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 Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens.

(3A) Montreal Canadiens vs. (2A) Tampa Bay Lightning

Canadiens: 48-24-10, 106 points

Lightning: 50-26-6, 106 points

Season series: MTL: 2-1-1; TBL: 2-2-0

Game 1: Sunday at Tampa Bay (time TBD)

There isn’t much that separates these two Atlantic Division teams, which didn’t have their playoff positioning decided until the penultimate game of the season. 

The Lightning finished as the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division and have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series, which starts at Benchmark International Arena on Sunday, by virtue of the regulation wins tiebreaker (40-34). The Canadiens finished as the No. 3 seed following a 4-2 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

Each team had 106 points this season, each staked a claim to first place in the division at different times before the Buffalo Sabres nipped them at the line. Each has game-breaking players.   

And each is intimately familiar with the other. 

After all, the two teams met twice since March 31. Montreal won each of those games by a combined score of 6-2.  

“I don’t think anyone is hiding anything from each other,” Tampa Bay coach John Cooper said. “We just have to get our game in order. That’s it.”

The Canadiens aren’t living off those recent glories either, especially because they lost the two earlier games in the season series by a combined score of 10-5. But they also know there are lessons to be learned there.

“It’s good for us to go back and look over some of that,” Montreal forward Alex Newhook said. “Games that meant a lot and with the potential of knowing we could play them down the stretch. We know what to expect. We know we are a good team, and we have to do what makes us successful in order to win this series.”

The Canadiens went 2-1-1 against the Lightning this season, with forward Juraj Slafkovsky leading the way with seven points (four goals, three assists) in those four games. Goalie Jakub Dobes went 2-1-0 with a 2.15 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in three starts.

Tampa Bay went 2-2-0 against Montreal. Forward Nikita Kucherov was the leading scorer with five points (three goals, two assists) in those four games. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was 0-2-0 with a 2.07 GAA and .905 save percentage, and Jonas Johansson was 2-0-0 with a 2.40 GAA and .919 save percentage.

But this is a new equation, one the Lightning have solved more than the Canadiens in recent memory.

The two teams have faced each other four times in the playoffs, most recently in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, which Tampa Bay won in five games. 

But, Montreal has only been to the playoffs once in the past four seasons, a first-round loss to the Washington Capitals last season. 

The Lightning have reached the playoffs nine straight seasons, losing to the Florida Panthers in the first round in each of the past two seasons. But before that, they won the Stanley Cup twice, in 2020 and 2021, reached another Final in 2022 and an Eastern Conference Final in 2018.  

“Every year, whether you win or not, regardless of how far you go, you learn a little bit,” Cooper said. “Hopefully we are a bit wiser than we were last year.” 

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis, who won the Cup as a player with the Lightning in 2004, knows the challenge his team faces is stiff, but it is one they must overcome to go on a long run. 

“Whenever you are a young team and you are trying to win your first playoff series, I usually feel that takes you to the next level,” St. Louis said. “We are going to have to do it against a very good, experienced Tampa team. What a great opportunity that is.” 

The Lightning have been led once again by Kucherov, who had 130 points (44 goals, 86 assists) in 76 games, the second-highest season point total in his 12-year NHL career (144 points; 44 goals, 100 assists in 2023-24). Forwad Jake Guentzel is second with an NHL career-high 88 points (38 goals, 50 assists) in 81 games, forward Brandon Hagel is third with 74 points (36 goals, 38 assists) in 71 games, and defenseman Darren Raddysh is fourth with an NHL career-high 70 points (22 goals, 48 assists) in 73 games.

Vasilevskiy is 39-15-4 with a 2.31 GAA, .912 save percentage and two shutouts in 58 games (all starts) this season. He leads the NHL in wins and among goaltenders who have played at least 25 games, he ranks second in GAA and is tied for third in save percentage.

Montreal was led this season by captain Nick Suzuki, who had an NHL career-high 101 points (29 goals, 72 assists) in 82 games. He is the fifth player in the franchise’s storied history with at least 100 points in a season.

Forward Cole Caufield was second on the team with 88 points, including a career-high 51 goals. He is the seventh player in Canadiens history to score at least 50 goals in a season, and the first since Stephane Richer had 51 in 1989-90. Lane Hutson, meanwhile, had 78 points (12 goals, 66 assists), and his assists total tied Larry Robinson for the most in a season by a Montreal defenseman.

Dobes was 29-10-4 with a 2.78 GAA and .901 save percentage in 43 games (42 starts) and Jacob Fowler was 9-6-2 with a 2.43 GAA, .908 save percentage and one shutout in 17 starts.

St. Louis has a quiet confidence heading into the series, even if he can’t put his finger on why.

“Our season, our process, the quality of people we have, the quality of players,” he said. “We are able to adjust and adapt and I feel there is not one style of game we can’t play. I don’t know. Let’s go!”