Improved Canadiens relish playoff chance

Division winners after finishing last in East a year ago

BrOS S A r d, Qu e . • A tough battle awaits Montreal against the Ottawa Senators in the NHL playoffs, but the Canadiens will gladly take it after what happened last year.

The Canadiens were dead last in the eastern Conference a year ago and by late April were well into their off-season routines. Now they face a best-ofseven conference quarter-final against their closest geographical rival.

“It’s tough when you finish in 15th place,” defenceman P.K. Subban said Monday. “Some guys are going home right now and some are going to the world championship.

“Some are going to start training in another week and a half. We’re still playing hockey. We’re privileged to do that, but we worked hard to put ourselves in that position and now we’ll work hard to keep playing. We know what the ultimate goal is.”

The Canadiens ended up second in the conference when the Senators knocked off the Bruins 4-2 in Boston on Sunday night in a game postponed by the Boston Marathon bombing two weeks ago.

Montreal will face the seventhplace Senators in the playoffs for the first time, with the opening two games at the Bell Centre on Thurs- day and Friday night before moving to Ottawa for Game 3 on Sunday. The teams have never really had a heated rivalry, but that may change when they meet in the post-season.

“We’re very lucky to have two Canadian teams in the first round,” Subban said. “I mean, there’s going to be one national anthem before the game and the Canadian flag will be passed around. It’s a cool atmosphere to be in.”

The Senators, who lost four times in the post-season to their other rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, a decade ago, are looking forward to a first meeting with Montreal.

“They have come a long way all year and they found a way to win the division, especially after having a subpar year last year, so they are definitely feeling good about themselves,” Senators goalie Craig Anderson said.

“It’s going to be a series of mistakes,” Subban added. “Both teams have systems in place and they execute them well.

“It’ll be who can execute better and who is more disciplined. They’ve got a good power play and we’ve shown we can have a good one at times. For us right now it’s about being focused and staying on task.”

The series will start late because the NHL wanted to give Ottawa and Boston an extra day off after their makeup game. The Bell Centre was booked for a rihanna concert on Wednesday, so it will start on Thursday. Another concert by singer Marie-Mai set for Friday night was cancelled to make way for hockey.