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Staring down the barrel of elimination, the Montreal Canadiens went into Raleigh fighting for their lives on Friday night. That was, at least, the idea of what maybe they should have been doing. In actuality, they came out more flat than Game 4 and delivered a worse result earlier on. Game 4’s onslaught came during a three-minute span of brutal hockey by the home team. Those goals established the rest of the game and Montreal never recovered.

Game 5’s onslaught was continuous and inescapable. The Canadiens were hounded at every possession, forced to make decisions immediately and getting hit anyways. Five goals down through two periods, the coaching staff elected to make a change that may serve as a premonition of the future. Ivan Demidov was lined up with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki for the opening faceoff of the third period.

Could any adjustments or improvements have been implemented to change the fate of the game, and subsequently the series? Perhaps, perhaps not. What we know is that what was working no longer worked, and what else was tried neither worked nor was ever committed to. Montreal’s season ended on the road with their 4th loss in a row, a 6-1 defeat, a whimper to reflect a truly magical season for the youngest team in the league to make the playoffs and Conference Final in over 30 years.

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Jake Evans — Ivan Demidov
Alexandre Texier – Phillip Danault – Josh Anderson
Zach Bolduc – Joe Veleno – Kirby Dach

Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Lane Hutson — Jayden Struble
Kaiden Guhle – Alexandre Carrier

Jakub Dobes 

10 Thoughts

1. A turnover from the opening faceoff almost ended the game in the first six seconds. Jake Evans, Alex Newhook, and Demidov were the crafted line to get the opener and a quick stick from Jackson Blake sent him in on Jakub Dobes. Despite missing the net, Carolina stayed in the Habs zone for the rest of the minute, earning three shots. Following a breakout and rush from Josh Anderson’s line, Carolina took the first penalty when Andrei Svechnikov tripped Lane Hutson. Hutson was attempting to spin around the winger but Svechnikov got his foot out and clipped his foot. An early clear gave the Hurricanes some relief, and an offside cut the play short seconds later. The top unit regained the zone and demonstrated a more fluid, movement-oriented attack with plenty of looping cycles and long passes, but Frederik Andersen stuck out the pad to block Suzuki’s pass on Montreal’s only attempt towards the net.

2. Taylor Hall started the scoring for the home crowd by following up on both a turnover from Montreal and a drive to the net. Logan Stankoven had picked off a bad pass as the Habs were exiting the zone and went straight for Dobes. He pulled the puck to the middle of the ice and tried to bang it in, but Hall’s stick got there first. Montreal tried to challenge for the distinct and visual contact Stankoven had on Dobes, but the officials quickly deemed it insufficient to overturn the goal and Montreal was sent to their first penalty kill. The Canadiens could have easily taken another several penalties for hacks into the hands and high sticks over the course of the two minutes, but escaped due to great saves by Dobes and lucid coverage in the top of the zone.

3. The Habs continued to give the puck away and the Hurricanes continued to play in their zone, beating the defencemen down low and punishing the forwards whenever they tried to move it along the wall. Montreal got a clear break when Svechnikov took his second minor of the night, crashing into Dobes and the net. The Canadiens’ best offensive players struggled to establish an effective zone setup and ultimately failed to accomplish anything more than the expiry of two more minutes on the game clock.

4. Carolina got their second after another won faceoff and beaten defenceman with just under four minutes left in the period. The puck was sent behind the Habs net after the faceoff and Hall matched up with Mike Matheson. The winger out-skated Matheson with a quick pivot and then fed Stankoven inside the left circle. Joe Veleno watched the shot pick its way through his legs and over Dobes’ shoulder. They struck again as Eric Robinson had another breakaway goal that trickled through Dobes’ legs. William Carrier sent a deep shot into the middle of the ice and Robinson just beat out Matheson down the middle to get a clear shot alone. Rattled, the Montreal players headed to the dressing room down three goals after the first period again and searching for answers that should have been found by now.

5. The second period’s first action occurred during the opening minute, when Suzuki took a bleedingly obvious holding call as he allowed Seth Jarvis to get position on him; Jarvis had barely missed an open net seconds before on a break. As the Habs and their five shots survived another penalty kill, Veleno carried Alexander Nikishin’s stick into his own face as they fought for position after a faceoff. Lane Hutson and Caufield almost connected for a point-shot tip during the power play, but another white jersey at the net was needed for the rebound and Caufield sent the loose puck out of the zone instead. Another close play couldn’t be finished off at the side of the net by Suzuki, and the second unit was fruitless during their 33 seconds, instead finishing off their cardio workout by skating the length of the ice twice.

6. After the Veleno power play, Montreal tried to build some momentum but were chopped at the knees less than nine minutes in. The fourth unanswered tally for the home team came when Hall drove to the net and a rebound was left spinning in place for Blake to hammer under Dobes. Newhook did the unforgivable flyby, leaving the puck behind him on the coverage, but the whole debacle originated from another horrible passing decision and giveaway just inside the Carolina zone. Evans tried to spin and back-hand pass the puck to the middle of the zone because he was completely smothered by his checker. A story of the series.

7. Halfway through the game, Jaccob Slavin stood with the puck on his stick behind his net, looking at the clock and watching his linemates wheel around for the attack. The shots were 19 to 7, the score four to nothing. Soon after, Hutson had just taken a penalty for high-sticking and gave his team something material to achieve in a game they gave away in the first ten seconds. Montreal stopped the bleeding during those two minutes, but Stankoven had only barely missed the post for his chance and the Habs players continued to pass the puck backwards whenever they felt pressure coming. The skaters, throughout this series, have consistently opted to offload the puck to the closest and “safest” option nearby.

8. Montreal’s disaster of a night continued when they were clearly caught with six skaters involved in the play with 3:34 left in the middle frame. With only so many chances to stay perfect, Montreal gave up the 5th as Shayne Gostisbehere slipped the puck through Dobes’ legs following quick one-touch passes via Nikolaj Ehlers and Jarvis at the opposite post. Carolina pursued every puck, filing down the Canadiens resolve to the quick as they outworked and outpaced a clearly defeated team. The barn in Raleigh rained down Montreal’s Ole chant to serenade the visitors off the ice to a dreadful 18 minutes of waiting before they could take their final beatings to end the season.

9. Slafkovsky and Demidov were only one of the line switches seen during the first minutes of the final period, the Canadiens searching for any life in the dying throes of their season. Kirby Dach centred Juraj Slafkovsky and Newhook, and Noah Dobson skated with Jayden Struble during Montreal’s only quality shift that achieved any sort of familiar offensive pressure. Some actions happened when Phillip Danault’s stick was shorn in two by a slashing Gostisbehere, but nothing came of the man-advantage for Montreal. Blocked shots, closed off lanes, and hesitant plays with the puck kept any extra offence from materializing until Caufield was able to catch a pass in the middle of the ice alone and tuck it between Andersen’s legs for a power play goal.

10. The Canadiens elected to play their best in the dying minutes of the game, but there was nothing behind their energy. They looked lacklustre and exhausted, opting for the easiest and simplest play and forgetting their reads. Montreal pulled Dobes with over four minutes left and got some dangerous looks, however, a team like Carolina will not be held down with an open target, especially not in this series. Jarvis potted the 6th with relative ease after two other missed shots and Montreal gave them the puck back inside the offensive blueline. Another penalty was issued to the Habs in the final three minutes, another too many men minor. This mauling inside the Lenovo Center will not and should not be forgotten in the dressing room of Montreal and in the mind of each roster player skating as well as the organization.

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

Can there truly be any stars in a game such as this? Let us review the past few weeks with some quick notes:

1st Star – Jakub Dobes

Dobes delivered a magical playoffs for the Canadiens as their rookie goaltender. He starred for the league and world to see, outstripped all of his countrymen at the position and legitimized his role in the organization. Dobes is an option as the goalie of the future, and certainly an asset to continue to developed alongside Jacob Fowler.

2nd Star – Nick Suzuki & Lane Hutson

Montreal’s best two skaters were dynamic in their own way. Suzuki played with silky smoothness and even got the bite to his game many have looked for, whereas Hutson dealt with the punishment, gave some back, and was a lightning rod on the back end. They delivered win after win for Montreal, assisted by their depth, and helped propel this team to a level nobody expected from them. 

3rd Star – Alex Newhook

Newhook scored enormous goals for the Canadiens and justified a trade that many maligned at the time and have since. He had multiple multi-goal games and scored two overtime Game 7 winners to send the Habs to the next round. His run with Montreal and the team’s run as a whole will always be remembered with his scoring and speed in mind.