The Canadiens’ series would begin on Saturday or Sunday (depending on home-ice advantage)

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
The Canadiens’ series would begin on Saturday or Sunday (depending on home-ice advantage)
Credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

It's official: the Canadiens are set to face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs. Martin St-Louis will therefore face his former team.

This will obviously be a rematch of the 2021 series, when the two teams bizarrely crossed paths in the Stanley Cup Final due to the pandemic.

However, this isn't the first time a “rematch” of the Stanley Cup Final has taken place in the first round.

For the Canadiens to have home-ice advantage in the first round, they'll need to finish with more points than the Lightning. After all, Tampa Bay currently has more wins (six) in the regular season than the Canadiens.

That's the tiebreaker if needed.

Currently, the Lightning and the Canadiens both have 106 points in the standings after 81 games. The Habs play tonight in Philadelphia, and if they fail to earn any points, they will be guaranteed not to have home-ice advantage.

But if they earn at least one point tonight, they'll have to wait and see what the Lightning do Wednesday night at home against the Rangers. A Lightning win tomorrow would secure home-ice advantage for the Florida club.

Currently, the odds are good that the Lightning will start the series at home, given that Jon Cooper's men hold the statistical edge.

If that's the case, the Lightning's broadcast team has said the series would start on Sunday. But if Montreal secures home-ice advantage, it would start on Saturday night instead. Tony Marinaro is among those who reported this.

A series starting Sunday in Florida would result in Game 4 in Montreal on a Saturday night, April 25. But that's not why such a decision would be made.

In fact, on Saturday, April 18, the Lightning's arena is simply not available. A show is scheduled for the 18th in Florida, and we don't think moving it is in the plans.

Did the person who scheduled a show for the first Saturday of the playoffs at the Lightning's arena think things through? After all, the team has always had a chance to secure home-ice advantage…

We'll see when everything is confirmed.


In a nutshell

– The Panthers have more wins than the Golden Knights. We've known for a long time that Florida won't be making the playoffs… and Vegas still has a chance to finish atop its division. Unbelievable, isn't it?

– In the East, the final race to watch is whether the Bruins or the Sens will finish first among the seeded teams. That team will face Buffalo, while the other will go head-to-head with the Hurricanes. In the West, it's more wide open, even though we know who's making the playoffs.

– Only the Golden Knights managed to win their division in 2024–2025 and qualify for the playoffs in 2025–2026.

– The Habs will finish fourth, fifth, or sixth in the NHL standings.

– Nikita Kucherov will be one to watch in the first round.

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