The Washington Capitals will play the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Washington (51-21-9), which won the Metropolitan Division and is the top seed in the Eastern Conference, will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series against Montreal (40-31-11), which clinched a playoff berth Wednesday with a 4-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes and is the second wild card.
Forward Dylan Strome leads the Capitals with 81 points (29 goals, 52 assists) in 81 games this season, and forward Alex Ovechkin, who became the NHL’s all-time leader in goals this season, is second with 72 points (43 goals, 29 assists) in 64 games. Washington has five other players with at least 20 goals: Tom Wilson (33), Aliaksei Protas (30), Connor McMichael (25), Jakob Chychrun (20) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (20). Goalie Logan Thompson, who is out with an upper-body injury, is 31-6-6 with a 2.49 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in 43 games (42 starts) and has set a career high in wins. Charlie Lindgren is 20-14-3 with a 2.73 GAA and .896 save percentage in 39 games (38 starts).
The Canadiens are led by captain Nick Suzuki, who has a career-high 89 points (30 goals, 59 assists) in 82 games. Fellow forward Cole Caufield has set career highs in goals (37) and points (70), and rookie defenseman Lane Hutson has 66 points (six goals, 60 assists). Goalie Sam Montembeault is 31-24-7 with a 2.82 GAA and .902 save percentage in 62 games (60 starts), and backup Jakub Dobes is 7-4-3 with a 2.74 GAA and .909 save percentage in 16 games (15 starts).
Washington went 2-0-1 against Montreal in the season series. Thompson was 1-0-1 with a 3.04 GAA and .899 save percentage in two games, and Lindgren was 1-0-0 with a 2.19 GAA and .875 save percentage in two games. Wilson (three goals, one assist) and Protas (one goal, three assists) each had four points in the three games. Ovechkin had a goal and two assists.
The Canadiens were led by Caufield, who had a goal in each of the games and five points (three goals, two assists). Suzuki (two goals, two assists) and Hutson (four assists) each had four points. Montembeault made 31 saves in a 4-2 loss on Dec. 7, and Dobes made 15 saves in a 3-2 overtime win on Jan. 10. Cayden Primeau, who was assigned to the American Hockey League in December, allowed six goals on 34 shots in a 6-3 loss on Oct. 31.
Washington and Montreal have met once in the postseason, in the 2010 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, won by the Canadiens in seven games.
The Capitals were swept by the New York Rangers in the first round last season. It’s the first time the Canadiens are in the postseason since 2021, when they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the Stanley Cup Final.
