3 Keys: Canadiens at Golden Knights, Game 1 of Semifinals

Canadiens at Golden Knights
9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS
Stanley Cup Semifinals, Game 1

The Montreal Canadiens and Vegas Golden Knights will each try to extend a winning streak in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Monday.
Montreal has won seven straight games; Vegas has won four straight.
"We're ready going into tonight's game and [ready to] start the right way for sure," Canadiens forward Josh Anderson said. "I think we have a lot of excitement in that dressing room, a lot of confidence. So we're excited."
The Golden Knights advanced from the Honda West Division by defeating the Minnesota Wild in seven games in the first round and the Colorado Avalanche in six games in the second round. Vegas is in the third round of the playoffs for the third time in four seasons since joining the NHL as an expansion team in 2017-18. The Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2018 and the Western Conference Final last season.
The Canadiens advanced from the Scotia North Division by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round and the Winnipeg Jets in four games in the second round. Montreal is in the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
"We haven't seen these guys in a while, but they're playing good hockey," Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said. "They've come off some real good series, and we have to make sure our game is ready for them."
Teams that win Game 1 are 108-50 (.684) winning a best-of-7 NHL semifinals series.
Here are 3 keys for Game 1:

1. Feeling-out process

There could be more of a feeling-out process than usual. These teams did not play during the regular season, when the NHL realigned its divisions to have only intradivisional games due to the coronavirus.
Montreal is 2-0 and Vegas is 0-2 in Game 1 in the playoffs this season.
"You don't want to start in a hole, particularly at home here," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "I don't know why we haven't been able to win Game 1 so far, but every series is new. I think we'll be ready to play. I think we know the importance of it.
"For me it's about playing a good game and hopefully we win. And if we don't, I think we've shown in the past if our game's in the right place eventually we'll come out the other side."

2. Forecheck

When the Golden Knights play their best, they come in waves, are physical on the forecheck and sustain pressure in the offensive zone. That could be especially important in Game 1 with the Canadiens likely without defensemen Jeff Petry and Jon Merrill. Each took part in the morning skate but neither was cleared for contact.
The Canadiens need to respond while being mindful that the Golden Knights have a mobile, puck-moving defense.
"We want to be as physical as we can on their top defensemen," Anderson said.

3. Full house

This will be the Canadiens' first game in the United States since March 7, 2020, when they played at the Florida Panthers, and first with more than 2,500 fans in attendance since March 10, 2020, when they hosted the Nashville Predators before 21,021 at Bell Centre.
More than 18,000 fans are expected at T-Mobile Arena, which now essentially is at full capacity. Theodore said it probably will be a shock for the Canadiens.
"We're going to try to jump on them," he said. "We know the crowd's going to be on our side and we're going to try to get them into it early."
The atmosphere could help Montreal too, though.
"A lot of people are thinking it's going to be an advantage for Vegas," Anderson said. "But listen, we haven't played in front of a crowd all season long, so I think we're going to be very excited to feel that energy from the crowd and take full advantage of it."

Canadiens projected lineup

Artturi Lehkonen -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Tyler Toffoli -- Nick Suzuki -- Cole Caufield
Paul Byron -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Josh Anderson
Joel Armia -- Eric Staal -- Corey Perry
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Brett Kulak -- Joel Edmundson
Alexander Romanov -- Erik Gustafsson
Carey Price
Jake Allen
Scratched:Tomas Tatar, Michael Frolik, Alex Belzile, Xavier Ouellet, Cayden Primeau, Cale Fleury, Charlie Lindgren, Lukas Vejdemo, Laurent Dauphin, Jesse Ylonen, Otto Leskinen, Michael McNiven
Injured:Jake Evans (concussion), Jeff Petry (upper body), Jon Merrill (undisclosed)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Max Pacioretty -- Chandler Stephenson -- Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Mattias Janmark -- Nicolas Roy -- Alex Tuch
William Carrier -- Keegan Kolesar -- Ryan Reaves
Alec Martinez -- Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore
Nick Holden -- Zach Whitecloud
Marc-Andre Fleury
Robin Lehner
Scratched:Nicolas Hague, Cody Glass, Patrick Brown, Tomas Nosek, Logan Thompson, Jiri Patera, Jack Dugan, Peyton Krebs, Jonas Rondbjerg, Kaedan Korczak, Dylan Coghlan, Carl Dahlstrom, Jimmy Schuldt, Dylan Sikura
Injured:None

Status report

Evans took part in the morning skate but the forward was not cleared for contact. … Vegas is expected to use the same lineup from its win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of Stanley Cup Second Round. … Nosek practiced Sunday for the first time since the forward sustained an undisclosed injury during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup First Round against the Minnesota Wild but is not expected to play.