Montreal’s season comes to an end in Game 5

First period

• Right off the opening puck drop the Carolina Hurricanes get a two-on-one rush, but the shot gets sent high and wide by Jackson Blake.
• Finally out of their zone after allowing the first three shots, Lane Hutson spins away from Andrei Svechnikov, who sticks out his foot and trips him, so Montreal will head to the game’s first power play.
• Let’s go ahead and call these the most important two minutes of the season.
• An attempted pass gets deflected and flutters to the pad of Frederik Andersen, who didn’t follow the puck.
• Zachary Bolduc sets up Alex Newhook with a perfect pass at the side of the net, but Newhook can’t deflect it into the net.
• Suzuki takes a hard hit to get the puck out of the zone, and ends up with a scoring chance at the other end. He has no help with him, so he attempts a bank shot off a Hurricanes defenceman instead.
• Montreal gets the puck and tries to speed up ice with it, but the turnover happens just outside the blue line to allow the Hurricanes to charge back in the zone. Logan Stankoven takes the puck right to the net and ends up bumping into Jakub Dobeš, which opens up his five-hole for Taylor Hall to send the puck through.
• Martin St-Louis challenges the play for goaltender interference, but it’s unsuccessful and now Montreal will be down a man in addition to being down a goal.
• Five games, five times allowing the opening goal.
• Montreal survives the penalty kill with some good positioning to prevent a second goal.
• There isn’t really any method to the puck movement right now. Turnovers remain a frustrating issue.
• They were told they could get away with bumping Dobeš, so Svechnikov decides to take a scenic route through the crease. Dobeš sees him coming through on a collision course and gives him a shove, and the ref doesn’t think much of Svechnikov’s antics, giving him an interference penalty.
• Zero shots on the power play. They’re not even giving themselves a chance.
• Out of a TV timeout, Montreal loses a defensive-zone faceoff, and Logan Stankoven gets a shot from the hashmarks after a pass from behind the net to make it a 2-0 game.
• The puck gets played down the ice, and Mike Matheson can’t win a foot race with Eric Robinson. Robinson gets in alone and sends a third goal through Dobeš, who didn’t look sharp on that occasion, slow to get down and drifting back into his net.
• Fifteen shots for Carolina, and three goals.
• In a game that could be their last of the season, the Habs get held to four shots, on pace for a dozen yet again. Now there’s zero reason for Carolina to give them any openings for the final 40 minutes. The Hurricanes are on a mission, and haven’t relented since the opening faceoff of Game 2.

Second period

• Kaiden Guhle was questionable going into this game, and he just got tangled up along the boards and grimaced in pain. He hobbles around to finish the shift, but it ends in a Nick Suzuki holding penalty as Montreal was down to essentially four defenders.
• The penalty is killed. Now what can Montreal do to at least generate some shots?
• Joe Veleno takes a high stick from Alexander Nikishin off an offensive-zone draw. This power play needs to score.
• Cole Caufield had the puck come to him twice, but couldn’t corral the puck on either occasion to get it toward Andersen.
• Montreal has had three power plays, but only one shot. They’ve had opportunities to get into the game.
• They make a great push with several chances in the offensive zone. The puck goes the opposite way at the end of the shift after a backhand pass across the top of the zone by Jake Evans, resulting in a on a two-on-two. Both Newhook and Guhle take Hall, and leave Blake alone at the top of the crease to make it 4-0.
• Just another case of Montreal being surprised that the passing lane was blocked by the stick of a Hurricanes player.
• Hutson gets his stick up under the visor of Svechnikov, and that is an actual penalty on the Russian forward.
• Stankoven hits the crossbar on the power play. Even Dobeš is looking fatigued now, not able to cover the full net as he usually does.
• Demidov times his race to a puck sliding toward Andersen perfectly to jab it just before the Hurricanes defenceman, but the goes goes wide.
• Two Canadiens go off, three jump on, and another strong push from Montreal ends up in an immediate advantage for Carolina.
• Montreal does well on the penalty kill, until it doesn’t. Shayne Gostisbehere jumps up, and neither Guhle nor Josh Anderson is able to get to him and prevent the 5-0 goal.
• Demidov sets up Suzuki open at the top of the crease. The captain spins and fires, but Andersen makes the blocker save.
• A couple more chances to end the period, but Andersen makes those stops to preserve his shutout.
• Montreal had another decent second period in terms of shots, with 11 to Carolina’s nine, but the Hurricanes added two more goals.

Third period

• A lot of pressure from Montreal early in the period. They want to break the goose egg on the scoreboard.
• Jordan Staal drags his stick across the front of Jayden Struble’s skates and knocks him down. A fourth power play for Montreal gives them a chance to get a goal.
• Suzuki makes a great deflection from the top of the crease, but it hits the inside of Andersen’s blocker and sticks to him.
• Gostisbehere slashes Phillip Danault’s stick in half, so another power play for Montreal.
• Demidov continues to make plays to find lanes other players can’t. It has to be said he’s had an impressive performance especially after the opening round, and is showing he has the stamina to play a long season, tonight contesting the 101st of his rookie season.
• The shutout streak is snapped. Hutson lands a high saucer pass right on the stick of Caufield in the slot, and he sends the puck in through Andersen’s five-hole.

Cole nous inscrit au tableau

Cole gets us on the board#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/jplqtBq0m2

— x – Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) May 30, 2026

• Demidov is getting a lot of time with Suzuki in this period, and I think that’s a preview of what we should expect when next season begins.
• Dobeš is on the bench with five minutes to go in a last-gasp hope for a miracle.
• Slafkovský has Andersen down and out, but the puck won’t go in a second time.
• Seth Jarvis hits the empty net to make it a 6-1 game.
• One last two-many-men penalty will just about see out the rest of this game.
• The season ends at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, who suffered their first loss of the post-season, but again won by winning four consecutive games.
• Now what will no doubt be a busy off-season awaits the Canadiens as they work to improve the team for a better run in 2027.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) We appreciate you all for following along

2) Hard to be disappointed about one of the youngest team to ever make the playoffs making it to the final four

1) The good news is everyone will be receptive to changes in the off-season