The die is now cast; the Montreal Canadiens will take on the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after qualifying in their last game of the season. To those of us who have been around for a while, there’s a big déjà vu feeling there.

Mission Accomplished, The Canadiens Are Back In The Playoffs
Canadiens: Presents For Brendan Gallagher
Joshua Roy Sent Back to Laval

In 2009-2010, the Jacques Martin-led Canadiens qualified for the Spring dance with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That point was enough for the Canadiens to grab the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference standings, just one point ahead of the New York Rangers.

That year, the Washington Capitals had terrorized the league, finishing the season with 121 points, eight more than the second-place San Jose Sharks. Needless to say, the Canadiens were the underdogs. While the Canadiens were led by the likes of Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Thomas Plekanec, and Andrei Kostitsyn up front, the Caps already had superstar Alexander Ovechkin, playmaker Nicklas Backstrom, and skilled forward Alexander Semin, who were scoring machines.

On the backend, Andrei Markov had already earned his nickname as the General, but he had been battling injuries during the season, and the playoffs were no exception, since he only competed in eight games. Thankfully, they had a young and upcoming blueliner in P.K. Subban, who was called up for the last two games of the season and stuck around for the playoffs. As for the Caps, they had Mike Green, who had put up over 76 points in the regular season, and rookie John Carlson, who is still there today.

In net, Martin juggled with the future face of the franchise, Carey Price, and Jaroslav Halak until game four, before finally deciding that the latter was the man for the job. As for the Caps, former Hab Jose Theodore had been their number one goaltender that season, but he lost his job to Semyon Varlamov.

History Will Be Made - Mike CammalleriWhat if Cammalleri didn't hit a homerun? History will be made in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Canadiens shocked the hockey world by winning the first game 3-2 in overtime before losing the next three games. Down 3-1, not many believed Montreal could survive, but they didn’t know just how good Jaroslav Halak would be that Spring.

In the next three games, facing elimination, the diminutive Slovak goaltender allowed three goals, one per game. In game six, he stopped 53 of the 54 shots he faced. Meanwhile, his teammates scored eight, and just like that, the series was flipped on its head, and David had beaten Goliath.

It was only the beginning of what would come to be known as the Halak Spring in the province of Quebec, with the “Jaroslav Halak you bring Stanley back” song on everyone’s lips and stop signs showing the goalie’s name making the rounds on social media.

Back then, I lived in London, England, and I won’t lie, I was staying up for every game, watching from midnight to three in the morning and then making my way to work at six with a huge grin on my face, singing Anakyn Slayd’s Feels Like 93. Little did I know, that was just the beginning…

Canadiens stories, analysis, breaking news, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News, never to miss a story.  

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.

Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.