The Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning will meet in the postseason for the first time since 2021 and this matchup will come under much different circumstances.
Game 1 in the first-round series is set for Sunday at Tampa, Fla.
Holding the Atlantic Division’s second spot, the Lightning clinched home-ice advantage Tuesday night when the third-place Canadiens lost 4-2 in their regular-season finale against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tampa Bay right winger Nikita Kucherov produced 130 points (44 goals, 86 assists) in 76 games, falling eight short of Art Ross Trophy winner Connor McDavid, who produced 138 points while playing in all 82 matches for the Edmonton Oilers.
In a season that may produce a second Vezina Trophy, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy went 39-15-4 to lead the NHL in wins. He had a 2.31 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.
Jon Cooper’s Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021, the latter in the Finals over the Canadiens when conference alignment was ditched in an adjusted playoff format because of the pandemic.
The Lightning’s title run was interrupted by three straight Cup appearances and two championships by the archrival Florida Panthers.
“Everybody’s looking for something new, right? For somebody new to win or somebody new to come along,” Cooper said. “But what’s wrong with the team that wants to sit there and maybe throw (the word) ‘dynasty’ around. That’s what we’re looking at.”
A pending unrestricted free agent, defenseman Darren Raddysh had a breakout year running the power play, producing a career-best 22 goals, a franchise record, to go with 48 assists that will lead to a hefty contract in the summer.
The availability of defenseman Victor Hedman, who has not played since March 19, is uncertain.
While Tampa Bay has played in six conference finals and made four trips to the Final under Cooper, coach Martin St. Louis will send out a group of youthful Canadiens that represent early success from a rebuild.
Montreal suits up the NHL’s youngest club with an average just shy of 26 years old, ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres.
The first-round matchup is a classic one of veteran core players versus talented youngsters.
Cole Caufield, 25, produced 51 goals in 81 games, while 22-year-old Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022, had 30 tallies and 73 points in 82 matches.
Star defenseman Lane Hutson, also 22, had 12 goals and 66 assists as one of 11 Canadiens to reach double figures in goals.
The squad’s 26-year-old captain from London, Ontario, Nick Suzuki had a career year in becoming the fifth Montreal player to register 100 points, posting 29 goals and 72 helpers en route to a second straight playoff appearance.
Guy Lafleur, Peter Mahovlich, Steve Shutt and most recently Mats Naslund in 1986 hit the century mark.
Suzuki, who played against the Lightning in the 2021 Final, said the Habs have grown since losing in five games to the Washington Capitals a year ago.
“We’ve built our game throughout the whole season, learning different things, individually and as a team,” said Suzuki, who missed Wednesday’s practice to attend the birth of his daughter, Maya. “We’re in a much better spot that we were last year in the playoffs. We’ve matched up well against (the Lightning) the last couple of years.
“There’s no intimidation.”
Montreal went 2-1-1 against Tampa Bay including two victories in the campaign’s final nine games.
