The upstart Montreal Canadiens and hardened Carolina Hurricanes clashed in an 8:00 PM ET start in Raleigh on Thursday night. The first game of the Eastern Conference Final opened with fireworks as both teams scored in the first minute. Carolina kept their building rocking with a goal in the first 30 seconds and Cole Caufield answered back with a slick evener after the Hurricanes were beaten down low. Such a goal told the story of the first period, as Montreal won the one-on-one battles and chipped loose pucks out to forwards streaking up the gut of the neutral zone. They feasted on overzealous Hurricane defenders all night, generating numerous odd-man rushes and outnumbered scenarios. Over the course of the game, the Canadiens played with purpose and urgency. Their game had a maturity against Carolina that was absent at times during the two Atlantic series.
Despite being lit up for four goals in the first period, Frederik Andersen even then kept his team in the game by stonewalling breakaways from Zach Bolduc and multiple two-on-ones. He fought back and kept the home side in the match for longer than a lesser goaltender would have. It wouldn’t be enough as Jakub Dobes got the win playing just as well to match his Danish counterpart and made the saves he was supposed to. Barring the opening goal, the team as a whole stuck to a game plan and executed on each Carolina turnover and error. The opportunity to slam the gas pedal down with a win on Saturday is surely tantalizing for a team that has not lost to its opponents since the previous season.
Habs Lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Jake Evans — Ivan Demidov
Alexandre Texier – Phillip Danault – Josh Anderson
Zach Bolduc – Oliver Kapanen – Kirby Dach
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble – Lane Hutson
Kaiden Guhle – Alexandre Carrier
Jakub Dobes
10 Thoughts
1) The Hurricanes were all over the Habs as soon as the puck dropped. Predictably, the home team supplied the stuffed barn with a goal 33 seconds into the game. The crowd was already electric, and drank in the catharsis of a lead less than a minute into the contest after over a dozen days of waiting around. K’Andre Miller held the line when the Habs failed to effectively clear out the initial forecheck, and Sebastian Aho beat Newhook to the ringed puck along the boards. Aho bumped the puck to the middle of the ice, it bounced off Andrei Svechnikov’s skate and stick and then onto Seth Jarvis’ stick. Jarvis fired a rapid snapshot past Dobes to score on the first shot of the game.
2) The young Canadiens struck back 27 seconds later. Caufield finished off an incredible forechecking play by his linemates and went upstairs on Frederik Andersen to bring the Habs even and dampen the spirits of a raging crowd. Slafkovsky earned the primary assist when he fed Caufield alone in front of the net after Caufield himself slapped the puck deep into Carolina’s zone to keep his line’s rush alive. Suzuki’s pass in the neutral zone had drifted ahead of him, and Caufield’s subsequent swipe put the puck behind Andersen on Slafkovsky’s wing. The answer back from Montreal did not stop with Caufield, as Danault would double down soon afterwards. Danault’s goal would come after two more grade-A scoring chances for the Canadiens – Bolduc stopped by Andersen and Evans heeled a puck past an open net.
3) At 03:55, an interference penalty was called on Sean Walker as he got into Suzuki’s skating lane, but not to be humiliated by the Habs captain, Garrett Rank – an “official”- took Suzuki as well for embellishment. Danault scored on the breakaway after a feeding stretch pass from Carrier was deflected by Anderson near the Carolina blueline. Once more, the Hurricanes’ defender overplayed the initial forecheck and nobody picked up the second forward, the twin nature of Montreal’s two-skater forechecking scheme. The strategy gave Carolina fits in the regular season, and over the course of the first period, they picked apart the home team’s defensive tendencies. Hutson continued to dance during the four-on-four play, finishing off the final minute until Carrier’s shot was gloved down by Andersen.
4) Akin to their orange-striped brethren, the linesmen enjoyed injecting themselves into the game, tossing out centres for five faceoffs in a row midway through the first period to the chagrin of the home crowd. Crash-and-bang play on the forecheck neutralized the prepared movements of the Hurricanes’ defencemen in the opening stages of the period, and the Canadiens earned themselves another goal from Texier. The French winger had gotten the play started by dumping the puck in as the Habs behind him followed thus making Jaccob Slavin turn around and chase down the 50/50 puck. Texier finished his check and Danault also hit his man along the boards, letting the puck slide past to Guhle. Danault stayed put after his contact and was an open passing option as his man left to pursue Guhle. Danault called for and received the puck before feeding it across the slot to a waiting Texier to fire into the open far side of the net.
5) Demidov got Montreal’s fourth goal using the same move he used in the regular season to dance Andersen into the back of his net before tucking the puck around the right pad. The puck originated from behind Montreal’s net before the explosive transition play via Evans and Newhook sprung Demidov alone through the meat of the offensive zone. Hutson carried it out of the trapezoid and rang the puck for the breakout at the point. Evans had position on his man and bumped the puck to the middle and up the ice for Newhook. The Game 7 hero took two strides before flittering a slight pass to a streaking Demidov.
6) Svechnikov was gifted a carbon-fiber stick blade to his face, courtesy of Carrier quickly following the faceoff at centre ice. Carrier lost position on the Russian and his stick reached in as Svechnikov pursued a puck to the corner behind Dobes. Just as the national broadcast announced the ineptitude of the Carolina power play, the home team was issued a penalty by the trailing referee – Rank – for roughing. Aho got his glove into the face of Evans as the Habs successfully cleared the zone, taking a hit to make the play. Both teams traded chances through the slot for the remainder of the four-on-four play, and Dobson fired one shot on net with the remaining 27 seconds of power play. As the teams returned to the dressing room for the end of the first period of the Conference Final, it was a certainty that each coach would be visiting their team to discuss adjustments after five goals were scored.
7) Carolina’s forward lines were shuffled to open the second frame, and like the first, they attacked immediately. Struble was punished for not making a fast enough decision with the puck and Caufield nailed the post as the pushback from Carolina materialized into a wicked wrister goal from Eric Robinson. His first of the playoffs went bar down after William Carrier sent a waning pass the length of the ice to Robinson entering the Habs zone along the right wing. Robinson’s goal ate into Montreal’s lead and fed the home crowd still rabid for their team to further participate in the scoring.
8) The Hurricanes continued to push and induce stress for the Habs defencemen. The majority of the start of the second period was similarly dominated by possession in the Habs zone by Carolina, reminiscent of both Game 7’s. Slafkovsky made a huge block on Taylor Hall to close off a potential two-on-one, and Dobes had to make several steady saves on great rush chances by Jarvis and Robinson once more. Another failed clear allowed further pressure in the Canadiens zone as the Habs weathered the storm late in the second period, Texier’s line getting caught for over a minute and a half before icing the puck. Hutson and Evans came up with big blocks before they could earn a clear and the Habs own top line could apply pressure and force an icing of their own. Andersen stopped a hot shot from Demidov to earn the whistle and change for his skaters. Matheson and Svechnikov were issued opposing minors for lightly wrestling in front of the net in the final two of the period, leading to an even two minutes of four-on-four to close it out. The Canadiens only gave up a single goal on their lead, and went into the third with the dreaded two-goal cushion that has not worked out for them in the playoffs yet.
9) As the third period got started at 10:14 PM EST, two nights after their second grueling Game 7 victory, it is likely the Canadiens began to feel a certain heaviness set in their legs. The intensity and overall ambush of the first period and the headiness of the second would have served to further their fatigue, and they were quickly pinned in their zone to open the third. Unfortunately for Carolina, they would take the first penalty by tripping Guhle 200 feet from their own net. Montreal’s top unit tried to get to work against a penalty kill with a 95% success rate these playoffs, but struggled to gain any leverage along the wall on the entry and the puck was quickly cleared. The second unit used the same tactic to enter the zone, telegraphing their attack strategy, and had middling success. Unable to get control once the puck was ringed around the boards, Montreal watched as Jordan Martinook stepped back onto the ice without any momentum generated. They also then watched as less than 30 seconds later, Slafkovsky dragged the puck back and around Svechnikov in the slot before dancing the Andersen to re-establish the three-goal lead.
10) Into the latter half of the third period, Guhle was called for perhaps the softest interference penalty we have seen all season long. The Habs delivered a gutsy kill to fight off the penalty and continued dwindling the clock until the Hurricanes were forced to pull their goalie. Montreal defended, defended, and defended until Suzuki finally closed off a defenceman to chip the puck to Slafkovsky, who then hit the empty net. Montreal left the ice after putting up more goals in the game than Carolina allowed in either of their first two series.
HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars
1st Star – Juraj Slafkovsky
Juraj Slafkovsky embodies the spirit of Jaromir Jagr in high-stakes situations. He drives play through the middle of the ice when carrying the puck over the blue line and forces his way through the defender below the goal line. His two notches solidified the win for Montreal but his assist in the first period got the entire debacle started. Montreal’s premier power forward can do it all, and his monstrous frame continues to enable the exertion of Slovakian will onto the National Hockey League’s playoffs.
Stats: 2 goals, 1 assist, +3, 4 shots, 1 block, 1 hit, 16:41 T.O.I.
2nd Star – Canadiens D-Corps; Guhle, Matheson, Carrier, Hutson, Struble, Dobson
Although the offence was explosive during the game, Montreal’s defensive structure and discipline delivered their most effective match of coverage against a prepared foe. They were controlled and deliberate in the vast majority of their movements and outlets, making the correct first pass to exit the zone and only getting caught a few times backtracking to the forecheck. They were active in the offensive zone and many rushes by defensemen into the play were instrumental at shifting the tone of the game at the time. They gave up two goals to the Eastern Conference regular season winners in perhaps the most important game they have played this season, while enabling their forwards to light up the opposite net. Mission accomplished.
Stats: 2 assists, +8 cumulative, 4 shots, 19 blocks, 4 hits, 3 takeaways
3rd Star – Phillip Danault
Danault was spectacular defensively against the team that identifies itself with defensiveness itself. His 53% faceoff win rate was critical during defensive zone draws and penalty kills. He blocked the right shots, threw effective hits, and scored the second goal during Montreal’s first-period storming of Andersen. That shot was not one he was capable of taking in October, and his acquisition could reasonably be characterized as the best of the season by any team; certainly one of the most impactful in important moments.
Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 2 shots, 4 blocks, 3 hits, 15:49 T.O.I.