from Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette,

How are you liking Marc Bergevin’s handiwork today?

All season, the rose-coloured-glasses types were pumping the Montreal Canadiens general manager’s tires, with some of the more delusional fans even suggesting Bergevin should be nominated as GM of the year. Well, here’s where we’re at after the devastating loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday: The Habs are out of the playoffs.

They have a mathematical chance to make it, but we’ve all been saying the same thing for a week — they had to win the game in Columbus. To lose is very, very bad. To lose 6-2 is even worse. But to look completely outclassed, well that’s a whole other level of bad.

Montreal is tied with the Blue Jackets at 90 points, but Columbus has a game in hand. And if it comes to the tiebreakers, Columbus prevails because they have more wins. The Carolina Hurricanes (91 points) hold the first wild-card position, but the most important thing is to look at the three teams’ schedules during the next week.

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