What a season this has been for Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki.<\/p>\n
Suzuki became the first Canadiens player to hit the 100-point mark since Mats Naslund in 1985-86, finishing the season with 29-72-101 totals to finish sixth in NHL scoring. He\u2019s the first Canadien to finish in the top 10 in NHL scoring since Naslund finished eighth in 1985-86 with 43-67-110 totals. The Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup that season.<\/p>\n
Suzuki\u2019s wife, Caitlin, gave him something else to celebrate on Wednesday when she gave birth to their first child, a girl named Maya. That\u2019s why Suzuki wasn\u2019t at practice Thursday at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard.<\/p>\n
The captain was back on the ice for practice Friday in Brossard as the Canadiens prepared to face the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of a first-round playoff series Sunday in Tampa (5:45 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife, she was awesome,\u201d Suzuki said after practice. \u201cIt was definitely a special day for us and both our families. It was good timing for us right before heading to Tampa. Been an exciting couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for his baby daughter, Suzuki said: \u201cShe\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canadiens will fly to Tampa on Saturday and won\u2019t be back in Montreal until Wednesday, with Game 2 slated for Tuesday (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports). Games 3 and 4 will be at the Bell Centre next Friday (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports) and Sunday (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).<\/p>\n
The Canadiens have been experiencing a baby boom.<\/p>\n
The wives of Brendan Gallagher, Alexandre Carrier, Noah Dobson and Samuel Montembeault are all pregant now. Gallagher\u2019s wife gave birth to their first child, daughter Emma, last February and the second baby is due around July. Jake Evans\u2019s wife gave birth to twin boys last summer and Josh Anderson\u2019s wife gave birth to daughter Stella last spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unreal,\u201d Carrier said earlier this season when asked about the baby boom. \u201cJust talking to my wife, (the wives) text each other all the time. They compare pictures and all that. It\u2019s been exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suzuki and his wife have known each other since they were in high school in London, Ont. They were married last summer.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe kind of just knew each other through mutual friends,\u201d Caitlin said in a story on the Canadiens\u2019 website in 2024.<\/a> \u201cHe had been living out of town playing hockey (for the OHL\u2019s Owen Sound Attack), but we just kind of connected at the time \u2014 2016 or 2017 \u2014 on Instagram and Snapchat and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked what Suzuki\u2019s best qualities are, Caitlin said: \u201cHe\u2019s super compassionate. He\u2019s super easy to get along with. There are a lot of things about him all in one realm. I think his demeanour in general is something that is one of his greatest qualities. Anything you throw at him, any stressful situation, any bad situation, he always knows how to handle everything, and he does it calmly.\u201d<\/p>\n With the baby born, Suzuki is now excited to start the playoff series against Tampa in a rematch of the 2021 Stanley Cup final that the Lightning won in five games. Suzuki is one of six members of the current team who were with the Canadiens in 2021, along with Evans, Anderson, Gallagher, Phillip Danault and Cole Caufield.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s definitely emotions and feelings with how that ended for us,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cThe guys who experienced that can lean on that. Show the guys in the room what it takes to win in the playoffs and I think everyone\u2019s excited for that.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n Last season the Canadiens lost to the Washington Capitals in five games in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve built our game throughout the whole season, learning different things individually, as a team,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cI think we\u2019re in a much better spot than we were last year in the playoffs. We\u2019ve matched up against these guys (the Lightning) well in the last couple of years. I think there\u2019s no intimidation. We\u2019re just ready to get rolling. Two really good teams going up against each other, so it will be fun for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n It will also be fun for Suzuki when he gets back home after the first two games to see his daughter and get to play in front of the hometown fans at the Bell Centre for the first time as a father.<\/p>\n \u201cYou kind of just go out there and you get all of a sudden a jolt of energy from the crowd,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty spectacular what happened last year and hopefully get more home games than we did last year. It\u2019s just so fun to play there. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we can use our home crowd to our advantage,\u201d he added. \u201cI expect it to be a loud building in Tampa, but it\u2019s defnitely going to be louder here.\u201d<\/p>\n