When the 2007-08 NHL regular season started, many hockey pundits expected the Montreal Canadiens to finish at the bottom of the Northeast Division.

At best, if they were lucky, the Habs would be battling for a playoff spot come April.

As the Canadiens geared up for their season opener in Carolina in October, a number of question marks surrounded the team.

Was Roman Hamrlik a suitable replacement for Sheldon Souray? Are Christopher Higgins and Tomas Plekanec ready to break out of their shells? Is it the right time for a 20-year-old rookie goaltender to backup starter Cristobal Huet? Can Alex Kovalev show his true hockey colors in the playoffs?

After a respectable October, where the Canadiens went 6-2-3, many kept a close eye on this young and speedy team. The Habs looked like they meant business, but the season had just begun.

November and December were shaky for Les Bleu, Blanc et Rouge. Michael Ryder was nowhere to be found and the club went a reasonable 13-11-4, but they’d have to turn on the heat in the new year if they wanted to make any noise this season.

Cue the wake-up call.

Andrei Markov was voted in by the fans as an Eastern Conference starting All-Star. Kovalev, Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn started to gel and took over as the club’s top unit. The younger Kostitsyn, Sergei, joined Higgins and captain Saku Koivu on Montreal’s second line. Up-and-coming star defenseman Mark Streit compiled 40 of his 62 points in 2008, while struggling Ryder came back to life and notched 20 of his 31 points between January and the end of the season.

Now the Canadiens sit atop the East for the first time since the 1988-89 season.

Led by captain Bob Gainey, now Montreal’s executive vice president and general manager, top scorer Mats Naslund and head coach Pat Burns, the 1988-89 Habs made their way to the Stanley Cup Finals, only to lose to the Calgary Flames on home ice — the first time any team beat the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum.

While they didn’t capture the ultimate prize that season, they cleaned up in personal accomplishments.

Burns won his first Jack Adams Award as coach of the year; Guy Carbonneau, the Canadiens’ present coach, took home the Frank J. Selke Trophy; Chris Chelios captured the James Norris Memorial Trophy; Patrick Roy won the Vezina Trophy and then the William M. Jennings Trophy, with Brian Hayward. Roy and Chelios were also named to the NHL First All-Star Team.

This year’s group is somewhat similar to Les Boys of '88-'89. Kovalev led the present Canadiens in scoring this year with 84 points, like Naslund. The team is led by another young star goaltender in Carey Price. And the two squad’s average age is quite close — the '88-'89 playoff roster had an average age of 26.04 while this year’s group is 27.16.

Oh, and in '88-'89, three influential Canadiens — Mike Keane, Eric Desjardins and Brent Gilchrist — jump-started their careers, much like this season with Sergei Kostitsyn, Ryan O’Byrne and Mikhail Grabovski.

With seven players finishing the season with 50 or more points, just like in '88-'89, the Habs are poised to make a deep run in the playoffs.

Since 1974-75, when the NHL shifted to a Conference-style system, the Canadiens have been the top seed eight times — including this year — winning the Stanley Cup four straight times from 1975-76 to 1978-79.

While the players and coaches will be the first to tell you that looking ahead can get you in a lot of trouble, Carbonneau is pleased to have home-ice advantage.

“I think home-ice advantage is always important,” he said. “If you’re going to have a seventh game, I’d rather have it at home. But the league now, the parity in the league is unbelievable. It’s really hard to win anywhere. So you have to be prepared. I think it’s more about how your team is prepared to play than the ice advantage.

“But I would rather start at home than starting on the road.”

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