The Habs' time is now Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin made it clear earlier this season he doesn’t believe in a team having a window to succeed. But as Frank Seravalli writes, the Habs have loaded up to win now, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity while it looks best.

Frank Seravalli TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Follow|Archive

BROSSARD, Que. — The reporter attempted to ask about the Montreal Canadiens’ window of opportunity, but before the words could form a complete question, Marc Bergevin cut him off.

“I don’t believe in that,” Bergevin said last month.

Whether it's 25 years or five years, every team has a window to win. Just ask Ken Holland and Dean Lombardi, who are both navigating extremely unfamiliar territory this week.

Bergevin doesn’t need to look far for further proof - just the visitor’s crease at the Bell Centre during Game 1 on Wednesday night, where Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers will offer a cautionary tale on opportunities missed.

Lundqvist and Carey Price will take centre stage in this Original Six first round matchup, but their duel will also magnify the unpleasant realities about each team’s window, which are both propped up by all-world goaltending. The Rangers are seemingly doing everything possible to make sure theirs doesn’t slam on their fingers, while the Canadiens know their wide-open window may only be open for two more years.

No one knows how many more kicks at Lord Stanley’s can the Habs have with Price at his absolute prime.

It’s Carpe Diem time for the Canadiens.

All of which helps explain what Bergevin has been piecing together over the last year, by mortgaging tomorrow for today with Shea Weber, by signing Alexander Radulov, and by trading for a truckload of truculence at the deadline.

“You don’t really talk about a window, because you don’t really know how long that is,” Brendan Gallagher said Tuesday. “But we’re in a position where we have an opportunity. We have a lot of good players here, guys that are in the best parts of their careers.

“That is certainly something you want to take advantage of, but I think it is no different this year than it was last year or it will be next year.”

Last year and next year only heighten Montreal’s urgency.

Last season, the Canadiens’ record-setting start exploded into oblivion when Price went down at Madison Square Garden, highlighting one goaltender’s impact in a way never really seen before in hockey’s history.

And after next year: Who knows?

Price will embark on the final year of his contract next season. If last summer taught us anything about Bergevin, it was to expect the unexpected.

But even if Price is re-signed to a massive extension, likely to make him the highest paid netminder in the NHL, north of Lundqvist’s $9.5 million AAV, there are no guarantees for the Canadiens - in health and otherwise.

Price is 125 days from the wrong side of 30. There was a time when goaltenders routinely played until their late 30s; Lundqvist began his seven-year deal at age 32 in 2014, while Martin Brodeur was still playing at age 42.

In the blink of an eye, just three goaltenders are older than Lundqvist, now 35, and only one of them carried his team to a playoff berth. Lundqvist himself arrives at these playoffs on the heels of the worst regular season of his career, part of the oldest five per cent of NHL roster now.

It happens fast. Mike Babcock summed it up best when he said Tuesday that young players in the league are always thinking “next year, next year” when it comes to the Stanley Cup.

“Next year never comes in sport,” Babcock said. “You make good on the opportunities you get.”

Few are going to look better for the Canadiens, since this first step against the evenly-matched Rangers and Lundqvist may be the hardest for the first two rounds.

The Canadiens begin their Drive for 25 as one of the hottest teams in the NHL (16-7-1) since Claude Julien took over as head coach on February 18. The core of the cast in front of Price is similarly in its prime: from Weber to Max Pacioretty to Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk. They have speed and creativity to harness.

They have warts, which have reared their heads this season. The Habs struggle to score for stretches. They will also almost always be overmatched in a series down the middle. But Julien has righted the ship with what he said Tuesday was “fine-tuning.”

The confidence comes in that Price, who is playing his best hockey under Julien since his Hart Trophy campaign two years ago, will be there to smooth over the blemishes. Julien knows the power of the goaltender: Tim Thomas put together one of the best playoff campaigns in NHL history in 2011 to end the Bruins' 39-year Stanley Cup drought.

“In this day and age, every goalie is really important to his organization, but we have the privilege of having the best goaltender in this league, so that’s the biggest asset we have,” Julien said Monday. “When you have a goalie like that, there’s no doubt there is a feeling of confidence around your team.”

The tough part is converting that confidence to hardware, before it’s too late. Lundqvist eked achingly close, with three conference final trips and that Stanley Cup Final in 2014. That would be nothing to sneeze at, of course, anywhere except Montreal.

“When you have that opportunity, you want to take advantage,” Julien said. “You don’t want to look too far ahead.”

The other end of the ice should be far enough. Lundqvist will be there, reflecting back a mirror image of Price, only five years older, with a message to the rest of the Canadiens: to you from failing hands we throw the torch.

It’s up to them whether they catch it and hold it high.

Contact Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli