The Montreal Canadiens had an impressive comeback win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. They had fallen behind by two goals early in the first but would respond by scoring five straight and have now won both of the meetings with the Hurricanes this season.
With the win on Tuesday, the Canadiens significantly helped their chances to make the playoffs, and it is now over 90%, according to Moneypuck. This now shifts the focus from making the playoffs to who they might be playing in the first round.
At this point, the best the Montreal Canadiens can probably do is finish third in the Atlantic and, at worst, find themselves as a wild card. This means they are going to be playing one of three teams in the first round: the Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres, and Tampa Bay Lightning.
All three are good teams, but based on recent comments by Pierre McGuire, there is one team that he clearly hopes they play.
Pierre McGuire believes the Montreal Canadiens match up best with the Carolina Hurricanes
After the win on Tuesday night, Pierre McGuire was on The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro and made quite the statement after the Hurricanes were mentioned that seemed to even surprise Tony Marinaro.
"Bring it on," McGuire said. "That's the team I would want to play."
McGuire, in the clip, noted that the Hurricanes lost several key players on their roster, including Brent Burns. He went on to say that he didn't believe players like Logan Stankoven is the right fit as the second center or Jalen Chatfield is a top-pair defenseman.
It is tough to argue against McGuire's reasoning, especially with what the Canadiens have been able to do against the Hurricanes this season. In the two games they have played this season, the Canadiens have outscored the Hurricanes 12-7.
This could just be a case of Montreal matching up better, as they are 0-1-1 against the Lightning this season and split four games with Buffalo. Even though the regular season is quickly coming to a close, the Canadiens still have two games left against the Lightning and one against the Hurricanes.
At the end of the day, the focus for the Canadiens is to get into the playoffs and try to be as high in the standings as possible. After that, they just have to let the chips fall where they may but McGuire's comment that the Canadiens should want the Hurricanes isn't all that surprising based on how the season has played out.