Photo credit: NHL

The Montreal Canadiens are officially headed to the playoffs. The team secured its spot last night with a great win against the Carolina Hurricanes, live from the Bell Centre.

In a press conference after the game, head coach Martin St-Louis announced his first decision ahead of the playoffs.

Everyone has the day off today, except for the coaches, who are already getting to work preparing for the matchup against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

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Martin St-Louis decides to give everyone the day off today, except the coaches

They’re already getting to work.

“Thursday will be a day off for the Habs players, but not for the coaches as they begin the deep dive on Montreal’s first-round opponent, the Washington Capitals.”
– Priyanta Emrith

To watch Martin St-Louis’ full press conference, click here:

Everything indicates that the first game of the first-round series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Washington Capitals will take place next Monday.

In their work today, the Habs coaches are likely to focus on players like Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Tom Wilson.

Also worth noting, the Capitals may be without one of their top forwards this season, Aliaksei Protas, who is currently injured.

Protas, 24 years old, is a 6-foot-6, 225-pound forward with 66 points in 76 games this season (30 goals), with 65 of those points coming at even strength.

He has only one point on the power play, which is truly impressive.

His absence could really hurt the Caps.

More details to come.