Hidden Game: Canadiens draw first blood in conference final at Carolina
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One game doesn’t make a series and the Carolina Hurricanes are far from done.
But there’s a trend starting to develop here for your Montreal Canadiens.
They went into Tampa Bay in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, won one of the opening two games and captured the series in seven games. Then they went into Buffalo in the Atlantic Division final, split the opening two games and won the series in seven games.
See where we’re going here following this far-too-easy 6-2 victory over Carolina on Thursday night at the Lenovo Center in the opening game of the teams’ Eastern Conference final? The Canadiens already have snatched home-ice advantage from a team that went 29-10-2 during the regular season and is on pace for another seven-game series win.
Our random thought of the night (Part I): Only three more wins on the road, where the Canadiens own a 7-2 record, and Montreal will be playing for the Stanley Cup. Of course, three victories at the Bell Centre, where the Canadiens are 2-4, would work as well.
Rust never sleeps: As has been well-documented, Carolina had been 8-0 in the playoffs and was playing its first game since May 9. In the great debate between rust vs. rest, the former remains undefeated.
Our random thought of the night (Part II): If it’s not stock cars going around in a circle, do sports fans in Raleigh, N.C., have any clue what they’re witnessing?
Early goals kill: It looked like it was going to be one of those nights when Seth Jarvis opened the scoring after only 33 seconds — and on Carolina’s second shot.
Until they don’t: Only 27 seconds later, Cole Caufield tied the score. It was the first shot against Frederik Andersen.
Pass of the night: Juraj Slafkovsky, behind his back, to Caufield.
Sieve of the night: If allowing a goal on the first shot wasn’t bad enough, Andersen — who entered this game with a 1.12 average, .950 save percentage and two shutouts — allowed three more goals in the first period alone, on the fourth, ninth and 10th shots. His save percentage was .762.
You can take the goalie out of Toronto, but you can’t take Toronto out of the goalie: Andersen spent five seasons playing for the perennially underachieving Maple Leafs. That means his seasons always ended in heartbreak and disappointment. We have no doubt history will be repeated.
Strange, but true: Carolina hadn’t allowed more than two goals in a game all post-season.
News you need (Part I): The Canadiens set a franchise record for the fastest four goals — 11:32 — to begin a road playoff game. It also marked the first time Montreal scored four first-period goals in the post-season since Game 4 of the 1985 Adams Division semifinals at Boston.
News you need (Part II): Carolina is the fourth team to have at least 10 days off between playoff games. None of the previous three won their next series.
News you need (Part III): The Hurricanes are now 1-13 in the Eastern Conference final in eight seasons under head coach Rod Brind’Amour.
News you need (Part IV): The Canadiens were the last road team to beat the Hurricanes at home — on March 29.
Our cheap-shot of the night: Remember when the Canadiens signed restricted free agent Sebastian Aho to a five-year, US$42.27-million offer sheet on July 1, 2019 — one that was matched six days later by Carolina? Of course, you do. While Aho scored 27 goals and 80 points in 79 games this season, he hasn’t scored a playoff goal since Game 4 of the opening round against Ottawa.
The un-sieve of the night: Jakub Dobes. Again. As usual. He faced 14 shots in the first period and allowed one goal. He faced 11 shots in the second period and was beaten only once. He shut out Carolina over the game’s final 37:14. His save percentage was .926.
Faceoff of the night: Not only did Phillip Danault beat Jarvis, he capped off the play by scoring the Canadiens’ second goal.
Dumb penalty: With 93 seconds remaining on their power play in the first period, Aho was called for roughing against Jake Evans.
Miss at one end, score at the other: Seconds after Caufield hit the post early in the second period — denying the Canadiens a 5-1 lead — Eric Robinson beat Dobes to the stick side. It was Robinson’s third career playoff goal in 34 games.
That’s using your head: In the sixth minute of the period, Jarvis banked a shot off Dobes’s mask. This has been a recurring theme in the playoffs, it seems.
Prevent defence (Part I): Through 14 minutes of the second period, the Canadiens had one shot. They ended up with two more.
Who’s going to blink first: Our favourite moment of the night occurred in the second period, when Dobes had a staring contest with William Carrier.
Prevent defence (Part II): The Canadiens held Carolina to two third-period shots.
Solo effort of the night: Slafkovsky, seven minutes into the third period, on the first of his two goals.
How not to backcheck: Andrei Svechnikov looked like a forward trying to keep pace with Slafkovsky on the play. Guess we must give him a mulligan, given the circumstances.
It’s a crowded leaderboard: Jaccob Slavin had a goal differential of minus-4. Three other Hurricanes — Jalen Chatfield, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake — all were minus-3.
Quick stats: Both Nick Suzuki and Slafkovsky had four shots. Danault blocked four shots and had three hits. Lane Hutson blocked five shots. The Canadiens blocked 30 shots — three each by Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier, Noah Dobson and Jayden Struble. Hutson played 22:36, while Dobson played one second less.
They said it: “Obviously, they were 8-0 for a reason,” Caufield said in Raleigh. “It’s going to be a long series. It’s just one game.
“We’re in a rhythm right now,” he added. “We’ve been lucky enough to play all the games available. I think we’ve done a good job of taking care of ourselves. I liked our response. There was no panic. Obviously, it was a good answer and we took control from there.”
“In the second period they kind of brought it to us,” Evans said. “We weren’t executing as well. But we had such a healthy lead there. They always start strong and they play a really hard style. For us, it was just keeping that momentum going. We have some confidence right now and feel good about ourselves. There’s a lot of depth and belief on this team.”
“When you get out to a 4-1 lead, you’ve got to find a way to win,” Suzuki said. “It was a great start by the guys to battle back after that first shift. They’ve been off for a long time. We knew we could come in here, playing recently, and try to get off to a good start in the series. We’re happy with the result, but they’re definitely going to be better than they were tonight.”
“It shows the maturity of our team,” Danault said. “Obviously, Dobes had to step up there (in the second period) and he did make some big saves for us, to keep us confident and calm. We knew they were going to push. We just weathered the storm. That’s part of the process and the maturity we have.”
