{"id":749,"date":"2026-05-22T11:37:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=749"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:37:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:37:46","slug":"hurricanes-penchant-for-home-conference-final-losses-stings-against-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=749","title":{"rendered":"Hurricanes\u2019 penchant for home conference final losses stings against Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Carolina Hurricanes almost cringe when their past troubles in the Eastern Conference Final are mentioned.<\/p>\n

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But one thing is unavoidable: Losing Game 1 has been a big part of those troubles. And especially at home, where the Canes immediately surrender their home-ice advantage.<\/p>\n

It happened again Thursday. The Hurricanes took a 6-2 beating from the Montreal Canadiens in the opening game at the Lenovo Center. The Habs scored four times in the first period, weathered a hard push from Carolina in the second and earned another road win in the Stanley Cup playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens are 7-2 on the road, where many young teams \u2014 and the Habs are young \u2014 are expected to wither and lose. Twice they have gone into the other team\u2019s building and won a Game 7, the ultimate test, besting the Tampa Bay Lightning and then the Buffalo Sabres.<\/p>\n

Now, they have quickly pushed the Canes into the unenviable role of playing from behind in another conference final after handing them their first loss in the playoffs after eight straight wins.<\/p>\n

Against the Florida Panthers in 2023, the Canes dropped Game 1 in a four-overtime thriller and quickly were under pressure in the ECF. They didn\u2019t want to lose the first two games at home, but did. They were swept in four games.<\/p>\n

A year ago, the Panthers took a 5-2 victory in Game 1 on the Canes\u2019 ice. Again, they went on to win the series in five games \u2014 and a second consecutive Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

The Canes\u2019 game Thursday was all but decided in the first period as the Habs streaked up and down ice, forced the Canes into myriad defensive mistakes, scored three times in the first eight minutes and led 4-1 when the period ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost the game from the start,\u201d Canes captain Jordan Staal said. \u201cGiving them that many freebies, any team is going to make you pay, especially this time of year. It wasn\u2019t enough respect for them and they played a great game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were ready to roll and we weren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many were guessing how the Canes would react to having an 11-day break after their four-game sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round.<\/p>\n

When Seth Javris scored 33 seconds into the game, all seemed well. But the speed of the game, a quickening pace that favored the Canadiens, quickly caught up with the Canes as the Habs, who like it fast, put together rush after rush.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just weren\u2019t aware of them sneaking behind us,\u201d Staal said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different style, a different pace, obviously, but it wasn\u2019t necessarily the pace but the awareness really. I don\u2019t know how many breakaways we gave up right off the bat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find ways to defend better and give nothing and make it hard on them. It was just freebies, and they\u2019ve got talent and they\u2019re going to make you pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Habs got two goals from Juraj Slafkovsky and scores from Cole Caufield and Ivan Demidov \u2014 all young skills guys. Phillip Danault scored on a four-on-four breakaway and Alexandre Texier added a goal as Montreal coach Martin St-Louis, mindful of the long series with Buffalo, balanced his team\u2019s minutes and sent out \u201cwave after wave,\u201d as he put it.<\/p>\n

Texier\u2019s goal came after he pressured Canes defenseman Jaccob Slavin behind the Carolina net, then beat Slavin to the front for the shot and score as Slavin was uncharacteristically slow to react and cover. Slavin had a minus-4 plus\/minus rating in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a tough one,\u201d Canes coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour said. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen that in eight years. It happens. They have the ability if you give them a little room, it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slavin had a more blunt assessment: \u201cPersonally, I think I handed them the game, so I\u2019ve got to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texier\u2019s goal was the Habs\u2019 third, but there would be more. And with rookie goalie Jakub Dobes doing his part with 25 saves, it was enough.<\/p>\n

Why so good on the road in the playoffs?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s one thing,\u201d St-Louis said. \u201cI feel like we probably have a little confidence from how the season went for us on the road. Sometimes on the road you don\u2019t get the matchups and you have to trust the guys, like I always say, to play the game that\u2019s in front of them, understanding who\u2019s on the other side and who\u2019s on the ice while that\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as young players like to have these offensive touches, I think sometimes it\u2019s not what the game is giving you right now. You\u2019ve got to defend. I think our defensive game has evolved and improved over the past few years and I think that\u2019s allowing us to be a good road team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens proved that to the Lightning and Sabres. Their young players got the offensive touches and the defense was good enough. Dobes won again. Canes goalie Frederik Andersen was made to look vulnerable after being all but impregnable. It all added up to a 6-2 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt obviously was not our best,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think we were very sharp tonight, simply put. Our top guys had tough nights and that\u2019s not going to work this time of year. I think we just toss this game, to be honest. I hate that this time of year that\u2019s what we\u2019ve got to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe clearly were not ready for that pace. I\u2019m not going to use the layoff as an excuse, but we weren\u2019t ready to play playoff hockey and that caught us. \u2026 Everything was a little off and they\u2019re a very talented team.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the Hurricanes again have stumbled in the opening game of the Eastern Conference Final. They\u2019re behind it, again. The pressure is on and history not on their side.<\/p>\n

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Carolina Hurricanes fell to Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center, surrendering home-ice advantage again in the ECF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nHurricanes\u2019 penchant for home conference final losses stings against Canadiens - 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=749\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hurricanes\u2019 penchant for home conference final losses stings against Canadiens - 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