Praying for playoff spot

The Canadiens are in such a deep hole that the team's only hope of making the playoffs may be Divine intervention.

That's what the Catholic Church in Montreal suggested Thursday when it bought ads in the city's two major French-language newspapers urging the faithful to pray for the Canadiens as they attempt to earn a playoff spot. The ad contains the Eastern Conference standings without the Canadiens. In the eighth spot, there is the word Prions, which means "Let us pray in French."

Hockey has often been described as a religion in Quebec and the advertising agency that created the ad said it had been thinking for a while about an ad combining Catholicism, which is the predominant religion in Quebec, with the province's religion-like passion for hockey.

The Canadiens players said they appreciate the prayers but they know they have to do the job on the ice. They took another small step in that direction when they beat the Islanders 4-2 Thursday on Long Island. One of the Canadiens' problems this season has been an inability to beat some of the weaker teams in the NHL, but the win gave them a 2-1 edge over the Islanders this season.

The win gave the Canadiens a three-game winning streak for the first time since late October, but the major concern is that any charge the Canadiens mount may be too late. Most of the teams the Canadiens are chasing either won or earned points in OT Thursday night. The one exception was Toronto, which became the Canadiens' target after losing to Philadelphia. The loss dropped the Maple Leafs into eighth place in the East. The Canadiens are nine points behind Toronto but can trim that lead when the teams meet Saturday in Toronto.

Copyright (C) 2012 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.