2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 1: Montreal Canadiens (WC2) @ Washington Capitals (M1)
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Capitals region: Monumental Sports Network
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
More than six months after the Montreal Canadiens shared their goal of making the playoffs ahead of training camp, they will get to play their first post-season game. It comes versus the Washington Capitals, the top team in the Eastern Conference, but just getting the opportunity to do that stunned a lot of pundits who thought there were still one or two years of hardship ahead.
The games from this point on are all bonus experience for a team full of young players, and each minute they play will serve them well next year and beyond. But only a competitive group could have climbed over a handful of teams in the final third of the season to reach this point, and now that they have they will want to dream bigger.
An upset would be tough, but far from impossible. Playing all 31 other teams this season, a Habs squad that had finished in the bottom five of the league for the past three years beat 23 of them at least once, and Washington is including in that list. The Capitals addressed their lineup depth in the off-season to become the complete team they are now, while Montreal’s has developed naturally throughout the season from players already in the lineup, and then via the recent addition of last year’s fifth-overall selection, Ivan Demidov, to provide one last big piece to the offence.
Despite their inexperience, the Habs don’t have many glaring weaknesses. It’s just a matter of whether they’re yet strong enough to battle their way out of a seven-game series versus a top opponent.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #13 Cole Caufield | #14 Nick Suzuki | #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #17 Josh Anderson | #28 Christian Dvorak | #11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #92 Patrik Laine | #15 Alex Newhook | #93 Ivan Demidov |
| #51 Emil Heineman | #71 Jake Evans | #40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #21 Kaiden Guhle | #48 Lane Hutson |
| #8 Mike Matheson | #45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #47 Jayden Struble | #58 David Savard |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #35 Samuel Montembeault | #75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Scratched: Oliver Kapanen, Michael Pezzetta. Arber Xhekaj
Injured: Kirby Dach
Washington Capitals projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #8 Alexander Ovechkin | #17 Dylan Strome | #72 Anthony Beauvillier |
| #24 Connor McMichael | #80 Pierre-Luc Dubois | #43 Tom Wilson |
| #88 Andrew Mangiapane | #20 Lars Eller | #9 Ryan Leonard |
| #22 Brandon Duhaime | #26 Nic Dowd | #16 Taylor Raddysh |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #6 Jakob Chychrun | #74 John Carlson |
| #38 Rasmus Sandin | #3 Matt Roy |
| #27 Alexander Alexeyev | #57 Trevor van Riemsdyk |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #48 Logan Thompson | #79 Charlie Lindgren |
Scratched: Ethen Frank, Dylan McIlrath
Injured: Martin Fehervary, Sonny Milano, T.J. Oshie, Aliaksei Protas
