Monday night, Game 1 of the Washington Capitals - Montreal Canadiens series went to overtime, as did Game 2 of the Dallas Stars - Colorado Avalanche battle; in the nightcap, the Los Angeles Kings won with a goal in the final minute. Those three matchups will be played again Wednesday:

Aliaksei Protas is unlikely to play in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, ESPN, SN, TVAS), but coach Spencer Carbery said he expects the forward to return at some point in the best-of-7 series.

If the answer is “no,” that’s OK. Montreal nearly backed its way into the playoffs and the Washington Capitals hit a rough patch of their own. Still, this matchup brings a whole bunch of juice — the most prolific goal scorer of all time, the East’s top team and the return of postseason hockey to one of the sport’s true epicenters.