The Canadiens are in the playoffs.* Tonight's 2-1 win against last year's Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks, ensures the red-white-and-blue will play in the first round. Who they will play is now up to the next two games. If the standings remain as they are, they face their arch-rivals, the Boston Bruins. Such a meeting in the first round would surely be filled with drama: amplified by the Chara/Pacioretty affair earlier this year.

The caption here could likely read 'When Goalies Attack!'. That's exactly what happened last Saturday in a game versus the New York Rangers. In fact, if you watched any of the last three Canadiens games, you've been privy to some rather odd and rare occurrences - rabid leaping goalies included. In the last four days, the Habs played three games and are up another 5 points. Not bad considering the last two were back-to-back and clearly exhausting games for the team.

Go Habs go! The last three words from my previous post have borne two victories. The first against the Pittsburgh Penguins was in large part thanks to Carey Price. Malkin & co. came on strong despite Sidney Crosby's absence and managed to outshoot the Habs 32-23. The match was oddly reminiscent of last year's playoffs as it was a heavy grind as opposed to skill that eked out a win. It was a difficult thing to do considering Gorges is now out for the season. Pittsburgh took the lead in the first. After a second period goal by Pouliot the game went to third and overtime periods - both goalless. It took a fifth shoot-out attempt for Pouliot to double his score with a beautiful deke and puck slide to the right of the Pittsburgh goalie. This was the Canadiens' first shoot-out round of the season.

For those casual hockey fans or newcomers to the city, I've written this brief sum-up of our red-white-and-blue's performance for the 2010-2011 season. In brief, it was a high first few months and a low last ten games, but us fans are still holding onto hope for a rebound.

What happens when someone who knows next to nothing reports on a hockey game? Well, for one, the Habs win 4-3 against the Bruins! What's more, Midnight Poutine readers get a window into the mind of someone whose thoughts focus more on whether the Bell Centre is heated or the logistics of mass marketing in major league sports franchises than the details of the game. But having learned a bit more about what offside means and why calling interference on a bogus trip can be contentious, I feel like I'm doing my pseudo-Canadian heritage proud.

In what we Midnight Poutiners have interpreted as a push for national unity (or something like that, because we can't figure out another reason), the CBC has invited Habs fans near and far to submit videos outlining why the country should be cheering for the Canadiens. Or at least that's the way we see it - they framed it "Canucks vs. Canadiens," but to us it's a non-issue, right?