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WINNIPEG – The last three games of the Montreal Canadiens regular season could be the difficult word. They will face the Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL's top team this season, the Washington Capitals, the defending Stanley Cup champions and their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
They might need victories in all three games to reach the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, but no matter, Canadians believe it will be hard not to play in the playoffs.
"We are excited about this opportunity and we will be up to it," said before Max Domi, who earned a decisive pbad in a crucial 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Bell Square MTS on Saturday.
[RELATED: Canadiens defeat Jets, keep pace for second wild card in East]
Montreal (42-29-8) is tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second free match in the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference playoffs, but Columbus has a game in hand. They are each a point behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the first wild card. Carolina also has four games left. The Blue Jackets (43) and Hurricanes (41) each had more victories in regulation time and overtime wins than the Canadians (40), which is the first tiebreaker if the teams finished with the same number. points at the end of the season.
"We talked about it all the time – we do not give up," said the Canadiens captain Shea Weber I said. "We're not out yet, six more points are available for us, we're going to take the next game here and try to win that one and see what happens."
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The Canadians, who hold the Lightning at the Bell Center on Tuesday (7:30 pm ET, TSN2, RDS, SUN, NHL.TV), are 5-1-1 in the last seven games, but the loss to the Blue Jackets Tuesday.
The Candians' hopes seemed a terrible blow, but they beat the Jets, who faced the Nashville Predators for first place in the Central Division.
"The ups and downs of the season," said Weber. "Obviously we have suffered a bit more against Columbus, but we know we can not do anything for the moment except win our games, we just have to take care of our stuff, one game at a time.
"We won the first game we had planned to win this week, obviously we had to do it to win all four wins, we have a lot of work ahead of us and we have a good team. [to play] Tuesday then we will enjoy a few minutes then go home and prepare for Tampa. "
To the front Jordan Weal, who had a goal and a help against the Jets in the front row with Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armiasays the program for the coming week suits him very well.
"We have three games here against good teams and that's who you want to play in. Play against the best teams because you'll know we deserve it," said Weal, who was acquired from the Coyotes of the day. Arizona for striker Michael. Chaput on February 25th.
"It was good to recover this one and stay on the hunt."
Weal has collected eight points (three goals, five badists) in 13 games for Montreal since the exchange. He added that despite the difficult road they faced, the prospects for the Canadiens had not faded in the final weeks of the regular season and that they were surpbading the Jets 44-24 and winning. on the road in Winnipeg proved it.
"It just shows the work ethic of the group here," he said. "The day I arrived here, you could say it was a group of guys who really like being close to each other and working for each other – it's really important to be a winning team.
"You just have to keep pushing and keep pushing and do not worry about the outside noise, it's difficult, you're going to look at the dashboards, it's everywhere, you're scrolling through your phone and it appears to you You just have to keep pushing. "
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The schedule does not favor Canadians.
Three of the last four games of the Blue Jackets are against teams eliminated from the playoff race: Buffalo Sabers Sunday; New York Rangers Friday and Ottawa Senators on Saturday. They host the Boston Bruins, who are second in the Atlantic Division on Tuesday. The Hurricanes play two games against playoff teams for the playoffs (at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday and the Maple Leafs on Tuesday), but finish the season with two teams eliminated (against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday) against the Philadelphia Flyers. the Saturday).
Before the game in Winnipeg, Canadiens coach Claude Julien had been used to staying on the course, his comments being based on the fact that his players were about to get back on track after the defeat. Columbus.
But his tone became extremely serious when it was suggested that Canadians might need the Blue Jackets or Hurricanes to lose some games to help them qualify for the playoffs.
"It would help," Julien said. "But at the same time, I do not want our team to not do its job and hope someone else does it for them – it's kind of like that I'm going with our I would like us to take control of our own destiny, win the games we have left and hope this will get us into the playoffs. "
Julien said the Canadiens were a great rebound team for most of the season. They left that, apart from a few weeks, they did not let one or two mediocre matches turn into a long series of defeats.
Montreal lost five straight games (0-3-2) from November 19 to 27 and lost four in a row from February 9 to 17 (0-3-1), but these were the only series of more series two defeats in one row all season.
"Most of the time, we managed to bounce back quickly," he said. "You have to trust your players and your team, they can do it."
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The same thing would apply later in the season, said Julien.
"We do not go there and do not reinvent the game because of our position in the season," he said. "You do not want to make it a mountain because you do not want guys to go tight in. You want them to go live but understand the outcome of what's at stake. It's the best way to get ready for a game. "
"You go, play and hope to have wings … play a fast game like we did this year when we were successful."
Using their speed and playing with the puck will be the key to everything, as was the case for Montreal all season, said Domi.
"We have come so far, so why change now?" he said. "This is a very united group on the ice and elsewhere, we have worked very hard this year to continue to prove that you are wrong, we will enjoy it and make the most of it."
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