The Carolina Hurricanes ended the Montreal Canadiens’ playoff run on Friday with a 6–1 win, taking the Eastern Conference Final in five games. Fans at the Lenovo Center began “Ole Ole” chants as early as the second period. In their four wins, Carolina outscored Montreal 16–5 and outshot them 138–67.
Period-by-Period Recap
The first period was a carbon copy of Wednesday’s game. In the first 1:10 following puck drop, Mike Matheson, Lane Hutson, and Alexandre Carrier each committed turnovers that led to scoring chances for their opponents. For the fifth consecutive time, Carolina got on the board first. Taylor Hall won a battle against Philip Danault and put in the rebound. Martin St. Louis challenged the goal for interference, but video review confirmed the original call. Later in the period, Logan Stankoven doubled the lead with a top corner glove side shot from the faceoff dot. Less than two minutes later, Eric Robinson won a foot race against Matheson, and beat Jakub Dobes to give the Hurricanes a three-goal lead.
St. Louis shuffled the line combinations to start the second, but the results stayed the same. A turnover by Jake Evans in the offensive zone led to a breakaway opportunity for Hall. Dobes made the initial stop but an uncovered Jackson Blake pounced on the rebound for the goal. With less than two minutes remaining in the frame, Carolina capitalized on their third power play to increase their lead. Shaye Gostisbehere slipped behind the coverage to tap in a power play goal.
The Habs took advantage of their second power play of the third period to get on the board. A wide open Cole Caufield in the slot beat Frederik Andersen between the pads. It was Montreal’s first goal since the second period of game 3. The Hurricanes added an empty net goal before the final buzzer.
