Kaiden Guhle scored twice and the Montreal Canadiens wrapped up the last Eastern Conference playoff spot with a 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night in their regular-season finale.
The Canadiens needed at least a point to eliminate Columbus from playoff contention. They will face the Washington Capitals, the No. 1 seed in the Metropolitan Division and the conference, in the first round.
"We believe in each other, that we're not just going to roll over against the first seed, so I'm excited for the opportunity," said center Nick Suzuki, who finished the season with a career-high 89 points, the most by a Canadiens player since 1995-96, when Pierre Turgeon had 96.
Suzuki broke a tie late in the second period with his 30th goal and also had an assist, Jake Evans had an empty-net goal and Sam Montembeault made 27 saves to help Montreal finish 40-31-11 and reach the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
Wednesday's victory capped a remarkable turnaround for the Canadiens, who were next-to-last in the overall standings on Dec. 1 at 8-13-3. Montreal finished eighth in the Atlantic Division each of the previous three seasons.
"I'm just proud because it wasn't one year, it wasn't one team. This goes back three, four years of really grinding together," forward Brendan Gallagher said. "I'm very happy for these guys that they're going to experience this city come playoff time."
Taylor Hall and Tyson Jost scored for Carolina, and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 17 shots. Playoff-bound Carolina rested several key players. The Hurricanes will face New Jersey in the first round.
Montreal missed opportunities to wrap up the playoff spot in its three previous games. The Canadiens lost in regulation to Ottawa before falling in overtime to Toronto and a shootout against Chicago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
