Montreal Canadiens v. Tampa Bay Lightning, Part II, Return of the Empire

Fans stand during the national anthem of the United Stares prior to an NHL hockey between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning in Montreal, Sunday, February 9, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

Put the whisker clippers away, get the lucky T-shirt out, and have defib paddles or anxiety pills nearby; it’s NHL playoffs time, and you’re a Habs fan.

Because, of course, the Canadiens drew the team they last saw in the playoffs on July 7, 2021—the 1-0 loss that ended the careers of Shea Weber and Carey Price, followed by Nikita Kucherov’s legendary, shirtless, and amply liquified news conference for the ages.

Trivia answer: Ross Colton scored the lone goal.

Now that that traumatic memory from a half-decade ago is out of the way, it will be up to the rebuilt Montreal Canadiens to find their fight against the built-long-ago Tampa Bay Lightning as the playoffs begin.

Shortly after the talented Sonya Bryson-Kirksey belts out the anthem in (hopefully) her trademark sparkly, purple lipstick, the puck will drop at the Benchmark International arena at 5:45 p.m.

The Habs rebuild is over, and the new-look, fully functioning product of Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton has a chance to exorcise demons of past playoffs and eliminate the three-time winning royalty from Florida.

Du bist dran, David

Few things unsettle a quality lineup like a top defenceman going down. It’s worse if it’s two.

As great as the Habs forwards have been all year, the defence has also been key to the team’s 106-point season.

Noah Dobson and Alexandre Carrier’s “upper-body injuries” are upper-body punches to the gut, as it leaves the team with an all-south paw d-line aside from one 6′2″, 195-pound, righty from Hohenems, Austria picked fifth overall in the 2023 draft with just two NHL games under his belt.

David Reinbacher played his first games in a CH sweater this month, and will now be counted on to perform in an arena with more fans (21,000) than there are people in his hometown (16,946).

Dobson left the ice with 47 points (12 goals, 35 assists), second among defencemen, and was a top shot blocker and physical presence in general. The Habs have said his status will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.

Quebec City-native Carrier (seven goals, 15 assists) will also be missed on the second line after his injury put him out for two to four weeks on March 31.

It remains to be seen how much ice time Reinbacher will get, but he may be key.

Кто из россиян возглавит

A thought: For those American or Canadian hockey fans ready to gloat about Olympic or Four-Nations gold medals, consider that a team that could have put out a line of Evgeni Malkin, Nikita Kucherov and ALEX OVECHKIN, with Ivan Demidov on the bench, was not eligible.

...back to the NHL.

At least one Russian in the Habs/Lightning series could well prove the difference in the round-one series.

Kucherov (44 goals, 86 assists) is as lethal as any winger in the league, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was between the pipes for the goose egg in 2021.

“Number one bull----. Number one bull----. Vasy took both Cups, and then he took MVP,” a shirtless Kucherov said in defence of his netminder’s snub for the Vezina trophy at the time.

The Habs, meanwhile, have to be excited to give 19-goal, 43-assist baby face assassin Ivan Demidov some playoff action after his first full season.

Demidov arrived in Montreal with “Celine announces a show” levels of excitement and began racking up points out of the gates.

Side note on that Russian team: Their goalies would have been Vasilevskiy, Sergei Bobrovsky and Igor Shesterkin! Yikes.

Hunting Hutson

If the final game of the regular season was any indication, get ready to strongly dislike former Hab, Oiler, Duck, Star, Blackhawk, King and current Bolt: Corey “Scary” Perry.

The 40-year-old, one-time Hart winner and perennial Stanley Cup silver medalist grabbed, clutched, chirped, hounded and harassed Habs star d-liner Lane Hutson on April 9 and knows his way around a playoff season.

Perry has played in 237 playoff games.

Hutson is coming off a spectacular sophomore season (12 goals and 66 assists) and will need to play beyond his 22 years to fend off Perry and the other wily vets on the Lightning offence.

Nejlepší strážce zvítězil

As mentioned above, Vasilevskiy will need to be solved if the Habs stand a chance.

The 31-year-old 2019 Vezina winner may well be a finalist for the award again (2.31 GAA, .912 save percentage), and with 120 playoff games, including seven shutouts, the Tyumen, Russia-native will be ready and able when the puck drops on Sunday.

On the other side of the pond, however, unlike in 2021, Montreal does not have the always consistent, Swiss bank solid, Hall-of-Fame skill of Price guarding the cage.

Montreal will, simply put, need rookie Jakub Dobes to be very good.

The 24-year-old, 6′4″ Ostrava, Czechia-native was impressive (2.78 GAA, .901 save percentage) this season when he skated to the number one spot after Samuel Montambault’s downward spiral in form.

He will need to be better than his Russian counterpart, as both teams’ deadly offensive guns will test anyone wearing the fat pads.

Dobes started two games in last year’s playoffs (he played in three) and has a 2.91 GAA and .881 save percentage to improve on this year.

Get ready for a fire fight

While few people were left unimpressed with Cole Caufield’s 51 goals (and 27 assists), Nick Suzuki’s 101 points (29 goals, 72 assists), or Juraj Slafkovsky’s 30 goals (and 43 assists), consider the Lightning’s top performers.

With respect to other first-round series, the Lightning-Habs matchup features over a half-dozen of the most talented offensive players in the league. Seven players are in the top 50 points leaders in the 2025-26 season.

This one will be fun.

Youppi! versus?

How many people in Canada knew that Tampa’s mascot is a lightning bug named ThunderBug?

Me neither.