habs to turn the same trick.

If the Habs are going to get back in this series they need Jaroslav Halak to be the thief he was against Pittsburgh and Washington. He was every bit the brick wall depicted on his goalie mask in games the Canadiens absolutely had to have. This one certainly qualifies.

Mike Cammalleri has to find his scoring touch again. #13 was on an incredible run during the first two rounds, scoring 12 times in just 14 games. However, against Michael Leighton his hot stick has definitely cooled off. He has had a few stellar chances, but has been unable so far to solve the Flyers' goaltender.

Cammalleri also needs some help from the other Canadiens' weapons. If he didn't score another goal in these players, he could be said to have done his part. The same cannot be said of Scott Gomez, Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn. None of them has scored a goal since the Washington series. That is unacceptable, and cannot continue if the Habs want to get back in this series.

And finally, on defense, the Habs have to get back to the system that made them so successful against Washington and Pittsburgh. So far they haven't managed to be as adept at boxing out guys like Mike Richards, Simon Gagne or even Daniel Briere. These guys have reached the net with impunity, and that, more than any other reason, explains the difficulty Halak has had in replicating his earlier success.

It is desperation time for the Habs. If they can't find their A game tonight, then this series is over. Their "Cinderella Run" will instead be referred to as "The Big Tease" and you can bet fickle Habs fans will be angrier at this outcome than if their team had been swept out of the first round by the Caps.

There’s an old saying in hockey that you aren’t in trouble in a playoff series until you’ve lost a game at home. However, though that theory may be sound in many cases, it is hard to argue that the Montreal Canadiens aren’t in trouble after dropping the first two games against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Losing the first two games of a series on the road is one thing, but losing both games and not scoring a single goal in either of those games is another matter altogether. So far the Habs haven’t been able to solve Flyers’ goaltender Michael Leighton, despite outshooting Philly in both game one and game two. This is something of an ironic development, considering that in their first two match-ups against the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal was the team staging the highway robbery, winning despite being badly outshot in several games.

Goaltender Jaroslav Halak has been a shadow of the goaltender that stoned Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby in the first two rounds, giving up one weak goal after another. Either Halak’s hot hand has gone cold, or the Flyers have discovered a weak spot in his game that neither the Caps nor the Pens were able to find. If Halak can’t get his mojo back this battle between the 7th and 8th seeds in the Eastern Conference might end up being surprisingly short.

The Flyers, for their part, have played solid, if unspectacular hockey. Though they’ve been outshot, they have been driving the net hard, and have been rewarded for their willingness to go to the tough areas to recover loose pucks. Their powerplay has been deadly, and their penalty kill has been perfect so far through two games. Special teams generally play a huge part in any team’s post-season success, and so far the Flyers clearly have a wide edge in that department.

Perhaps the biggest reason for Montreal’s troubles has been a disturbing lack of leadership. Neither their highly paid stars like Scott Gomez and Mike Cammalleri nor their former Stanley Cup winners like Hal Gill and Travis Moen have stepped up to provide a spark for their club. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger Mike Richards, Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne and Chris Pronger have been stepping up on a regular basis. Somebody from the Habs needs to take note and make an impact in the series before it is over.

Back on April 10th the Montreal Canadiens secured the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a less than inspiring 4-3 OT loss to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. This followed a 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, and a 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Islanders. That’s right – at a crucial time of year when points were at an absolute premium – the Habs only managed 2 out of a possible 6 points against non-playoff-bound teams. Because they stumbled so badly down the stretch they were faced with the unenviable task of taking on the powerhouse Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, a team that had finished a whopping 33 points ahead of them in the standings. Pitted against the firepower of Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom the Habs were badly outmatched on paper, and most pundits were picking the Habs to bow out in 4 or 5 games. After the Caps won three of the first four games and pushed the Habs to the brink of elimination, it looked like those predictions would come true. With the overwhelming odds facing the Habs, not even the most diehard Canadiens fan would have dared dream their beloved team could potentially win the 2010 Stanley Cup.

What a difference a month makes.

In the remainder of that first round series Habs netminder Jaroslav Halak put on a goaltending performance as good as any seen by Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy, stymieing the Caps guns again and again, and helping the Habs do the unthinkable: coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series in 7 games.

After sending Ovechkin and crew packing the road didn’t get any easier for the Habs. The 6th seeded Boston Bruins and the 7th seeded Philadelphia Flyers both won their respective first round match-ups. As a result the Habs drew the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins as their second round opponent – a team featuring twin superstars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and one that had plenty of playoff experience after two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals.

Once again the Habs were huge underdogs, and once again hockey prognosticators were picking them to come out on the losing end. Those opinions didn’t change even after the Habs managed to take game one in Pittsburgh 3-1. Yes, they were up 1-0 in the series, but the victory had come at a terrible price as their top defenseman, Andrei Markov, suffered a torn ACL, putting him out for the remainder of the series.

Yet, as is often the case when a team loses a star player during a playoff run the rest of Markov’s teammates stepped up their games to fill the enormous void left by the star blueliner. P.K. Subban, a rookie defenseman, who up until the end of the Washington series had been plying his trade as a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL, quickly made Habs fans forget about the absence of Markov, logging huge minutes and playing on both the powerplay, and the penalty kill. Hulking defenseman Hal Gill and his unheralded partner Josh Gorges continued to play the shutdown role they were so effective at in the first round, turning their focus on Malkin and Crosby, frustrating the Pens’ superstars and keeping them from being a factor in the series.

Jaroslav Halak continued to shine in net, as the collapsing style of the Canadiens saw plenty of rubber directed his way. Time and again he stole what looked to be sure goals off the sticks of Penguins snipers. The Canadiens d-men, led by Hal Gill, blocked nearly as many shots as Halak did, and as the series wore on it was evident that the Pens were getting more and more frustrated.

However, as good as the Habs were at keeping the puck out of their net, they needed some offense, and Mike Cammalleri provided plenty of that. Cammalleri was great in the first round against Washington, netting 5 goals in 7 games. He was even better against Pittsburgh, and it seemed like every time he got a golden chance the puck ended up in the back of the net. All in all he tallied 7 goals in the series, giving him 12 in the playoffs, the most of any player.

The series went back and forth, and once again the Habs fought back from the brink of elimination to force a game 7. Pittsburgh seemed to have to clear advantage, playing at home, and with the experience of having won game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals against Detroit the previous year in their back pocket. However, once again the Habs defied the odds, stunning the crowd at the Mellon Arena as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead partway through the second period. To the Penguins’ credit, they never gave up, but ultimately the hole was just too deep to dig out of, and when the dust settled on game 7 the Habs had emerged victorious, ending the Pens’ dreams of consecutive Stanley Cups after handing the defending champs a humbling 5-2 loss in their home building.

With clutch victories over two of the NHL’s best teams under their belts, the Habs have suddenly gone from a huge underdog to a team that has a very legitimate chance to win the 2010 Stanley Cup. Though they don’t know whether they will face the Bruins or the Flyers in the semi-finals yet, they do know they will face a team that finished significantly closer in the regular season standings to them than either Washington or Pittsburgh did. If Halak can continue his hot play, and the rest of the team continues to buy into the defensive system that has made them so successful there is a good chance they can advance to the Stanley Cup Finals and a possible date with destiny.

So, can the Habs win their 25th Stanley Cup this year, ending a 17 year drought for the franchise? They still have a long uphill climb ahead of them, and the Flyers/Bruins, San Jose Sharks/Chicago Blackhawks will certainly have something to say about it, but the notion of the Canadiens hoisting the 2010 Stanley Cup certainly doesn’t seem anywhere near as far-fetched as it did back on April 10th.