"They're going to get the best team they've played against so far, and we're going to get the best team we've played against so far," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. "You don't get to the finals by luck. Every team that gets there deserves it. They've had an unbelievable run.
"Obviously they've got a very passionate fan base there. It's going to be a tough, grinding series. I mean, if anything, we can carry over from this series the style of play in terms of the defensive aspect that we're going to be going up against. An amazing goaltender who's on his game right now. It's going to be a huge challenge for us. And that's where we go back to all the times that we've been in this situation. This core now ... there's guys that this is their third Final (2015, 2020), so we just go back on past experiences and go from there."
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The Canadiens defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in overtime in Game 6 on Thursday to win the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Semifinals. They defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round and swept the Winnipeg Jets in the second round on the way to the Cup Final for the first time since winning the championship in 1993.
Montreal will open on the road against Tampa Bay, which defeated New York 1-0 in Game 7 of that series Friday.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is Monday.
"It's not too hard to figure out both teams," Canadiens coach Luke Richardson said. "One team kind of plays like us (New York), and the other team is a very, very dangerous offensive team (Tampa Bay). You've got to be very disciplined, you've got to check hard, harder than we even are now.
"We're not really looking too far ahead, but we know we're going to play one of those two teams. We really want to start focusing and preparing ourselves and our game and making sure our game is getting better. But at the same time, we will look at video, watch the game tomorrow and hopefully it goes three overtimes, tires them out, whoever it is. That'll help us there too. We're going to enjoy tonight, take tomorrow off, and we'll regroup the next day and see who we got."