It’s been a banner year for the Montreal Canadiens. The playoffs are just around the corner and the Habs have a nice three-day break prior to their final two games of the regular season.
Montreal has earned the luxury of knowing they‘ll be going to the playoffs for some time now. The main question—aside from the health of Max Pacioretty—is whom they’ll face in the first round. That likely won’t be known until April 11, the conclusion of the regular season.
Montreal is on pace to win the Atlantic Division and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. They can’t finish worse than second in the Atlantic and, depending on what a few other teams do, can even finish first in the Eastern Conference, and possibly win the Presidents’ Trophy.
The Habs are likely to face one of Pittsburgh, Detroit, or Boston; less likely could it be Ottawa, the New York Islanders, or Washington.
The good thing is, it won’t be the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal went 0–4–1 against the Bolts in the regular season.
Matchups
The likely first-round matchups look promising for Montreal, for what that’s worth. The first round of the playoffs can seem like a crapshoot when all’s send and done.
Montreal had Detroit’s number this year, winning all three meeting thus far. All those meetings took place prior to Detroit’s late-season slide though.
