{"id":846,"date":"2026-05-23T19:37:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T19:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=846"},"modified":"2026-05-23T19:37:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T19:37:03","slug":"hurricanes-canadiens-ecf-game-2-why-the-canes-must-be-better-on-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=846","title":{"rendered":"Hurricanes-Canadiens ECF Game 2: Why the Canes must be better on defense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Carolina Hurricanes went through a workmanlike morning skate Saturday at Lenovo Center, with minimum chatter, in preparing for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=845\">Carolina Hurricanes\u2019 bilingual national anthem singer won\u2019t perform at Game 2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Many wore their game faces, during the skate and afterward in the locker-room media scrums in talking about reversing the 6-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to play our game for 60 minutes,\u201d defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. \u201cThey\u2019re a fast team. They play with a lot of speed and a lot of skill and they did a good job breaking out pucks. We\u2019ve got to do a better job of forechecking and a better job of staying above them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Canes\u2019 defensive corps was caught out of position numerous times in Game 1 as the Canadiens scored on breakaways and open shots against porous coverage. That included Slavin, who might have experienced the poorest playoff game of his career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to take what happened last game and learn from it,\u201d Slavin said. \u201cWhat\u2019s done is done. We can\u2019t change it. We\u2019ve got a confident group in here, and we need to concentrate on what we do best. We\u2019ve got to be a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Canes rolled through the first eight games of the Stanley Cup playoffs, sweeping Ottawa and the Philadelphia Flyers. There were some tight games and overtime games, but they found a way to win eight times as goalie Frederik Andersen allowed just 10 goals.<\/p>\n<p>Andersen was left to fend for himself a few too many times in Game 1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTonight the focus needs to be on defense first,\u201d winger Seth Jarvis said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we create our offense. The first two (playoff rounds) we were really good defensively, but last game we had a lapse. But mainly we want to come out and play the way we can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After an emotional seven-game playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres, the Canadiens quickly made adjustments for Carolina, traveled, won Game 1 and are in position to take a 2-0 series lead back to Montreal.<\/p>\n<p>It would be easy to assume the Habs\u2019 goal entering the ECF was to at least split the first two games in Raleigh. But Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said Saturday his team doesn\u2019t think that way,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got to stay hungry,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we have a hungry group. I don\u2019t think we are where we are today without that kind of mindset.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith that said, you can have that mindset and still have to go execute. The other team\u2019s coming, too. They\u2019re not going to just give it to you. If you want to get it, go earn it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=844\">Britney Spears offered to make lasagna for officers during erratic DUI arrest<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Canes coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour was asked, again, if more offense was needed from the top line centered by Sebastian Aho, especially against a potent team like Montreal. His answer was predictable and to the point.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, if we defend like we did, then yes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we\u2019re going to go and give away four or five breakaways, we\u2019ve got to score five or six goals,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour added. \u201cBut if we can eliminate those, then no, we don\u2019t have to. It depends on how the game is going and how we\u2019re playing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Canes, from all accounts, had an intense video session Friday with the head coach.<\/p>\n<p>Said Jarvis: \u201cYou take the words he\u2019s saying and keep that in your brain and know it\u2019s coming from a good place. He wants the best for us. No matter how he delivers the message, he\u2019s looking out for the best interest of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brind\u2019Amour and St. Louis faced off against each other on the ice in the NHL long before going behind the bench as coaches, and St-Louis sees a lot of Brind\u2019Amour in the Canes\u2019 style of play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHard-nosed,\u201d he said. \u201cRod was a Selke (Trophy) winner, so you knew you were going to have a hard game playing against him,\u201d St. Louis said Saturday. \u201cBut he also had some offense to his game. He was a complete player.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCarolina is kind of playing that style. They play offense, they play defense, they compete. It\u2019s a lot like Rod was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Much has been made of the Canes having 11 days between their second-round series with the Flyers and the start of the conference final, the longest in the playoffs since 1919.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s something else to consider: The Canes are the fourth team to have 10 or more days off during the playoffs. The previous three went on to lose their next series.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=842\">Josh Allen Reveals When He Will &#8216;Bark and Snap&#8217; at Wife Hailee Steinfeld<\/a><\/p>\n<p><i>(Check back for updates before and during Game 2)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carolina Hurricanes aim to rebound against Montreal Canadiens in Game 2 of NHL Playoffs Eastern Conference Final. When is Hurricanes-Canadiens Game 2?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hurricanes-Canadiens ECF Game 2: Why the Canes must be better on defense - 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=846\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hurricanes-Canadiens ECF Game 2: Why the Canes must be better on defense - Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Carolina Hurricanes aim to rebound against Montreal Canadiens in Game 2 of NHL Playoffs Eastern Conference Final. 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