Canadiens, entering finale vs. Flyers, eye home ice in playoffs

The Montreal Canadiens look to put themselves in a position for home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

It will be the regular-season finale for two teams that are both postseason-bound.

Montreal (48-23-10, 106 points) will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round after the Buffalo Sabres clinched top spot in the Atlantic Division on Monday. A Canadiens win against the Flyers combined with a Lightning loss of any kind to the New York Rangers on Wednesday would leave Montreal second in the division.

The Canadiens are tied with the Lightning on points after recording a 4-1 win against the New York Islanders on Sunday. Captain Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist in the victory to reach 100-plus points (29 goals, 72 assists) for the first time in his career. He is the fifth player in the team's 108-year history to reach the milestone, joining Guy Lafleur (six times), Peter Mahovlich (two times), Mats Naslund and Steve Shutt.

"I mean, it's pretty cool," Suzuki said. "As a little kid, you think of doing things like this, and that's definitely special, especially with this organization. I'm so proud to be part of the group that came before me."

Suzuki has been as consistent as they come all season long. He has been held off the scoresheet just 18 times while appearing in all 81 games to date. Only twice was he held without a point in consecutive games, most recently the two contests that bookended the NHL's break for the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.

Suzuki steadily has increased his point totals each season since logging 41 points in each of his first two campaigns, 2019-20 and 2020-21.

"For sure when you see your players closing in on a milestone, you want them to reach it," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "'Suzy' has made great progress year after year. I'm happy to see him reach 100 points."

The Flyers (42-27-12, 96 points), meanwhile, clinched the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with a 3-2 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. Philadelphia trailed 2-0 after one period before rallying.

"It's incredible," Flyers forward Trevor Zegras said. "Haven't really felt anything like it, and to do it kind of in that fashion, down early versus a great team, to claw back in and get it done in the shootout was pretty special."

That result locked the Flyers into third spot in the Metropolitan Division and a first-round playoff matchup with their state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It's Philadelphia's first trip to the postseason since 2020.

"All the doubters all year, we believed right from the start, right from training camp," forward Owen Tippett said. "It's going to be a blast, and we're going to soak it all in. But the job's not done."

The Flyers have been rolling since the Olympic break, going 17-7-1 since play resumed. That helped them erase an nine-point deficit and climb into third place, as they have won five of their past six games.

"Really proud of those guys right from training camp," Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. "We put up a preseason prediction, and a lot of people had us last. I put it up there to make those guys understand the position we're in. It was all them."

--Field Level Media