Montreal went into the first round series as the decided underdog against the conference winning Sabres, but you would not have known that when the series ended on Thursday night. The Canadiens ended the Sabres season with a 4-2 win in game 6 in front of a packed house at the Bell Center.

Buffalo talked trash all year about being the best, while Montreal laid back and barely qualified for the playoffs. With the talent on the Canadiens roster, this was a disappointment to the players and fans, but when the playoffs start, its a clean slate. Montreal felt they were built for playoff hockey, and was ready for the challenge.

The turning point of the series ended up being what the media thought was the nail in the coffin. Six minutes into the 3rd period of game 4, Montreal was down 4-2 and 2-1 in the series, and starting goalie Miikka Kiprusoff went down. Mike Smith came in, and after a poor regular season, everyone thought the series was over. And it was, but not the way everyone thought. Montreal scored 3 quick goals to take game 4, won in double overtime in game 5 in Buffalo, and demolished Buffalo in game 6 at home. During this time the PK killed off 19 straight Buffalo power plays while scoring 4 times with the man advantage. The defense as a whole picked up its play to help out Smith who won 3 straight games for the first time all season.

Now the Canadiens wait to see the winner of game 7 between New Jersey and Washington to see where they will travel for game 1. They will undoubtedly be an underdog again, and thats right where they want to be.