A Tale of Two Cities... MTL v PIT

So tonight there is another match between the 2 most broken teams in the Eastern Conference: Pittsburgh and Montreal. These two teams were supposed to be 1-and-2 in the East; instead they are caca-and-poopoo.

The interesting bit is how they tried to solve their problems: Pittsburgh went the "Fire the Coach" route, Montreal went the "Trade for an (x)All-Star" route.

• Both teams have suffered major injuries. Gonchar & Whitney for the Pens, plenty in Montreal.
  
• Both teams lost key players in the off-season Pittsburgh is still crying over Hossa, and Malone turned out to be pretty key also. Streit was big on the Power Play, but no one seems to be lamenting the loss of Smolinski for Tanguay or Lang.
• Both teams have under-performing stars. Well, Montreal certainly. But it has been shown that the powerhouse of Malkin and Crosby cannot carry the team (no.1 and no.2 in league scoring?!?); because they aren't on the ice for 60-minutes. Jordan Staal, Satan and Sykora (and arguably whitney since he got back) have not covered the slack.

So, both teams are desperately trying to regain some form in order to make a serious run at the cup; and both teams have some serious soul searching and on-ice work to do. Which method will pay off? Who is more suited to make it into the playoffs, and do well?

Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll play eachother first round (as 4-5) so we can find out.