A dominant performance gave the Montreal Canadiens a perfect start in the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes.
As much as the Canadiens will look to build on their 6-2 victory over the Hurricanes on Thursday, they fully expect a much different performance from the hosts in the next outing at Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday.
“I’m sure their execution and what they’re going to try to do in Game 2 will be better,” Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said. “They’d been off for a long time. … We’re really happy with the result, but they’re definitely going to be better.”
The Canadiens were unquestionably the better of the two clubs in the curtain raiser.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored twice in a three-point outing, while Cole Caufield and Phillip Danault both scored once and added an assist for Montreal, which rode a four-goal first period to a one-sided victory.
Alexandre Texier and Ivan Demidov also tallied for the Canadiens, who have won seven of nine road games during the playoffs. Goaltender Jakub Dobes made 25 saves.
Suzuki collected three assists on a line with Slafkovsky and Caufield.
“It’s really good for our confidence,” said Slafkovsky, who collected three points in a game for the third time in the current postseason. “We haven’t been the best in these playoffs 5-on-5, but that’s why a hockey team has 20 guys, because if you’re not at your best, somebody else is probably doing really good. …
“I’m happy with the way we played today, and we just have to keep it the same way or even better.”
Seth Jarvis and Eric Robinson scored for the Hurricanes, the conference’s regular-season champs who lost for the first time in this year’s playoffs. Carolina has lost seven straight conference final openers and won only once in its last 17 conference final clashes.
Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen stopped 16 shots. He had not surrendered more than two goals in any of the previous outings this spring.
Carolina not only swept its opposition in each of the first two rounds, but it surrendered only five total goals in each of those series.
“We lost the game from the start, obviously giving them that many freebies,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “There wasn’t enough respect for them. They played a great game. They were ready to roll, and we weren’t.”
Carolina, which waited 12 days to play after finishing the second round with a second consecutive sweep, staked a lead 33 seconds into the game on Jarvis’ goal, but the Canadiens took over immediately thereafter.
Caufield replied 27 seconds later when he buried an open chance from the slot. Danault put Montreal ahead with a breakaway at 4:04, Texier extended the lead four minutes later, and Demidov made it a 4-1 game with another breakaway goal at 11:32.
Robinson provided the Hurricanes hope when he cut the deficit to 4-2 by finishing a partial breakaway at 2:46 of the second period. However, Slafkovsky restored Montreal’s three-goal edge at 7:05 of the third period.
Slafkovsky’s empty-net goal rounded out the scoring, while the Hurricanes managed only two shots on goal in the final frame.
“It’s a tough night,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s tough at this time of year to have those. We don’t have a lot of those at all like that, and we’re going to have to bounce back, clearly. I have all the faith in the world we will.”
–Field Level Media
