By Peter Schwartz

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For the Red Bulls, the 2015 season was supposed to have a different ending.

After winning the Supporters’ Shield as the best team in Major League Soccer’s regular season, New York had its sights set on hoisting the MLS Cup. But that dream ended when it lost to the Columbus Crew in the Eastern Conference finals, a defeat that was punctuated when Bradley Wright-Phillips’ shot that could have tied the series rang off the goal post in the final seconds at Red Bull Arena.

It was a crushing conclusion to what had been a marvelous first season for the Red Bulls under new sporting director Ali Curtis and new head coach Jesse Marsch. But after that heartbreaking ending, the Red Bulls put together another splendid regular season campaign in 2016 as they finished atop the Eastern Conference table.

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The road to MLS Cup begins on Sunday in Montreal with the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals as the Red Bulls will try to finish what they started last year.

“It is unfinished business,” Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles told WFAN.com Thursday night. “When you look at last year and the way that it ended, the empty void that we experienced for six weeks before preseason started again, to sit there a week after and watch Columbus take on Portland thinking that should be us at Red Bull Arena and we should be hosting the (MLS) Cup, we’re hoping that experience is something that we can draw upon.”

The Red Bulls can also draw on the ups and downs of a regular season that had just about a little of everything. They started the season with one win in their first six matches before digging themselves out. The Red Bulls finished the season on a 16-game unbeaten streak, but that run had its own share of peaks and valleys. They let two-goal, second-half leads slip away in five different games.

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That’s five games where three points turned into one point, resulting in the Red Bulls not repeating as winners of the Supporters’ Shield. Those bumps in the road opened the door for fans and media to question just how good this team is, but the Red Bulls consistently followed a glass half-full attitude and made adjustments.

They finished the season with four straight wins and head into the playoffs without tasting defeat since early July.

“It’s crazy that the run has been so long,” said Robles, who finished the season with 16 wins, including 11 shutouts. “When you look at some of the results and the cynicism surrounding it, it’s almost perfect because with us dropping points and with us losing leads, there’s just been this perspective towards all of it that maybe there’s some glaring deficiencies in this team. Yet what that’s done, this little crisis, is create an opportunity for us to get better.”

The Red Bulls will certainly have to be on top of their game to get past Montreal and punch their ticket to the conference finals. During the regular season, the Red Bulls and Impact played three times with New York winning both games at Red Bull Arena and Montreal earning the victory on its home pitch.

The Impact will have just two days to prepare for the Red Bulls following a 4-2 upset win over D.C. United in the knockout round on Thursday night. They are a talented club with dangerous players like Ignacio Piatti, Didier Drogba and Matteo Mancosu, who notched two goals and an assist in the win over D.C. Montreal, the No. 5 seed in the East, is a team that the Red Bulls cannot afford to take lightly.

And they know it.

“Piatti is as good as the best of them,” said Robles, the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2015. “When you have a guy like that on the field, you constantly have to be aware of his threat. And then they throw in a little wrinkle like Drogba, the speed of Oduro, or even just the craftiness of Mancosu.”

The Red Bulls are certainly clicking as they get set to begin the playoffs. They’ve been through plenty of adversity this season, but that seems to have made them stronger and has brought the players together. This group is battle tested and knows how to win, but that doesn’t always translate into playoff success.

After what they went through in last year’s postseason, the Red Bulls are cautiously optimistic as they begin the process of navigating their way towards MLS Cup, which will take place on Dec. 10 at the higher seed.

“There’s going to be a certain degree of anxiety just because it’s the playoffs (and) knowing that all your work all season long is going to come down to two games,” Robles said. “We just have the confidence permeating throughout the locker room that really should give us the advantage on the field. Now we’re starting to get an inkling of maybe we are hitting our stride, but there’s definitely no complacency in this group.”

The Red Bulls are in the playoffs for the seventh straight year. During that period of time they’ve finished first in the East four times, won two Supporters’ Shields, and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals twice. But the ultimate goal of winning a championship has eluded them. This year, the Red Bulls hope to write a different ending, one that includes a championship.

On Sunday, the Red Bulls begin the task of finally finishing what they’ve started.

Don’t forget to follow Pete on Twitter at @pschwartzcbsfan. You can also follow @luisrobles1984 and @NewYorkRedBulls