After breaking the NHL goals record, Ovechkin and the Capitals open the playoffs vs. the Canadiens

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — When Alex Ovechkin hosted Washington Capitals teammates for his 39th birthday dinner in September, he made it clear his focus for the next several months was on Stanley, not Wayne Gretzky.

“He was talking not about the record, but he was talking about having a good crack at the Cup and making it to the playoffs and getting the team there,” winger Tom Wilson recalled.

Ovechkin broke Gretzky's NHL career goals record late in the season, and the Capitals defied expectations by finishing atop the Eastern Conference. They now turn their attention to the next challenge, opening the playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens and looking to win a series for the first time since hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2018.

“That’s why you play six months working out for this kind of moment,” said Ovechkin, who scored 44 goals to get to 897. “That’s why you work all year hard to be able to be in this position, be in this situation."

The Capitals are favored to win the 1-8 matchup in the East, though that's based on their body of work over the course of the 82-game regular season. They lost eight of their final 12 games while getting Ovechkin the record and resting players with the East's top seed wrapped up.

The question now is whether Washington can transform back into the team that had things working so well through the first three-quarters of the season.

“It’s not as simple as just kind of flipping a switch,” Wilson said coming off his first 30-goal season. “A lot goes into it. But we’ve built habits. We’ve built our game all year. We have a system that we know we can depend on, and we have confidence in it.”

Montreal draws confidence from its surge down the stretch, winning seven of 10 to get in. The Canadiens' top line of captain Nick Suzuki, 37-goal scorer Cole Caufield and 2022 No. 1 pick Juraj Slafkovsky is an imposing trio, and they added electrifying top prospect Ivan Demidov for their final two regular-season games.

“They’re a very skilled team,” said Capitals center Dylan Strome, who set career highs with 29 goals, 53 assists and 82 points. “They’ve got some younger players that had, obviously, breakout years. Caufield and Suzuki, those guys can really score, Slafkovsky, and obviously bringing in Demidov, I think they’re an elite offensive team, and if we don’t check well and we don’t play hard, good defensive hockey, it’s going to be tough.”

Washington won't have injured forward Aliaksei Protas, who missed the past six games with a skate cut to his left foot, and defenseman Martin Fehervary (undisclosed lower body) for at least Game 1 on Monday night and perhaps longer. Spencer Carbery, who is favored to win the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year, is reluctant to share any information about their absences.

Likewise, Carbery isn't saying who will start in net between Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren. Thompson has been out since taking a shot off his mask April 2 at Carolina, with Lindgren shouldering the load down the stretch, but appears to be healthy and good to go.

“Our goaltenders have been good all year,” Strome said. "We have confidence in them. It’s on us to give them the best chance to be great goaltenders, and we’ve got to play good defensive hockey. If we do that, I think the rest will take care of itself.”

Defending is the key. After being the third-best defensive team in the league through 65 games, allowing an average of 2.58 goals, Washington gave up 3.59 in its final 17.

The Capitals got their top prospect in the lineup late in the season when Ryan Leonard joined them after Boston College was knocked out of the NCAA tournament, and he's even more important now with Protas out.

But the hype around Demidov in hockey-crazed Montreal — in English and French — reached the level of a livestream capturing the 19-year-old landing in Canada off his multiple flights from Russia. Considered the best young player not in the league already, he had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut and could be an X-factor in the series.

“Really bleeping good,” Caufield said. “His drive, his compete level, obviously his skating and puck handling have been really fun to watch.”

Coach Martin St. Louis, a Hall of Fame player after going undrafted and helping Tampa Bay win the Cup in 2004, likes the reinforcement he got, specifically because Demidov might be able to help the Canadiens' power play, which was the second worst in the league down the stretch at 3 for 29 (10.3%).

“I have a bunch of cards I can use,” St. Louis said. “We got Demidov now; it’s a new card. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to use all these cards, but we have plenty.”

With files from the Canadian Press.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Montreal Canadiens' Cole Caufield (13) celebrates goaltender Sam Montembeault (35) after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in NHL hockey action in Montreal on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Allen McInnis/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov (93) celebrates with teammate Joel Armia (40) after scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks during first-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Monday, April 14, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Alex Newhook (15), Juraj Slafkovsky (20), Cole Caufield (13), Patrik Laine (92), and Ivan Demidov (93) celebrate their win in the final minutes of play against Carolina Hurricanes during third period NHL hockey action in Montreal on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery stands behind his bench during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Washington Capitals' Dylan Strome (17) returns to the bench after scoring during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Capitals' Dylan Strome, right, and Alex Ovechkin, left, celebrate with teammates after Strome scored a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A Georgetown scholar from India who was arrested amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign college students was released from immigration detention Wednesday after a federal judge's ruling.

Badar Khan Suri, who was being held in Texas, will go home to his family in Virginia while he awaits the outcome of his petition against the Trump administration for wrongful arrest and detention in violation of the First Amendment and other constitutional rights. He's also facing deportation proceedings in an immigration court in Texas.

Immigration authorities have detained college students from across the country — many of whom participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war — since the first days of the Trump administration. Khan Suri is the latest to win release from custody, along with Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student from Turkey, and Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University.

Khan Suri was arrested by masked, plain-clothed officers on the evening of March 17 outside his apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia. He was then put on a plane to Louisiana and later to a detention center in Texas.

The Trump administration has said that it revoked Khan Suri's visa because of his social media posts and his wife’s connection to Gaza as a Palestinian American. They accused him of supporting Hamas, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.

Khan Suri and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, have been targeted because Saleh’s father worked with the Hamas-backed Gazan government for more than a decade, but before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Khan Suri’s attorneys say.

According to the U.S. government, Khan Suri has undisputed family ties to the terrorist organization, which he “euphemistically refers to as ‘the government of Gaza.’” But the American Civil Liberties Union has said that Khan Suri hardly knew the father, Ahmed Yousef.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria said she was releasing Khan Suri because she felt he had substantial constitutional claims against the Trump administration. She also considered the needs of his family and said she didn't believe he was a danger to the community.

“Speech regarding the conflict there and opposing Israel’s military campaign is likely protected political speech," Giles said. "And thus he was likely engaging in protected speech.”

The judge added: “The First Amendment does not distinguish between citizens and noncitizens.”

Giles acknowledged the Trump administration’s need to prioritize national security but said that “whatever deference may be appropriate, concerns of national security” do not supersede the judiciary.

David Byerley, a Justice Department attorney, had argued against Khan Suri's release. He told the judge that Khan Suri's First Amendment case is inextricably intertwined with the deportation case in Texas, so he should stay there. He also cited costs of redetaining Khan Suri as a reason to not grant him bail.

After the court hearing, Khan Suri's lawyers declared victory and criticized the Trump administration for “disappearing” people over their ideas.

“He should have never had his First Amendment rights, which protect all of us regardless of citizenship, trampled on because ideas are not illegal,” said Sophia Gregg, an ACLU attorney. “Americans don’t want to live in a country where the federal government disappears people whose views it doesn’t like. If they can do this to Dr. Suri, they can do this to anyone.”

Khan Suri, an Indian citizen, came to the U.S. in 2022 through a J-1 visa, working at Georgetown as a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow. He and his wife have three children: a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old twins.

Before his arrest, he taught a course on majority and minority human rights in South Asia, according to court records. The filings said he hoped to become a professor and embark on a career in academia.

FILE - Mapheze Saleh, right, wife of arrested and detained Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, holds a sign calling for her husband's release after speaking at a news conference following his hearing at Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Pro-Palestinian protestors call for the release of Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, during a hearing for his case at the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday, May 1, 2025 (AP Photo/Nathan Ellgren)

Mapheze Saleh, center, wife of arrested and detained Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, listens during a press conference about her husband's release following his hearing at Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, May 14, 2025 (AP Photo/Nathan Ellgren)