The Montreal Canadiens will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Canadiens (48-23-10) and Lightning (50-25-6) are still competing for home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series. Each team has 106 points with one game remaining, but Tampa Bay is currently the No. 2 seed because it holds the regulation wins tiebreaker (40-34).
The Lightning have qualified for the playoffs in each of the past nine seasons, though they haven't won a series since losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final in 2022. The Canadiens are returning to the playoffs for the second straight season. They lost in five games to the Washington Capitals in the first round last season.
Montreal has been led this season by its captain Nick Suzuki, who has an NHL career-high 101 points (29 goals, 72 assists) in 81 games. He is the fifth player in the franchise's storied history to get at least 100 points, joining Guy Lafleur (six times), Peter Mahovlich (twice), Mats Naslund (110 in 1985-86) and Steve Shutt (105 in 1976-77).
Forward Cole Caufield is second on the team with 88 points, including a career-high 51 goals. He is the seventh player in Canadiens history to score at least 50 goals in a season, and the first since Stephane Richer had 51 in 1989-90. Lane Hutson, meanwhile, has 78 points (12 goals, 66 assists), and his 66 assists are tied with Larry Robinson for the most in a season by a defenseman in Canadiens history.
Jakub Dobes is 29-9-4 with a 2.75 goals-against average and .903 save percentage in 42 games (41 starts). Jacob Fowler is 9-6-2 with a 2.43 GAA, .908 save percentage and one shutout in 17 games (all starts), and Sam Montembeault is 10-8-4 with a 3.43 GAA and .872 save percentage. in 25 games (23 starts).
The Lightning have been led once again by forward Nikita Kucherov, who is second in the NHL with 130 points (44 goals, 86 assists) in 75 games. Jake Guentzel is second with an NHL career-high 88 points (38 goals, 50 assists) in 81 games, Brandon Hagel is third with 74 points (36 goals, 38 assists) in 70 games, and defenseman Darren Raddysh is fourth with an NHL career-high 70 points (22 goals, 48 assists) in 72 games.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is 39-15-4 with a 2.31 GAA, .912 save percentage and two shutouts in 58 games (all starts) this season. He leads the NHL in wins, is tied for second in games played, and among goaltenders who have played at least 25 games, he ranks second in GAA and is tied for third in save percentage.
The Canadiens went 2-1-1 against the Lightning this season, including winning the last two. Juraj Slafkovsky led the team with seven points (four goals, three assists) in those four games, and Caufield (two goals, two assists), Suzuki (one goal, three assists) and rookie Ivan Demidov (one goal, three assists) each had four points. Dobes went 2-1-0 with a 2.15 GAA and .928 save percentage in three starts, and Fowler was 0-0-1 with a 3.77 GAA and .810 save percentage.
The Lightning went 2-2-0 against the Canadiens. Kucherov led the way with five points (three goals, two assists) in those four games, and Raddysh (three goals), Brayden Point (one goal, two assists), Oliver Bjorkstrand (three assists) and Gage Goncalves (three assists) each had three points. Vasilevskiy was 0-2-0 with a 2.07 GAA and .905 save percentage, while Jonas Johansson went 2-0-0 with a 2.40 GAA and .919 save percentage.
The Canadiens and Lightning have faced each other four times in the playoffs, most recently in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, which Tampa Bay won in five games. The Lightning also swept them in the 2004 conference semifinals en route to winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in their history. Montreal swept Tampa Bay in the 2014 first round, but Tampa Bay got its revenge the next season, eliminating the Canadiens in six games in the second round.
