RALEIGH, N.C. -- Montreal has mastered the art of resiliency. Or, as the Canadiens call it: bouncing forward.
It's a turn of phrase Juraj Slafkovsky used nearly three years ago that has become Montreal's mantra during a roller-coaster postseason run through back-to-back seven-game series (without consecutive losses) to reach the Eastern Conference finals against Carolina.
Slafkovsky uttered the phrase while mired in a tough professional stretch. As a 19-year-old, he had just completed his 50th NHL game, and (finally) scored his first goal of the 2023-24 season in a 6-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues. There was talk going into that matchup that coach Martin St. Louis should have moved Slafkovsky down the lineup; instead, St. Louis put Slafkovsky on the team's top line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.
The coach's decision worked -- Slafkovsky gained confidence from the goal, and coined the expression that has had unexpectedly long legs.
"I would say [I'm better at moving on]," Slafkovsky said at the time. "I don't focus on the past because I can't do much about it. I'm just looking forward after every game, trying to watch the clips shortly after a game, think about what could be better and bounce forward."
It would be easy to chalk up Slafkovsky's statement as a non-native English speaker misusing the more colloquial "bounce back." But that's not how the Canadiens roll.
Something about this concept has stuck for a team that's well past knocking on the door. St. Louis has -- in his signature cadence -- described bouncing forward as the simple "physics" of advancing somewhere new, as opposed to returning somewhere familiar. It was fitting to resurface that verbiage after Montreal's 8-3 loss in Game 6 of its second-round playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres.
"I feel like we've been good at bouncing forward," the coach said after his club failed to eliminate the Sabres at home. "And that's what we intend to do."
The Canadiens responded with a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 7 to put themselves into the conference finals.
The road hasn't been easy. It also took seven games for Montreal to best the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. But Montreal isn't skating by on the strength of its superstars. The Canadiens are fueled by star-making turns that have helped boldly bounce Montreal from plucky underdogs to undeniable front-runners, thanks to having all hands on deck.
"Everyone knows their role and are accepting of that role," defenseman Kaiden Guhle said. "Whether it's a bottom-six PK guy, or a top-six power-play guy. [Everyone] is finding success, not just offensively, but in other areas of the game, too. They're making an impact. That says a lot about the success we're having so far."
GUHLE IS A GREAT EXAMPLE of those less-talked-about Canadiens getting their flowers this postseason. His seven points in 15 playoff games nearly matches the 11 points he notched in 39 regular-season outings.
And then there's Slafkovsky, repeatedly announcing himself as a game-changing forward.
The 22-year-old is coming off a career-best season in 2025-26, collecting 30 goals for the first time and finishing with 73 points in 82 games. He also had four goals and eight points in six games while representing Slovakia at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan.
No doubt riding alongside Suzuki (the first Habs' player in 40 years to eclipse the 100-point mark) and Caufield (the first in 36 years to notch 50-plus goals) had a direct effect on Slafkovsky's output. So, maybe that's why some of the hockey universe are now noticing just how impactful Slafkovsky has become.
Juraj Slafkovsky nets goal for Canadiens
But Slafkovsky is just one of several newer players stepping up to leaguewide star status in these playoffs, especially after Montreal's emphatic 6-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the conference finals Wednesday. Slafkovsky scored twice in a three-point effort and received praise for how he and his teammates excelled against Carolina's defense.
"He's one of their big guys," Taylor Hall said. "He's a great player, and that whole line [with Suzuki and Caufield] is so dangerous, and they're hopefully going to have a tougher time [going forward] than they did last night."
"I think there are no secrets -- we knew who [Slafkovsky] was before the last game," Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour added. "He had a great game -- but a lot of their guys did."
Alexandre Texier and Ivan Demidov scored in Game 1, as well. Montreal is blessed to have well-acknowledged elite talents such as Suzuki and Caufield coming off historic regular seasons, and Lane Hutson drawing comparisons to the league's best blueliners just two years into his NHL tenure.
The postseason is when those skaters are easily neutralized, though, and a team's success or failure hinges on its secondary cast stealing the spotlight. Guhle, Texier, Demidov, Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook and Jakub Dobes are making things happen.
If Montreal were a Broadway show, the understudies would now be Tony Award favorites.
Now, it's not like Suzuki (with three assists in Game 1), Caufield (one goal), Hutson (five blocks) and Noah Dobson (an ice-time leader with Hutson) haven't been critical to the Canadiens' push to this pinnacle. But that was expected.
It's the other performers taking advantage of opportunities who are making Montreal more dangerous by the game. The Canadiens are the youngest team -- at an average age of 25.8 -- to reach the conference finals round in 33 years. The last team to do? The 1993 Canadiens (also with a 25.8 average age), who won their franchise's most recent Stanley Cup.
If the Habs do it again, it won't be because of a specific handful of players. It'll be a combination of will, determination, mentality and -- most importantly -- depth.
"It's about finding a way," St. Louis said of what guides the Canadiens. "It's not about being perfect. ... Our brand is our brand. It's connected. It's pace. You don't get a do-over, so you just leave it out there."
ATHLETES LOVE TO hate superstitions. But right now, there's one that's working for the Habs.
During Montreal's battle against Buffalo, Newhook was spotted entering the arena for Game 2 clutching a venti iced coffee (but no ice, thank you) that had been (per the label) purchased by Phillip Danault. Newhook scored twice that game, and Danault has continued providing his teammate with caffeinated drinks ever since.
The deal was that Danault purchases the coffee, and Newhook is in charge of pizza -- something they shared in the Canadiens' dressing room after Newhook helped Montreal advance to the conference finals by scoring the winner in overtime in Game 7.
"It's fun," Newhook said of embracing the antics. "I think a lot of times in the playoffs, those superstitions get elevated a little bit compared to the regular season, so when something works, you don't really change it. And Phil was just as happy to buy me coffee as I was to receive it from him. So, we'll keep that thing going."
Alex Newhook scores winning goal for Canadiens in Game 7 OT thriller
Newhook has earned his keep lately. He was fine in the regular season, posting 13 goals and 25 points in 42 games, but has exploded since then to lead Montreal in postseason scoring (with seven goals) and play hero with the winning marker in both Game 7s so far.
He won't accept all the credit for how he has stood out until now; it's what's also happening around Newhook that has allowed him (and others) to shine.
"I think we've got all the pieces," Newhook said. "We're a team that plays with a lot of pace. I think when we're playing our style, we're a really hard team to play against for anyone. We're a deep team. I think in the playoffs, you need to have depth and you need to be able to get something from everyone in the lineup, and I think we've had that from the start of the playoffs up until now.
"[Goaltender Jakub] Dobes is playing really well. We're confident in him, and we're confident in everyone in the room. I think we know what we're capable of, and we're excited to keep it rolling here."
THIS VERSION OF THE CANADIENS didn't materialize overnight. It took a meticulous, patient rebuild by general manager Kent Hughes to put together the roster. It's only now, perhaps, some four or five years in, that those long-term decisions are cashing in with postseason gains.
Hughes came on board with the Canadiens in January 2022. He wasted no time shaking things up when, one month into the job, Hughes fired coach Dominique Ducharme and hired St. Louis, who had no NHL head coaching experience, to bring fresh energy into the organization. Just months removed from reaching a Cup Final in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign, the Canadiens were starting over.
The retool got going with roster upheaval. Hughes acquired Kirby Dach from Chicago in June 2022, via a three-team transaction for multiple high draft choices and defenseman Alexander Romanov.
Then, Hughes really made a stunning move, selecting Slafkovsky first in the 2022 draft. The Slovakia native was an unexpected choice because Shane Wright, who eventually was selected fourth to Seattle, was considered the odds-on favorite to sport bleu, blanc et rouge.
Next, Hughes acquired Newhook from Colorado in June 2023, swapping a first-round pick, a second-round choice and a prospect for the Canadiens' eventual playoff hero. Then, Hughes drafted Demidov fifth in 2024, and the rookie has played nearly 17 minutes of ice time per game for Montreal in the postseason, with seven points and a plus-two rating.
Hughes acquired Alexandre Carrier from Nashville in December 2024, sending Justin Barron to the Predators, and the native Quebecer has recorded the fourth-most ice time among Canadiens players (with five points to boot). Then, Hughes took a flier on Texier in November 2025 with a one-year, $1 million deal when his contract was terminated by the Blues. Texier has four goals and eight points in the playoffs, including a goal in Game 1 against Carolina.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens were sitting on one of the league's soon-to-be star goaltenders. Hughes' predecessor Marc Bergevin nabbed Dobes in the fifth round -- 136th overall -- of the 2020 draft. Dobes perfected his craft at Ohio State for two years, and then spent the 2023-24 season with the AHL's Laval Rocket. He started getting NHL experience last season, with a 7-4-3 record, and a .909 SV% in the regular season and then going 1-2 with an .881 SV% in the postseason.
Now, he is the Canadiens' irrefutable No.1. He was 29-10-4 in the regular season, with a .901 SV%, and has earned every start of Montreal's playoff run and boasts a sterling .911 SV%.
In that same 2020 draft, Bergevin selected Guhle with the 16th pick. The blueliner is in only his fourth NHL season, but has been terrific in the playoffs after an injury-plagued regular season.
Even with all of the players in various stages of readiness, success didn't happen immediately -- and that included a "gentleman's sweep" during the 2025 playoffs in the first round.
THE HABS HAD FAITH that all of the careful planning and roster construction would yield results. Though captain Suzuki admits there were "dark days" waiting to see what would transpire, the Canadiens reaching the conference finals makes it worth weathering a few storms.
"It's been a long journey, for sure," he said. "We went to the Cup Final [in 2021], then [the next season], we finished last place in the whole league. To now be where we are, there's been a lot of different steps. We traded for [Newhook], we traded for [Dach], we drafted really well -- we got a lot of studs that have had an impact right away. That really put our process further in motion.
"Ever since Marty came, we've had a belief that we could be a really good team really quickly, and guys have really bought into how we play and everything that Marty preaches, so you know it's really cool to be in this situation this fast, and being such a young team, and we just have a lot of fun, and just want to keep the journey going."
Montreal's top-tier players are enjoying how the hockey universe is reacting to their (no longer) unheralded teammates making headlines.
Dobes' swagger has shown through with blunt candor, thanking Sabres fans for heckling him, which he said improved his play in Game 7.
"You're lucky you're just getting to know him," Caufield said. "He's been unreal pretty much all year, so he's taken over as our guy and done a huge job at that. He's a down-to-earth kid that just loves to work every day, and it's cool to see him grow as a person and show off a little bit of his personality, too."
Montreal encourages each player to be true to himself on and off the ice. It's why the Canadiens are a well-oiled machine. They're battle-tested in a way that Carolina might not be after the Hurricanes cruised into the conference finals following two series sweeps.
The Canadiens also aren't afraid to make mistakes. They have bumpers in place to get back on track.
The moment is never too big. The stakes never feel too high. The Canadiens have circled their wagons. And, based on that Game 1 result, they're ready to ride out hard in Saturday's Game 2 and beyond.
"We've just gotten better as [playoffs] went on," Caufield said. "There's times of games where you've got to stay mentally focused, and I think we have done that, but we've had to have failure to learn that, and to bounce forward game by game."
