Canadiens lineup tonight: Montreal’s projected lineup for Game 1 against Washington Capitals | Stanley Cup Playoffs, Round 1, April 21, 2025

The Montreal Canadiens begin their Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance with a less-than-enviable matchup with the Eastern Conference’s best team, the Washington Capitals. Tonight at 7 pm EDT, the 40-31-11 Habs will visit the 51-22-9 Capitals for the first time in the postseason.

Montreal is fortunately in very good health for the playoffs. It still has only one player on the injury report, and it’s left wing Rafael Harvey-Pinard. He’s been out since March 19 and is expected to be back this playoffs if Montreal survives long enough.

With that in mind, here’s what the lineup should look like tonight. Bear in mind that it can change ahead of the puck drop:

Forwards:

1. LW Cole Caufield – C Nick Suzuki – RW Juraj Slafkovsky
2. LW Brendan Gallagher – C Christian Dvorak – RW Josh Anderson
3. LW Patrik Laine – C Alex Newhook – RW Ivan Demidov
4. LW Emil Heineman – C Jake Evans – RW Joel Armia

Defensive Pairs:

• Mike Matheson – Alexandre Carrier
• Kaiden Guhle – Lane Hutson
• Jayden Struble – David Savard

Goalies:

1. Sam Montembeault
2. Jakub Dobes

Powerplay Lines:

1. Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Patrik Laine, Lane Hutson
2. Brendan Gallagher, Nick Suzuki, Alex Newhook, Mike Matheson, Ivan Demidov

Penalty Kill Units:

• Jake Evans, Joel Armia, Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier
• Nick Suzuki, Josh Anderson, Kaiden Guhle, David Savard

Montreal wrapped up the regular season with a 4-2 win over fellow Metropolitan Division playoff team, the Carolina Hurricanes, on Wednesday.

Odds for tonight’s Canadiens game and a look at the upcoming schedule

The Montreal Canadiens are underdogs tonight on the road against the Capitals. Here are the full odds from Odds Shark:

• Washington is -190 on the moneyline.
• Montreal is +160 to win outright.
• The puck line is Capitals -1, which is +120.
• The Canadiens are -118 to win outright.
• The total is 5.5 goals.
• The over is -115, and the under is -101.

In the immediate future, Montreal only has the Washington Capitals on the schedule. They’ll play against one another today, April 23, April 25 and April 27.

If no one has won four games by then, since it’s a best-of-seven series, then they’ll play more until someone does. Game 5 would be April 30. Game 6 would be May 2, and the ever-important Game 7 would be May 4. The winner will go on to face either the Hurricanes or the New Jersey Devils.