Canadiens ready to renew playoff hostilities with Rangers

BOSTON — Le rivalry is about to be renewed.

For the first time in 18 years — and only the third time since the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals — the Rangers and Canadiens will meet in the playoffs, following Montreal’s 3-1 upset win over the Bruins in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden on Wednesday night.

The Rangers will head to Montreal for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday afternoon — 84 years after their first postseason series — beginning their 15th playoff encounter (split, 7-7), and eighth in which the winner goes to the Stanley Cup Finals.

While the Rangers look for their first appearance since 1994, the Canadiens will try to get back to the Final for the first time since becoming the last Canadian team to hoist the Cup, in 1993.

And after knocking off the Presidents Trophy winner for the NHL’s best record, P.K. Subban said he believes the most successful team in hockey history could make that title more than just a memory.

“If you can compete against a team like Boston that’s bigger, stronger and more experienced and find a way to win, you can compete against any team in this league,” Subban said. “I think we’re a team that earned respect today around the league, that we can compete for the Stanley Cup. I think it’s about time that people give us the recognition that we deserve.

“I think it’s just been a long time coming for our team and maybe a coming-out party for our team.”

The party began right away, as Dale Weise scored on a pass from Daniel Briere just over two minutes into the game, and wrapped up once Briere’s pass bounced off Zdeno Chara’s skate and into his own net, with 2:53 left in the game.

In between, Carey Price carried a club that was often dominated, making 29 saves, while holding a one-goal lead for nearly the entire third period and setting up a showdown with the only goalie in the league who may be hotter right now — Henrik Lundqvist.

“There are not going to be many pretty goals in that series,” said Max Pacioretty, who scored the team’s second goal, midway through the second period. “Like any hot goalie, you have to take away his eyes and battle for rebounds. Dirty goals are goals that goalies can’t control. … That’s going to be part of our game plan.”

In three regular-season meetings, the Rangers won one game, scoring one total goal.

“Previous success is irrelevant at this time of year,” Price said. “They’re a good hockey team and got a great goaltender. They play hard just like we do. … It’s the New York Rangers against the Montreal Canadiens, it’s not me against [Lundqvist].”

Yes, it’s New York and Montreal, two of the Original Six, battling to be one of the final two standing.

It’s a battle that goes beyond the countless stories and easily-triggered memories. It’s more than the old Garden and the old Forum and the romanticism of “simpler” times, more than Andy Bathgate and Jacques Plante, Guy Lafleur and Phil Esposito, and Patrick Roy’s rise.

It’s Martin St. Louis, heading back to the city where his mother unexpectedly passed away last week. It’s the 38-year-old coming back to the city he just came from to be with his family, a place he returns to with two-month old teammates who keep getting closer. It’s an amplified reminder of a still-fresh wound, a terrible event bringing out the best in a team.

It’s also Alain Vigneault returning to face the first team he coached, from 1997-2000. It’s Benoit Pouliot playing against his former team, and Raphael Diaz, facing the team he called his own less than four months ago. It’s former Ranger Brandon Prust, coming back to Broadway to hit his former friends.

It’s about new as much as old. It’s about times that can never be recreated, but feelings that can.

One series will end two decades of waiting, sending one historic franchise back to the Stanley Cup Finals.

“It’s been a tight series all year,” Briere said. “I expect the same thing.”