Punched in the mouth, Hurricanes look to punch back in Game 2 against Montreal
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Cole Caufield tied the game 27 seconds after Carolina's goal; Canadiens won 6-2.
- Canes must regain their forecheck identity and sustain zone time for 60 minutes.
- The Canadiens practiced Friday; the Hurricanes' on-ice work was limited, coach said.
Mike Tyson, back in his boxing prime, liked to say, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
The Carolina Hurricanes had a plan for the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday.
Establish the forecheck and keep the pressure – the Canes’ relentless stress game – applied in the Canadiens zone and all over the ice. Make them work, make them scramble, make the Habs feel them.
Scoring first always helps in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Do that, too.
It all clicked in the first 33 seconds of the game. Logan Stankoven’s line nearly scored after the opening faceoff and then Sebastian Aho’s line did as Seth Jarvis ripped a shot that had the Canes in the lead and the Lenovo Center loud.
Then they got punched in the mouth.
And things went sideways.
Cole Caufield’s goal 27 seconds after the Jarvis score tied it up and the Habs added another three goals with a flurry of quick breakouts and breakaways and terrific puck movement and management. The Canadiens led 4-1 after the first period and went on to a 6-2 victory.
“One team looked like an Eastern Conference Final team and the other didn’t,” Canes forward Taylor Hall said Friday.
Canes look to get things right in Game 2
The Hurricanes now feel the urgency to look more the part of the Eastern Conference’s top seed in Game 2 or will go to Montreal’s Bell Centre for the next two games in a 2-0 series hole.
“We know we have a lot more to give, and you just don’t want to let things slide,” Hall said. “Whether we win or lose (Saturday), we have to play our game and to our identity and let that come through for 60 minutes, and let the cards fall where they do. That wasn’t the game we know how to play.”
The Canadiens, the winning team, held a practice on Friday at Lenovo Center. The losing team did not.
“That’s not what we need,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said, with some bite in his voice. “Today, we did practice but you just didn’t see it. There’s two different ways to practice. There was no point of going on the ice today. That’s not what we need.”
Brind’Amour did not elaborate on how things were handled – a lengthy video review to go over the many mistakes in Game 1, or more of an attitude-adjustment session and mental reset.
“We needed to understand what happened last night and why it happened,” Hall said.
The Canes must find a way to negate the speed of a Canadiens team that’s after a fast pace and has offensive finishers. How best to do that in Game 2?
“For us, it’s about doing what we’ve done all year,” forward Nikolaj Ehlers said Friday. “We get pucks to the D, they rip it to the net, we get the rebound, we get them tired.
“We had some shifts last night where we were in their zone for quite a while and created a lot of good chances. But we didn’t do enough of that and they were able to get pucks out pretty easily most of the time. And that’s something we’re going to change.”
The Canes did change that in the second period of Game 1. Fourth-line winger Eric Robinson scored for Carolina and Jarvis later had a breakaway off a perfectly executed Andrei Svechnikov stretch pass but was denied by goalie Jakub Dobes – the biggest save of the game for the rookie.
“They were icing pucks, their sticks were breaking, there’s multiple guys on the ice and they’re doing whatever they can to save goals,” Hall said of the second-period play. “They were on their heels.”
The Canes could not keep it up in the third. They had just two shots on net after 11 in the second period as the Habs continued to clog passing lanes and block shots-- they had 29 in the game. The Hurricanes never made things sticky for the Canadiens, who have a 7-2 road record in the playoffs.
Canes not concerned about Frederik Andersen
After starting the playoffs with eight straight wins, the Canes now face their first adversity. Goalie Frederik Andersen is facing his first adversity in net.
Ehlers said he expected his old friend and fellow Dane, a player who is calm by nature, to recover quickly.
“He’s a veteran guy and has been in the league long enough to know, yes, they scored six on us but three were breakaways and two were right in the slot,” he said. “That’s on all of us. He’s a great goalie. He’s been there for us all year.”
Defenseman Jalen Chatfield also noted the Canes have been a team that has bounced back all season, a team steeled from playoff experiences that include a few bad losses.
“I think we’ve been relentless throughout the year when we’ve faced adversity,” he said. “We’ve always been able to bounce back. To a man, we know what we’re capable of and we’re going to play to that standard next game.”
