Canadiens: Lane Hutson has displayed his dynamic offensive skills all season, with his 66 points (six goals, 60 assists) in 82 games the most ever by a Montreal rookie defenseman and tying Larry Murphy for the most assists in a season by an NHL rookie defenseman. He took his game even higher after the 4 Nations Face-Off; his 25 points (three goals, 22 assists) in 26 games are third among NHL defensemen, and his plus-18 rating tied for first among all players while averaging 23:13 of ice time. During that span, the Canadiens had 54.0 percent of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 when Hutson was on the ice.

Goaltending

Capitals: One of the Washington’s strengths this season has been its goalie depth. Logan Thompson missed the final seven games of the regular season because of an upper-body injury but is expected to be the Game 1 starter. He was 31-6-6 with a 2.49 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage and two shutouts in 43 games (42 starts) and provided a consistent presence, including 59.5 percent of his games with a save percentage of .900 or better (25 of 42). His backup, Charlie Lindgren, was solid much of the season, going 20-14-3 with a 2.73 GAA, .896 save percentage and one shutout in 39 games (38 starts), but some of those numbers were skewed by the Capitals’ team-wide struggles down the stretch. Thompson will start if he’s at full health, but rotating goalies through most of the season was a huge part of Washington’s success.

Canadiens: Sam Montembeault emerged as Montreal’s No. 1 goalie this season, going 31-24-7 with a 2.82 GAA, .902 save percentage and four shutouts in 62 games (60 starts). He’s the first Canadiens goalie with 30 wins since Carey Price in 2018-19. Montembeault earned a spot with Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and though he didn’t play he returned from the best-on-best tournament playing his best hockey, going 13-3-4 with a 2.48 GAA, .912 save percentage and one shutout in 20 games. Rookie Jakub Dobes, who began the season with Laval of the American Hockey League, seized the backup job from Cayden Primeau and was 7-4-3 with a 2.74 GAA, .909 save percentage and one shutout in 16 games (15 starts).

Numbers to know

Capitals: Dylan Strome led the Capitals with an NHL career-best 82 points (29 goals, 53 assists) in 82 games. He’s the first Washington player other than Ovechkin with an 80-point season since Evgeny Kuznetsov had 83 in 2017-18. The 28-year-old has played on Ovechkin’s line much of the season, and it’s helped each of them elevate their game.

Canadiens: Montreal had eight wins (8-25-3) when trailing after two periods, tied for second for the most in the NHL. That level of resilience should provide a significant confidence boost to the youngest team among the 16 in the playoffs, with an average age of 26 years old.

They said it

“Fifty wins in this league, winning the Eastern Conference in the regular season, that’s a huge achievement and that’s a lot of hard work and a lot of difficult games. This league is relentless, and it is a grind and it is unforgiving at times, and our team has done an exceptional job all year long of staying in the moment.” — Capitals coach Spencer Carbery

“We’ve got a group here that believes, we’ve got a group here that’s going to play for each other. It’s now a new challenge for us and something we’re going to embrace.” — Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher

Will win if …

Capitals: Their depth continues to lead them. Washington had nine forwards score at least 14 goals and received offensive contributions from all four lines, as well as defensemen John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun, each of whom had more than 45 points. Ovechkin dominates the spotlight, but there were times when the second line of Pierre-Luc Dubois, Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson was just as strong, and the late-season addition of rookie forward Ryan Leonard should give them another key piece in the top nine.

Canadiens: Stealing one of the first two games in Washington could put Montreal in a strong position going back to what should be a raucous Bell Centre, which will host a postseason game at full capacity for the first time since 2017. The Canadiens were 10-0-2 at home to end the regular season, and the usual energy the players receive from 21,000-plus fans should be elevated another level, making the building that much more intimidating.