05/21/26 10:01:00
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05/21 21:59 CDT Canadiens pounce on Hurricanes early in 6-2 win to open Eastern
Conference Final
Canadiens pounce on Hurricanes early in 6-2 win to open Eastern Conference Final
By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) --- The Montreal Canadiens pounced for four first-period
goals on slow-starting Carolina --- coming off the longest postseason break in
more than a century --- and handed the Hurricanes their first loss of the
playoffs with a 6-2 victory Thursday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference
Final.
Cole Caufield and Phillip Danault scored in the opening four minutes, Alexandre
Texier followed four minutes later, and Ivan Demidov finished a breakaway for a
shocking 4-1 lead midway through the opening period. That came against the
Eastern Conference's top seed, which hadn't allowed more than two goals in an
8-0 playoff start.
Juraj Slafkovksy scored twice in the third period for Montreal, the second on a
late empty-netter, while Jakub Dobes had 24 saves.
Game 2 is Saturday night.
The Hurricanes were the first team to sweep their first two playoff rounds
since the NHL went to best-of-seven series in all four rounds in 1987. But that
led to a lengthy break of 11 days, the longest rest for any team before
starting the next playoff run since at least 1920, while waiting on the
Canadiens to battle their way past Tampa Bay and Buffalo.
That led to the rest-versus-rust discussion about the Hurricanes, along with
how well the Canadiens would pivot from those to-the-limit wins.
And outside of Seth Jarvis beating Dobes just 33 seconds in, the Canadiens
answered that question resoundingly in those opening minutes to extend
Carolina's misery in this round.
Much of Carolina's success comes from pressuring opponents in the offensive
zone and minimizing chances going the other way. But Montreal effectively moved
the puck out of danger against Carolina's aggressive pressure early, setting up
clean breakouts and multiple breakaway chances at Frederik Andersen.
Danault's goal was a full-speed breakaway right up the middle off a feed from
Alexandre Carrier, while Demidov went forehand-backhand-forehand to beat
Andersen for the 4-1 lead with 8:28 left in the first.
Andersen was leading the postseason in goals-against average (1.12) and save
percentage (.950), but finished with just 16 saves.
Eric Robinson also scored for Carolina, which is in the Eastern final for the
third time in four years and fourth time in the current eight-season playoff
run under Rod Brind'Amour. But the Hurricanes are now 1-13 in those games,
including sweeps against Boston in 2019 and Florida in 2023.
Carolina's loss meant the two Stanley Cup favorites both lost the opener of the
conference finals. Colorado lost at home to Vegas on Wednesday night.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and
https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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