{"id":592,"date":"2026-05-20T10:39:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=592"},"modified":"2026-05-20T10:39:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:39:35","slug":"how-can-the-carolina-hurricanes-beat-the-montreal-canadiens-4-things-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=592","title":{"rendered":"How can the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens? 4 things to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are 16 squares on the front facade of the Lenovo Center above the arena\u2019s main entrance.<\/p>\n

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Eight have red storming-warning signs, The other eight are blank. The Carolina Hurricanes again have filled the first eight boxes with eight consecutive victories in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That\u2019s the idea: fill all 16, win the Cup.<\/p>\n

But since 2006, when the Hurricanes were Stanley Cup champions, they have not gotten past nine, and often maxed out at eight. That\u2019s the reality. The Canes want to change that narrative this season. After dusting off the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers, winning both series impressively in four-game sweeps, Carolina now has its sights on the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL\u2019s Eastern Conference Final.<\/p>\n

After a 12-day break, the Canes will face the Habs on Thursday in Game 1 at Lenovo Center. Game 2 is Saturday before the best-of-seven series goes to Montreal for two games.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you know your opponent, it gets more real,\u201d Canes coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour said after a Monday practice. \u201cOnce you know your opponent for sure, you can get more laser focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens became that opponent Monday night<\/a>, going into Buffalo\u2019s KeyBank Center for Game 7 of their series with the Sabres and emerging with a 3-2 overtime victory on Alex Newhook\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens won an Eastern Conference title in 2021 before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final. The Canes have had four trips to the conference final since the 2006 Cup \u2014 in 2009, 2019, 2023 and 2025 \u2014 and won one game.<\/p>\n

The Florida Panthers, a bigger, stronger team with elite goaltending, ousted the Canes in 2023 and \u201825. Carolina did win Game 4 last year after falling behind 3-0 in the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what\u2019s happened in the past,\u201d winger Seth Jarvis said Monday. \u201cWe\u2019re a new team and playing a new opponent. We have experience in this round in knowing what it takes to compete and hopefully come out victorious.\u201d What will it take to win four games against the Canadiens and come out victorious? Four things to consider:<\/p>\n

It all starts in net. For the Canes, that means goaltender Frederik Andersen. Andersen had a shutout win to begin the Ottawa series and did the same to the Flyers. Starting and winning all eight games in the two sweeps, Andersen has been an elite goalie for the Hurricanes, called a calming presence by Brind\u2019Amour and an \u201cabsolute wall\u201d by defenseman Jaccob Slavin.<\/p>\n

Andersen, 36, was only average in the regular season, but not the playoffs. Why the change?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve been patient and moving towards a good stance, with good movement,\u201d Andersen said Monday. \u201cI\u2019ve just been building my foundation, that gives me the best chance of being in the way of the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a bit of goaliespeak. But whatever the explanation, Andersen, facing 201 shots in eight games, has been in the way of the puck 191 times.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a .950 save percentage to go with his 1.12 goals-against average. His high-danger save percentage is .925, according to the NHL EDGE metrics.<\/p>\n

Montreal\u2019s Jakub Dobes, 24, twice won Game 7\u2019s on the road, only the second rookie goalie in NHL history to do it. He also beat the Canes three times during the regular season as the Habs went 3-0-0 against Carolina.<\/p>\n

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But Andersen has been on another level.<\/p>\n

Canes center Sebastian Aho, in talking about his line, said, \u201cWe\u2019ve got better hockey in us.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was before<\/i> the Flyers series.<\/p>\n

The Aho line, while not shirking its defensive responsibilities, again was not dangerous enough offensively in the second round \u2014 albeit in that four-game window. Aho had one assist against the Flyers. Jarvis had one goal. Winger Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and two assists.<\/p>\n

Logan Stankoven\u2019s line has been the Canes\u2019 best and has been the headliners, lastly with Jackson Blake\u2019s overtime goal to win Game 4 and close out the Flyers.<\/p>\n

Taylor Hall has been the leading scorer for Carolina in the playoffs with 12 points. Blake (11) and Stankoven (8) are next, and Stankoven has a team-best seven goals.<\/p>\n

Aho and his linemates have had more than enough time to think about producing \u201cbetter hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens have scored on 25% of their power plays in the playoffs. The Canes have killed off 95% of their penalties. That\u2019s the starting point entering the series.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes, always aggressive on the kill, have allowed two goals shorthanded in 40 chances over eight games. Defenseman Jalen Chatfield has a shorthanded goal for the Canes and there have been other shorthanded chances.<\/p>\n

The Habs have 13 power-play goals in 14 games, including Zachary Bolduc\u2019s score in Game 7 against Buffalo. Slafkovsky has four power-play goals and Caufield three, and rookie defenseman Lane Hutson is a crafty power-play quarterback.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes like to feed off their home crowd and will look to do it again. The decibel count again will be high at Lenovo Center when the siren finally is sounded again and it\u2019s game on.<\/p>\n

Brind\u2019Amour will have the last-change for matching up personnel and has a good feel for it, even if he downplays the significance of it when questioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get to this point, I don\u2019t know if playing at home is an advantage,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said.<\/p>\n

The Habs\u2019 top line with Nick Suzuki centering Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky is young and fast. Caufield, who had 51 goals in the regular season, has four in the 14 playoff games but was an offensive pest when the Canes faced him.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see which line and defensive pairs Brind\u2019Amour uses against the Suzuki line. Then again, Newhook has a team-leading seven goals playing with center Jake Evans and winger Ivan Demidov.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens are 6-2 on the road in the playoffs. They twice won Game 7 on the road, in rowdy environments. They won at Lenovo Center in the regular season.<\/p>\n

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Carolina Hurricanes face Montreal Canadiens in NHL playoffs Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center, relying on Frederik Andersen, top lines to win games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nHow can the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens? 4 things to watch - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=592\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How can the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens? 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