George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Carolina Hurricanes have not fared too well in the Eastern Conference final since winning the Stanley Cup championship in 2006 — and their struggle continued Thursday night in a Game 1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
Carolina, which had gone 8-0 to kick off this postseason, has won just one game in its previous four trips to the ECF and that came last year against the Panthers after Florida held a 3-0 series lead before moving on to the Stanley Cup Final with a 5-game series win.
On Thursday, Carolina took a 1-0 lead on Montreal just 33 seconds in only to see the Canadiens tie it with a goal moments later before scoring three more in the opening period to take a 4-1 lead into the second.
The Hurricanes won the second period, but Montreal pulled out a 6-2 win for a 1-0 series lead.
Game 2 is Saturday in Raleigh at 7 p.m. (TNT/truTV).
“They were 8-0 for a reason,” Cole Caufield said. “It’s going to be a long series.’’
Carolina had a modern-day NHL record 11 days off between its second-round sweep of Philadelphia and Game 1 against a Montreal team that has gone the distances in its playoff wins against the Lightning and Sabres.
Rust did not seem to be a problem early Carolina scored early on a goal from Seth Jarvis. Only Montreal scored 27 seconds later on a Caufield goal at the 1-minute mark.
The Canadiens were just getting started.
Just past the midway point of the first and Carolina trailed 4-1 thanks to Montreal goals from Phillip Danault, Alexandre Texier, and Ivan Demidov.
The goals in the first 11:32 was the fastest the Canadiens had ever scored four goals to open a playoff series in their history while on the road.
It was 4-2 going into the third, with Juraj Slafkovsky scoring twice in the third to end it.
Jacob Dobes made 25 saves for the Canadiens; Frederik Andersen stayed in after the four-goal onslaught in the first and made 16 stops for the Hurricanes.
Since winning the Cup in 2006, the Hurricanes were swept out of the ECF by the Penguins (2009), Bruins (2019), and Panthers (2023).
After beating the Panthers 3-0 in a Game 4 that Paul Maurice was not happy with in Sunrise last year, the Hurricanes are 1-17 in ECF games since 2009.
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- IIHF World Championship, Switzerland: Through May 31
- NHL Draft (9th in First Round, Seven Overall): June 26-27; KeyBank Center, Buffalo
- NHL Free Agency: Opens July 1
- Panthers Development Camp: Late June/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale
- Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament: Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
- Panthers Training Camp: Early/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale
- 2026-27 NHL Season Opens: Late September; Site, Opponent TBA