2001 – 02 Montreal Canadiens season The 2001 – 02 Montreal Canadiens season was the club ' s 93rd season . After the missing the playoffs in two previous season for the first time , the Canadiens returned to the Stanley Cup conquest . The Canadiens were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semi - finals by the Carolina Hurricanes 4 games to 2 . Regular season . The 93rd season for the Canadiens began with a shcoking announcement when team captain Saku Koivu was suffering from intra - abdominal non - Hodgkins lymphoma , a form of cancer . This condition kept him out of all but three games in the regular season . On October 5th to respond to Koivu ' s absence , General Manager Andre Savard signed veteran forward Doug Gilmour to address the absence . The team began the seson hovering around the . 500 mark but a five game winning streak to end November , highlighted by spectacular performances by goaltender Jose Theodore , allowed the Canadiens to climb into the playoff mix . Around this time Savard added some offensive power to the team by acquiring Donald Audette and Shaun Van Allen from the Dallas Stars in return for Martin Rucinsky and Benoit Brunet . Coach Michel Therrien and the Canadiens had a rough December with a record of 4 - 8 - 2 - 1 as well newly acquired Audette sees his forearm tendons are sliced by the skate of New York Rangers forward Radek Dvorak . His season is jeopardized . Despite the inconsistency of the team Theodore was spectacular in the net . In January the Cnadiens played more . 500 hockey and that prompted Savard to make a change . Savard traded forward Brian Savage to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Sergei Berezin . The regular season was on hold for 2 weeks while the 2002 Winter Olympics were taking place . When play resumed Jose Theodore took matters in to his own hands and he carried the Habs into the playoffs . He finished the regular season with a record of 30 - 24 - 10 , 7 shutouts and a Goals against average of 2 . 11 . In the 80th game of the regular season , Canadiens Captain Saku Koivu returned from treatment and played his first game of the season against the Ottawa Senators , he played for the team for the rest of the year . The Canadiens made the playoffs with a record of 36 - 31 - 12 - 3 due to the heroics of eventual Hart Trophy winner Jose Thoedore . Playoffs . In the first round , the team matches up against the Boston Bruins , who finished first overall in the Eastern Conference . Donald Audette lead the way with 2 goals and Saku Koivu had a goal and an assist to win game one 5 - 2 for Montreal . Game two would prove to be a back and forth affair as both teams traded momentum . Boston won the game 6 - 4 despite a four point performance from Richard Zednik . The series shifted to Montreal and the Canadiens won game three 5 - 3 lead by a four point performance by Koivu . This gave Montreal a 2 - 1 series lead . The Bruins responded in Game 4 as they won easily 5 - 2 . Theodore rose to the occasion in Game 5 as he stopped 43 of 44 shots for a 2 - 1 win to give the Canadiens a 3 - 2 series lead going back to the Bell Centre . Theodore was spectacular again in Game 6 and Yanic Perreault scored the Game Winning goal to give the Canadiens a 2 - 1 victory . The Canadiens won the series in 6 games and upset the best team in the conference . The Canadiens faced the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs . The Hurricanes won the first game 2 - 0 as Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes was awarded the shutout . The Carolina Hurricanes dominated the Canadiens outshooting them 46 to 16 but Theodore only yielded one goal and Koivu had a goal and an assist and the Canadiens won game two 4 - 1 to tie the series . Game three went to overtime and due to the heorics of Theodore he kept his team in the game until Donald Audtte eventually scored the overtime goal . This win gave the Canadiens the lead in the series . The Canadiens had momentum in Game 4 and they had a 3 - 0 lead early in the third period of Game 4 , however the Habs see the Hurricanes strike for three straight goals to send the game to overtime . Niclas Wallin of the Hurricanes ended the game in overtime to tie the series . The Hurricanes now had momentum and they would win the next two games to win the series outscoring Montreal 13 - 3 in the process . References . < / div >