Montreal did not have the best home streak, in which they managed to win three wins over Calgary (4:2) and Vancouver (6:2 and 5:3). But in the return meeting with the Flames, the team still lost with a score of 0:2. The game turned out to be ineffective, although clubs earned 30 minutes of penalties for two. Also, the Canadiens were unexpectedly unable to cope with the weakest opponent in the Northern Division represented by Ottawa (2:3). This time the Canadians lacked a reliable game in defense. It is worth noting the weak play of the goalkeeper Price, who reflected only 86% of shots. But in the return leg Moneral took revenge.
Boston practically did not strengthen in any way in the offseason, but lost its leaders. Without Hayward Boston needs to rebuild their game. The team started the championship extremely poorly. After that the Celts put out an excellent streak, which allowed them to rise to the leaders of the conference, but problems with the roster due to quarantine and diseases of key players worsened results and threw the team back. Now the “Celts” are unstable, but they still hold on to the leaders of the Eastern Conference. Although in the last meeting they quite unexpectedly lost to Phoenix on the road.
