Alexandre Texier of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates after scoring a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the first period in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final.Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
The Montreal Canadiens weren’t favoured by Vegas, the pundits, or even many of their fans heading into Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes.
They were younger, less battle-tested, and more banged up than an opponent that has cruised through the playoffs thus far and gone this deep in the post-season four times in the past eight seasons.
But after a 6-2 victory Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C., the fresh-faced underdogs don’t look ready to bow out.
They rode their speed, creativity, and unflappable young goalie to a series of lightning-strike goals and defensive zone escapes that left the more experienced club looking stodgy.
The question entering the series revolved around rest versus rust. The Hurricanes had the longest layoff between playoff games since 1919 after sweeping both of their first two series, while the Habs grinded to consecutive Game 7s and any number of near-elimination moments. Fatigue was clearly a drag on Montreal in the last two games against the Buffalo Sabres, which they narrowly escaped.
In pregame press conferences, the teams themselves were wondering about the relative risks and benefits of having played in bulk recently. The answer came quickly.
A goaltending showdown promised to pit the Canadiens’ brilliant rookie Jakub Dobes against Carolina’s veteran Frederik Andersen. Both have carried their teams through stretches of mediocre even-strength production from their top lines, with Andersen boasting a dominant 1.12 goals-against average and .950 save percentage.
But it was an offensive showcase early on, and the ice was tilted in both directions. Carolina’s relentless forecheck dominated play at the outset, with Seth Jarvis scoring on a quick release from the slot after the team’s pressure forced Montreal to ice the puck in the first minute.
But the Canadiens quickly answered, generating an odd-man rush out of nothing that led to a Cole Caufield crowd-silencer seconds later, a welcome sight for Montreal fans who have been longing for more 5-on-5 punch from their 50-goal scorer.
Victoriaville, Que.-native Phillip Danault snapped a second goal past Andersen after being released on a breakaway at 4-on-4 just past four minutes into the first, and Alexandre Texier potted a third with just over eight minutes gone in the frame. With less than half a period gone, Carolina had already allowed more goals than they had in a full game all playoffs.
The Habs onslaught continued a few minutes later on another breakaway, this one finished elegantly by 20-year-old Russian phenom Ivan Demidov after a tight little move that showed off his otherworldly hands.
In the defensive zone, the Habs were in bend-but-don’t-break mode. The Hurricanes are a possession team and they had plenty of time with the puck, along with their share of chances on 27 shots on goal. But the Canadiens continued to ambush Carolina’s skill players with timely checks. 24-year-old blueliner Kaiden Guhule was all over the ice with fast feet and an active stick, closing down space.
After winning puck battles, the Habs succeeded in using Carolina’s aggression against them, finding sneaky outlet passes that set up a series of dangerous rushes going the other way.
An Eric Robinson breakaway goal for Carolina near the start of the second – with Montreal still wondering how a point blank Caufield wrist shot had stayed out of the net after hitting the post – gave life back to a thoroughly demoralized Lenovo Center, reputed to be one of the loudest buildings in the NHL.
For the rest of the period, Carolina threatened and Montreal retreated into its own zone, struggling to clear the puck and at times looking simply to weather the storm. It was a familiar sight from Games 6 and 7 against Buffalo when tired legs and playing with the lead produced some dispiriting hockey. On Thursday morning Habs coach Martin St-Louis admitted that his players took their feet off the gas with multiple-goal leads in the second round, and the tendency put them in danger of squandering what was starting to look like a blowout on Thursday night.
Again, Dobes bailed out his sagging squad with deft positioning and big saves. Carolina outshot Montreal 11 to 3 in the second and the precocious Czech stopped the last ten of them with typical sang froid.
Another of Montreal’s seemingly endless young stars, Juraj Slafkovsky, broke the pattern 7:05 into the third with a goal out of the clear blue sky, set up by some clever passing in the neutral zone from Caufield and Guhle, then finished with the 22-year-old Slovak’s combination of strength and finesse. It was his fifth of the playoffs and first at even strength.
When he added an empty-netter to make it 6-2 with 2:28 left, the arena was already half-empty.
Game 2 in Raleigh is Saturday at 7:00 p.m.