Philadelphia Flyers' Daniel Briere, centre, can expect a lot of attention when he visits the Bell Centre in Game 1 of his team's series with the Montreal Canadiens. (David Boily/Canadian Press)

The Montreal Canadiens know a thing or two about dominating an opponent during the regular season, but learned quickly that regular-season streaks don't necessarily play a factor in the playoffs.

After finally taking their playoff quarter-final in seven games from the Boston Bruins, a team the Habs beat handily during the regular season, the Canadiens face the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal at the Bell Centre on Thursday (7 p.m. ET, CBC, CBCSports.ca).

The Canadiens no doubt won't be dismissive of a Flyers team they beat in all four matchups this season.

"The regular season doesn't mean anything now," Montreal captain Saku Koivu said after Wednesday's late afternoon practice. "Teams are very different in the playoffs, the intensity level is higher. We saw that in the Washington-Philadelphia series."

Montreal doesn't need to look much further than its own opponent in the first round to reinforce that point.

After getting a 3-1 series lead, the Canadiens were pushed to the limit by a gritty Bruins team that put up much more of a fight than the team that was defeated eight straight times this year.

Price precious for Habs

But Montreal regained its poise in Game 7, as Alex Kovalev notched two assists to help build an early lead and rookie goaltender Carey Price shut the door en route to a 5-0 win over the Bruins.

That propelled the Canadiens into the conference semis, but the win was marred by post-game rioting in downtown Montreal that saw 16 police cars destroyed, including five that were set on fire. Police estimate the cost of the damage to their vehicles at approximately $500,000.

It has been an unfortunate distraction for a team trying to focus on winning its first Stanley Cup since 1993.

"The bad part of it is that it's not always our fans," said Montreal head coach Guy Carbonneau on Wednesday. "You get some guys waiting at a street corner with a mask."

The Canadiens also issued a statement Tuesday that said the Canadiens "deeply regret the acts of vandalism and the wrongdoings of a few isolated groups of individuals that took place in the downtown area late last night following the Canadiens' 5-0 win over the Boston Bruins."

With their focus back on the ice, one area where the Canadiens will be aiming to improve is on the power play.

Montreal was tops in the NHL with the man advantage during the regular season (24.2 per cent), but managed to score just three goals in 32 opportunities (9.4 per cent) against Boston. That will undoubtedly need to improve against a Philadelphia team that has been shorthanded more than any other team remaining in the post-season (35).

Flyers riding high after Game 7 win

The Flyers may be playing in their third game in four nights on Thursday, but they feel like they've found their playoff groove and aren't worrying about past history.

"We're not concerning ourselves with what we've done against them," Flyers defenceman Randy Jones said. "We're going into this knowing we're playing well. We're more concerned with our game. We're going to concentrate on our game. We know when we play our game we can beat any team. We played a pretty good series against Washington and we're pretty excited."

Flyers centre Jeff Carter believes that the same game plan that proved effective against the Capitals can also apply with the Canadiens.

"We just have to play them the same way we played the skill guys in Washington," Carter said. "It's a lot similar. The Russians are real puck possession guys, dipsy-doodle, skate all around and make fancy plays. You just have to take away their time and space. And I think we'll be all right."

On offence, Daniel Briere (six goals, five assists) will look to continue his league-leading playoff scoring pace, but expects the Montreal crowd to be a factor.

Briere has been the subject of scorn from the Montreal faithful after the native of Gatineau, Que., passed up the Canadiens' free agent contract offer last summer to sign with the Flyers.

The centre also plays a substantial role on a potent Philadelphia power play, which finished second in the NHL during the regular season (21.8 per cent). That will be a big test for Montreal's penalty killers, who were fantastic in the first round in killing 27 of 30 shorthanded opportunities (90 per cent).

The Flyers have met the Canadiens five times in the playoffs, last meeting in 1989. Philadelphia's only series win against Montreal came in 1987.

With files from the Associated Press