Loading...
Get amped for today’s hectic NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Game 1 between the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals. It’s important to start the series strong, so both teams will look for the win as the Canadiens head to Capital One Arena at 7 PM ET sharp.
Feel free to analyze our rundown for tonight’s game before deciding to go with our picks or your gut!
The Montreal Canadiens finished the regular season in 5th place in the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division, qualifying for the NHL Playoffs as a wild card team with 91 points.
In their last five games, the Canadiens would go 2-3 to narrowly secure their spot in the playoff bracket, starting April 8 with a solid 4-1 victory over the Red Wings. Their next game against the Senators defined their seeding, suffering a 5-2 loss against the 4th place team in the Atlantic Division before losing to the Maple Leafs 1-0 in a shootout on April 12. Montreal’s struggles would continue as they hosted the Blackhawks at home for another 4-3 shootout loss. However, they bounced back in their most recent game with a 4-2 win over the Hurricanes before heading into the postseason.
Defenseman Kaiden Guhle is coming off a spectacular game against the Hurricanes, netting 2 goals to help his team in the last game of the regular season. While not many Canadiens players led the scoring charts by the end of the regular season, center Nick Suzuki is a player to watch out for, finishing with 30 goals and 59 assists, with a goal and an assist in his last game. Right wing Cole Caufield will look to add to his goal-scoring tally in the postseason, as he finished with 37 goals and 33 assists.
Montreal will need to lock down their defense for this one, as they’d let up more goals than they scored throughout the season, with goalkeeper Sam Montembeault allowing 2.82 goals per game.
The Washington Capitals easily took the top seed in the playoffs for the Eastern Conference, finishing the regular season with 111 points, the second-highest number of points in the league behind the Winnipeg Jets (Western Conference) with 116.
While they are having a most impressive season, they went 2-3 in their final five games, beginning April 10 with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Hurricanes. Their next game on April 12 was catastrophic, losing by a massive 7-0 margin to the Blue Jackets, only to be defeated by them 4-1 again the following day. While Washington would find success against the islanders with a 3-1 win away on April 15, they fell 5-2 to the Penguins in their final regular season game on April 17.
Center Dylan Strome netted a hattrick against the Islanders to seal the win on April 15, and will most likely continue to have an impressive postseason as he finished with 29 goals and a whopping 53 assists. We fully expect him to set up his teammates for at least 1 goal in this one, as he provides critical goal-scoring opportunities for his offense. Alexander Ovechkin stole 1 goal back in their most recent 5-2 loss against Pittsburgh, and the record-breaking goal scorer finished his regular season with 44 goals and 29 assists in just 65 games.
In the crease, Logan Thompson concluded his regular season with impressive goaltending stats, allowing only 2.49 goals per game on average and winning 31 of his 43 games. Charlie Lindgren is also a solid option, as he’s only allowed 2.73 goals per game, yet Thompson will likely take the net tonight.
Though the Capitals haven’t hit their stride in their most recent games, their stats clearly show they can out-score their opponents (288 goals for) while letting up a minimal amount of goals (233 allowed). They will take home ice advantage tonight, and with the Canadiens only scoring 245 goals throughout the season, letting up 265 goals in total, it’s clear the Capitals are the favorite in this one.
We predict stats leader Dylan Strome to assist his teammates at least one time tonight, with the potential for Alexander Ovechkin to stretch his goal-scoring record in Game 1 of the series.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.