Canadiens, Blackhawks dismiss underdog label heading into Playoffs

Every underdog has its day. The Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks hope they have at least a few more.

The Canadiens are preparing to play the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference First Round after eliminating the favored Pittsburgh Penguins in four games in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

This after Montreal, playing .500 hockey (31-31-9) and 10 points out of a playoff spot when the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, was the last team of the 24 admitted to the postseason.

The NHL Return to Play Plan put the top 12 teams in each conference based on points percentage into the postseason, with the top four playing a round-robin for seeding in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The other eight in each conference played four best-of-5 series.

As No. 12 seed for the Eastern Qualifiers, the Canadiens dispatched the No. 5 Penguins at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the hub city for the Eastern Conference.

For the first round, which will be best-of-7, the Canadiens will be the No. 8 seed against the No. 1-seeded Flyers, who were 3-0-0 in the round-robin after climbing from No. 4 in the East to the top spot. Game 1 is Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).

The Canadiens' story is almost exactly matched in the Western Conference by the Blackhawks, who were 23rd in points percentage in the regular season (.514) and were the No. 12 seed in in the West for the Qualifiers. Chicago eliminated the No. 5 Edmonton Oilers in four games at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the Western hub, and, as the No. 8 seed, now play the No. 1-seeded Vegas Golden Knights.

"I'm not going to stand here and say, 'Hey, we're the underdogs and they're the favorites,'" Canadiens coach Claude Julien said Sunday. "I'm not playing this card because it's a lot of wasted time right now.

"I'm going to be honest: We're preparing to play, in my estimation, probably the best team in the Eastern Conference right now by their play. I've seen them play four games now and they've played extremely well. They're solid, they're confident … I think they won eight or nine of their last 10 games (nine of 10) before we shut down. They were trending in the right direction.

"So, we just have to be ready. We're going to have to push hard and do everything we can and play our best hockey to give ourselves a chance. That's basically what it boils down to."

Chicago captain Jonathan Toews, whose Blackhawks hadn't won a postseason series since the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, subscribes to the theory that a team is never as good nor as bad as suggested by voices beyond the walls of the dressing room and management offices.

"There's always going to be maybe unwarranted praise and criticism," Toews said Friday after Chicago advanced. "So I think our core group has done a good job of not listening to either. You miss the playoffs for a couple years, you're bound to have people come down you a little bit. I don't think any of that's fazed us."

Game 1 is Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS).

"We were pretty eager to get this chance and show what we can do," Toews said. "Technically, we just made the playoffs now, so the real fun begins. We worked pretty hard in this series to beat a good team and we're going to have to dig deep to keep finding better and better the next one. It's fun, even though there are no fans in the building. Guys want to win. Nice to get that series win. I think everyone's feeling good."

History has proven that all bets are off come the playoffs, underdogs having many times knocked off favorites. Since 1981-82 (the NHL adopted a conference format for the 1973-74 season), the lowest-seeded team in a conference has eliminated the No. 1 seed 17 times -- three times in the first round, 10 times in the conference quarterfinals and four times in division semifinals.

The top teams in each conference lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. In the East, the Tampa Bay Lightning, whose 128-point season was 21 points better than any other team and the fourth best in NHL history, were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets,f who were the second wild card; in the West, the Calgary Flames were eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in five games.

But heading into the first round, the only thing that matters is that all 16 teams are starting with no wins and no losses, ready for face-off on the same size rink. Only one team will win 16 games and hoist the Stanley Cup.

Canadiens defenseman Victor Mete heard at least a little of the noise before their qualifier series, that Montreal had virtually no chance against the Penguins. He paid it no heed then, and he ignores the same predictions now against the Flyers.

"Before the (Penguins) series, we knew going into it that we were kind of underdogs, not even really making it into the playoffs," Mete said. "We wanted to prove everybody wrong and I thought we did that in the (Qualifiers). Hopefully in this next round, we can kind of go out there, give the same message and win."

NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report