2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Capitals vs. Canadiens Eastern 1st round preview

The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features 16 teams in eight best-of-7 series, which start Saturday. Today, NHL.com previews the Eastern Conference First Round between the Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadiens.

(1M) Washington Capitals vs. (WC2) Montreal Canadiens

Capitals: 51-22-9, 111 points
Canadiens: 40-31-11, 91 points
Season series: WSH: 2-0-1; MTL: 1-2-0
Game 1: Monday at Washington (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, MNMT)

Having almost a month between clinching their playoff berth and the start of the postseason has provided some good and bad for the Capitals.

It's given them a chance to rest a few veteran players, but they also lost eight of their last 12 regular-season games (4-7-1).

But now the pressure returns, and the Capitals hope their best game does as well.

"I think we want to play really good defense, try to find kind of that midseason form that we were in a while ago and just be sharp for the playoffs," center Dylan Strome said. "I think it's definitely within us. We've been playing decent hockey, kind of like .500 hockey the last little while, so it's time to ratchet it up and get ready for the playoffs."

The Capitals were the first team to qualify on March 20. They clinched first place in the Metropolitan Division on April 8 and the top seed in the East on April 11.

The Canadiens, meanwhile, needed until the second-to-last day of the regular season to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2021. They got in with a 4-2 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.

They'll hit the postseason on a high, having gone 14-5-6 after returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break on Feb. 22. They were six points out of a postseason spot when the break ended and leaped over five teams to get there.

"I'm so proud of the group," Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said Wednesday. "Coming off the break we had a two percent chance of making the playoffs. … Then we finish the year on a 7-1-2 run and try to stay ahead of Columbus, which was really hot down the stretch. For me a two percent chance, you still have a chance."

That level of positivity is what the Canadiens feel gives them an edge against the Capitals.

"As a group our belief starts with Marty," forward Brendan Gallagher said. "This doesn't happen without his belief. It's amazing how he gets the guys to buy in to his message. He believes that there's no doubt about it and for us as a group, it's just about buying in and we've seen results and that's not going to change."

Game breakers

Capitals: Alex Ovechkin has been the center of attention all season for his chase of Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goals record, a mark he passed when he scored No. 895 against the New York Islanders on April 6. But regardless of any milestone, Ovechkin still was third in the NHL with 44 goals, his 73 points were second on the Capitals and his seven game-winning goals were the most he's scored since getting seven in 2017-18. Even at 39 years old, he remains one of the game's elite offensive threats.

Canadiens: Lane Hutson has displayed his dynamic offensive skills all season, with his 66 points (six goals, 60 assists) in 82 games the most ever by a Montreal rookie defenseman and tying Larry Murphy for the most assists in a season by an NHL rookie defenseman. He took his game even higher after the 4 Nations Face-Off; his 25 points (three goals, 22 assists) in 26 games are third among NHL defensemen, and his plus-18 rating tied for first among all players while averaging 23:13 of ice time. During that span, the Canadiens had 54.0 percent of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 when Hutson was on the ice.

Goaltending

Capitals: One of the Washington's strengths this season has been its goalie depth. Logan Thompson missed the final seven games of the regular season because of an upper-body injury but is expected to be the Game 1 starter. He was 31-6-6 with a 2.49 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage and two shutouts in 43 games (42 starts) and provided a consistent presence, including 59.5 percent of his games with a save percentage of .900 or better (25 of 42). His backup, Charlie Lindgren, was solid much of the season, going 20-14-3 with a 2.73 GAA, .896 save percentage and one shutout in 39 games (38 starts), but some of those numbers were skewed by the Capitals' team-wide struggles down the stretch. Thompson will start if he's at full health, but rotating goalies through most of the season was a huge part of Washington's success.

Canadiens: Sam Montembeault emerged as Montreal's No. 1 goalie this season, going 31-24-7 with a 2.82 GAA, .902 save percentage and four shutouts in 62 games (60 starts). He's the first Canadiens goalie with 30 wins since Carey Price in 2018-19. Montembeault earned a spot with Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and though he didn't play he returned from the best-on-best tournament playing his best hockey, going 13-3-4 with a 2.48 GAA, .912 save percentage and one shutout in 20 games. Rookie Jakub Dobes, who began the season with Laval of the American Hockey League, seized the backup job from Cayden Primeau and was 7-4-3 with a 2.74 GAA, .909 save percentage and one shutout in 16 games (15 starts).

Numbers to know

Capitals: Dylan Strome led the Capitals with an NHL career-best 82 points (29 goals, 53 assists) in 82 games. He's the first Washington player other than Ovechkin with an 80-point season since Evgeny Kuznetsov had 83 in 2017-18. The 28-year-old has played on Ovechkin's line much of the season, and it's helped each of them elevate their game.

Canadiens: Montreal had eight wins (8-25-3) when trailing after two periods, tied for second for the most in the NHL. That level of resilience should provide a significant confidence boost to the youngest team among the 16 in the playoffs, with an average age of 26 years old.

They said it

"Fifty wins in this league, winning the Eastern Conference in the regular season, that's a huge achievement and that's a lot of hard work and a lot of difficult games. This league is relentless, and it is a grind and it is unforgiving at times, and our team has done an exceptional job all year long of staying in the moment.” -- Capitals coach Spencer Carbery

"We've got a group here that believes, we've got a group here that's going to play for each other. It's now a new challenge for us and something we're going to embrace." -- Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher

Will win if …

Capitals: Their depth continues to lead them. Washington had nine forwards score at least 14 goals and received offensive contributions from all four lines, as well as defensemen John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun, each of whom had more than 45 points. Ovechkin dominates the spotlight, but there were times when the second line of Pierre-Luc Dubois, Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson was just as strong, and the late-season addition of rookie forward Ryan Leonard should give them another key piece in the top nine.

Canadiens: Stealing one of the first two games in Washington could put Montreal in a strong position going back to what should be a raucous Bell Centre, which will host a postseason game at full capacity for the first time since 2017. The Canadiens were 10-0-2 at home to end the regular season, and the usual energy the players receive from 21,000-plus fans should be elevated another level, making the building that much more intimidating.

How they look

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Dylan Strome -- Aliaksei Protas

Connor McMichael -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Tom Wilson

Andrew Mangiapane -- Lars Eller -- Ryan Leonard

Brandon Duhaime -- Nic Dowd -- Anthony Beauvillier

Rasmus Sandin -- John Carlson

Jakob Chychrun -- Trevor van Riemsdyk

Matt Roy -- Martin Fehervary

Logan Thompson

Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Alex Alexeyev, Ethen Frank, Dylan McIlrath

Injured: Sonny Milano (upper body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Juraj Slafkovsky

Patrik Laine -- Alex Newhook -- Ivan Demidov

Josh Anderson -- Christian Dvorak -- Brendan Gallagher

Emil Heineman -- Jake Evans -- Joel Armia

Mike Matheson -- Alexandre Carrier

Kaiden Guhle -- Lane Hutson

Jayden Struble -- David Savard

Sam Montembeault

Jakub Dobes

Scratched: Joshua Roy, Arber Xhekaj, Michael Pezzetta, Oliver Kapanen

Injured: None

NHL.com senior writer Tom Gulitti and independent correspondents Harvey Valentine and Sean Farrell contributed to this report