Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous left Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens after a scary hit.

A sea of blue and white filled the seats inside Benchmark International Arena as the puck dropped for Game 1 of the NHL playoffs between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. There was also a healthy dose of red — with a group of Canadiens diehards attempting to tilt the balance in favour of the visitors.

Montreal Canadiens fans hosted a watch party at Cathedrale Saint-Jean-l'Evangeliste in Quebec to see their team take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round, and it could not have been more epic. Fans filled the pews donning their Canadiens gear to watch the game on a big screen at the front of the cathedral.

The only members of ESPN's staff who are predicting the Canadiens to defeat the Lightning in the first round are PK Subban, Gregg Colli, Erik Johnson, Tim Kavanagh, Sean McDonough, and Arda Ocal.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have to beat one of the franchise’s greatest players to get where they want to go. Hall of Fame forward Martin St. Louis, whose No. 26 hangs in the rafters at Benchmark International Arena,

The young, exciting Canadiens open the highly anticipated first-round NHL playoff series against the battle-tested Lightning on Sunday in Tampa, Fla. It’s a rematch of the 2021