The top seed in the East, the Washington Capitals, face the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs starting Monday, April 21. Even with the Canadiens’ fairy-tale run this season, the Capitals are clear favorites. The teams are a study in contrasts, but aside from their playoff positions, Game 1 sets up as a battle of youth vs. experience.
Projected Lineups for Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals
The Capitals outperformed the Habs in goal scoring, consistency, and special teams throughout the regular season. Washington was the first NHL team to clinch a playoff spot back in March, which allowed them to rest key players for longer periods. They’ve gone just 4-7-1 since, and left wing Alex Ovechkin’s chase of the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring record grabbed headlines.
Still, Washington’s depth on defense and offense poses a big threat to Montreal’s young roster.
“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,” Capitals center Dylan Strome told NHL.com. “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.”
Anyone outside of Montreal will tell you the Canadiens have exceeded expectations this season. They’re still rebuilding, but their young core stepped up to grab the final playoff spot in the East. They clinched it on the last day of the regular season, with the Columbus Blue Jackets right behind them.
Forwards Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield have led the way, and the Canadiens will be counting on them to keep it going. The challenge now is making sure the moment doesn’t get too big for this young squad.
Capitals Projected Lineup
Forwards
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
Defensemen
Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson — Jakob Chychrun — Trevor van Riemsdyk — Matt Roy — Martin Fehérváry
Goaltenders
Logan Thompson — Charlie Lindgren
Scratched
Alexander Alexeyev — Ethen Frank — Dylan McIlrath
Injured
Sonny Milano (upper body)
Canadiens Projected Lineup
Forwards
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovský — Patrik Laine — Alex Newhook — Ivan Demidov — Josh Anderson — Christian Dvorak — Brendan Gallagher — Emil Heineman — Jake Evans — Joel Armia
Defensemen
Mike Matheson — Alexandre Carrier — Kaiden Guhle — Lane Hutson — Jayden Struble — David Savard
Goaltenders
Sam Montembeault — Jakub Dobeš
Scratched
Joshua Roy — Arber Xhekaj — Michael Pezzetta — Oliver Kapanen
Injured
None