The Montreal Canadiens (47-22-8) are home to host the Capitals (42-25-10) Thursday night in a potential first playoff round preview. The game starts at 7:30 and airs on RDS and Sportsnet East.

Match Up

This is the third and final regular season meeting for the Habs and Caps. The Canadiens have already won a pair of low scoring games, only two regulation goals have been scored in the season series so far. The Habs earned a 2-1 shootout win near the start of the year, and a 1-0 overtime win at the end of January.

What to Watch

The battle to watch in this game will be between Hart Trophy hopefuls Carey Price and Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin has reached the 50-goal mark for a sixth time in his career. His 50 goals are 22.4% of his team’s total. Add in 27 assists and Ovechkin has factored in on more than a third of the Capitals’ goals.

Carey Price is having a season for the ages, he leads the league in goals against average, save percentage, wins and shut outs. His 41 wins are just one shy of the single season record for a Canadiens goalie shared by Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden.

What’s at Stake

In the last five games of the season, it looks like the Habs are likely to host their first playoff game, the only question is which seed will they finish in. Currently they Habs are at the top of their division, but can move to the top of the East by passing the Rangers, or the second spot in the Atlantic if they fall behind the Lightning.

Who’s Out

Tom Gilbert (face) is ready to return to the Habs lineup, meaning the team is healthy as the season wraps up.

The Capitals are missing John Erskine (neck), Jay Beagle (shoulder) and Dmitry Orlov (wrist).

What Else

There’s still lots of hockey left to play, but as it stands now the Habs and Caps are primed to meet in the first round of the playoffs as the second seed in the East versus the first wild card spot. The 2010 playoffs, when the Canadiens, led by the heroics of Jaroslav Halak, upset the Capitals in seven games, was the only time these teams have ever met in the postseason.

The Question Mark

Who has been the Canadiens unsung hero or Fourth Star for this season?

As always, we’ll be going over your answers on the Montreal Hockey Talk Habs Pregame Show, starting an hour before each Canadiens game on montrealhockeytalk.com.