Last spring, the Montreal Canadiens grabbed the attention of the sports world by upsetting two NHL powerhouses as an eighth seed.

Don’t look now, but the Canadiens are getting hot again at just the right time.

Montreal is 7-3-0 in March, winning two of their past three games, to move within one scant point of the Boston Bruins in the Northeast Division. Sitting sixth in the conference standings with 86 points, sliding ahead of Boston and winning the division would be huge for Montreal.

If the playoffs started today, the Bruins and Canadiens would face off, but Boston would have the home-ice advantage. That shouldn’t faze Montreal if that scenario plays out this spring. Last season, Montreal just barely squeaked into the playoffs as the eighth and final seed in the East. All the Canadiens did was upend Washington and Pittsburgh, winning two Game 7s on the road during a shocking run to the Eastern Conference finals.

Montreal opened March with four victories in a row and are one of just four Eastern Conference teams with 40 victories. The Canadiens can take a big step toward winning the Northeast on Thursday when Montreal plays at Boston. Washington, second in the East, comes to Montreal on Saturday.

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For the first time in five games, the Habs did not have to play extra time. Instead, the Canadiens posted a victory in regulation, getting Benoit Pouliot’s game-winning goal in the third period to snap the New York Rangers’ three-game winning streak in a 2-1 victory in New York City.

Pouliot’s ninth goal of the season came at the 6:03 mark of the third as Montreal capped a rally from a 1-0 deficit. New York scored first on Brandon Dubinsky’s 17th of the season just 4:15 into the contest.

Down 1-0 after a period, Montreal tied the game on Jaroslav Spacek’s second goal of the season with just 1:11 left before intermission. That set the stage of Pouliot’s go-ahead goal in the third.

Alex Auld stopped 25 of 26 shots for the Canadiens. Henrik Lundqvist was almost as good for the Rangers, making 36 saves.

The Canadiens are tied with Atlanta for seventh in the Eastern Conference with 51 points, two points behind the sixth-place Rangers.

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No matter what they do in 2010-11, it will be very difficult for the Montreal Canadiens to carry the same shock value they displayed in last spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

After barely getting into the postseason as the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference, the Canadiens shocked all of North America by winning not once, but twice in Game 7s, on the road, against heavily favored foes.

The Canadiens bounced President’s Trophy winner Washington and defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh in the opening two rounds of the playoffs before finally falling to Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference finals.

Montreal begins the new season at Toronto on Oct. 7, hoping to carry over the momentum from the big playoff push. The home opener is Oct. 13 against Tampa Bay.

Jaroslav Halak won’t be there; the star goaltender of the playoff run was dealt to St. Louis during the summer. Leader scorer Tomas Plekanec isn’t going anywhere, not after signing a six-year deal in the offseason.

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The Canadiens dealt Halak to the St. Louis Blues for center Lars Eller and winger Ian Schultz.

This apparently signals that the Canadiens have decided that Casey Price will be their goaltender of the future.

Montreal fans are seething over news of the trade, believing Halak was the future of the franchise.

He was certainly their hero this past postseason when his play in goal helped the Canadiens knock off the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Canadiens stunned the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins each in Game 7 to get to this point.

It seemed like they simply ran out of energy against the suddenly scorching red-hot Philadelphia Flyers.

Montreal did make an effort to get the series to a Game 6 at home, but their third period rally came up short.

It has to be disappointed for the Canadiens to be bounced out of the playoffs in this way after somehow getting past Washington and Pittsburgh.

The win moves the Canadiens into the Eastern Conference Finals where they will face the Boston Bruins.

Montreal wasted little time getting started, taking the lead less than five minutes into the game.

They added another goal to take a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period and tacked on two in the second frame.

The Penguins did managed to cut the deficit to 4-2, but Montreal was simply too strong in goal for Pittsburgh to get any closer.

Facing elimination, the No. 8 seed beat the top-seeded Washington Capitals on the road again, edging the hosts 2-1 to send the series back to Montreal for Game 6.

Jaroslav Halak was the hero for the Canadiens, making 37 saves in arguably the best performance of his career. The goalie made improbable save after improbable save as the underdogs clung to a slim lead. Montreal scored two goals in the first 7:01 of the game and fought off the Caps the rest of the way.

Washington had only lost four games at home prior to shootout this season, but have already lost two in this series alone. And shockingly, an overwhelming Caps offense has only scored once on 24 power plays in the series.

Michael Cammalleri and Travis Moen accounted for Montreal’s two goals. Game 6 is Monday night.