Hurricanes head to Montreal with clean slate: ‘We can trash that first game’
The Carolina Hurricanes locker room was a happy place late Saturday night.
Owner Tom Dundon was there, chatting up players. General Manager Eric Tulsky was there. Several of the players’ young kids frolicked about while the team went through its post-game workout.
The laughs and smiles that come with winning in the Stanley Cup playoffs replaced the somber faces and hard stares of Thursday night. The playoffs can be like that, when a loss can seem so crushing and a victory so satisfying and soothing.
Two games, different results. That’s how the Eastern Conference Final has begun for the Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens, with the best-of-seven series now moving to Montreal and the Bell Centre for the next two games.
Both teams can take some satisfaction in how they handled the first two games. The Canadiens came to the Lenovo Center and earned a split on the road. The Canes, while miffed about their play in a 6-2 loss in Game 1, played well Saturday and came away with a 3-2 overtime victory on a Nikolaj Ehlers goal to avoid an 0-2 start.
“They’re going to be happy with getting the win here, and we’re happy that at least we can start the series over,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the game. “Nothing has really been accomplished other than we can trash that first game, and now we can really start the series.”
That sets up what should be an interesting Game 3 on Monday, in what should be a rocking Bell Centre.
The Habs, 7-3 on the road in the playoffs, have been 2-4 at home in their series wins over Tampa Bay and Buffalo. The Canes won both of their road games in each of the four-game sweeps against the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers.
“You’re not playing now if you can’t play on the road,” Brind’Amour said Sunday. “You game can’t fluctuate so dramatically or you won’t be playing now.”
The Canes’ four road wins came in loud buildings as they ignored the noise, stuck to business, stuck to their game and made the winning plays. The Flyers series ended on Jackson Blake’s overtime goal in Game 4 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philly.
That was on May 9. Blake, after the game, was presented “The Rope” by captain Jordan Staal as the outstanding player in the win. It hung in Blake’s locker stall at Lenovo Center for two weeks until Saturday night, when he gladly handed off the team award to Ehlers.
Ehlers was the overtime hero Saturday. His second goal of the game came on a perfectly placed shot from the top of the slot that beat Habs goalie Jakub Dobes on the blocker side, causing bedlam at Lenovo and leaving the Canes in a much better frame of mind.
“We believe in our team,” center Mark Jankowski said after the game. “We believe in what we can bring. When we play our game and we play our best, we can compete with anyone. So to have a little bit of adversity, lose the first game the way we did, I didn’t think we played anywhere near the standard that we have for ourselves.”
More adversity came in the third period when Josh Anderson’s second goal tied the score 2-2 for Montreal with a little more than seven minutes left in regulation.
“But we pushed back hard after that, and in overtime,” Jankowski said. “That shows the commitment in our group to stick to the process and play our game.”
The postgame banter was mostly about the OT and Ehlers, the much improved defensive effort after the many lapses in Game 1 and the physicality shown in Game 2 -- Jordan Staal had 10 of Carolina’s 44 hits.
“You want to make it a long series for the other team, and taking chunks out of them every game is very important,” Staal said Sunday.
Brind’Amour, in his press conference, was asked about another hit: Montreal’s Alexandre Texier on Canes defenseman K’Andre Miller.
With the second period ending, Texier caught Miller with his stick blade in the midsection/groin area., leaving Miller doubled over in pain.
“Clearly that’s a spear,” Brind’Amour said. “There’s not a person that can tell you that it wasn’t.”
The referees reviewed the play but ruled it a minor penalty for slashing, much to the displeasure of Brind’Amour, the Canes players and Canes fans watching the replay on the big board.
“It looked to me like the intent was pretty clear,” Miller said Sunday. “I don’t know. It was a pretty wild play. I didn’t think it was all that clean, and I was pretty surprised it was only two minutes.”
On the Canadiens side of the arena, the team packed up quickly after the game for the trip back to Montreal. The Habs played Game 7 against the Sabres in Buffalo, winning in overtime, then two in Raleigh to open the ECF. They’ll finally be back on home ice Monday.
The Habs will have the last change at home on setting the matchups. Brind’Amour successfully used Staal’s line on Montreal’s top line centered by captain Nick Suzuki in Game 2, but Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis could change that in Game 3.
“We competed. It’s a close game. It’s a fine line between winning and losing,” St. Louis said after Saturday’s loss. “We were in a battle, now we go back home. Our fans have watched us play three games on the road now and I’m sure they’ll be ready for us to get back home.”
