Canadiens Expose Hurricanes In A Way Islanders Fans Know All Too Well
· Yahoo Sports
On Thursday night, the Carolina Hurricanes suffered their first loss of these 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, falling 6-2 to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Rod Brind'Amour's team got "Caned."
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When the Hurricanes dictate play, as has been more the norm, they can make every team in the league look helpless.
Islanders fans have seen it time and time again, whether in the regular season or the playoffs.
Back on Apr. 4, the Hurricanes outshot the Islanders 40-16 in what became Patrick Roy's final game behind their bench.
Despite the 4-3 score, the Islanders spent most of the night on their side of the red line and blue line, getting outshot 13-4 in the first period and 18-2 in the second period before pushing in the third as they tried to erase what was a 3-2 deficit before Sebastian Aho made it 4-2 at the 24-second mark of the third period.
But, Thursday night showed the other side of Carolina.
The Hurricanes could not stop the relentless forechecking of Montreal, with every mistake they made ending up in the back of their net.
Starting goaltender Frederik Andersen, who had not allowed more than two goals in a game in what was a perfect 8-0 start to the postseason for him and Carolina, allowed two goals on the first four shots he faced, allowing four goals in the opening 11:28.
After the first period, the Hurricanes were trailing 4-1 and outshot 14-13 before a solid second-period rebound, outscoring Montreal 1-0 in the middle frame and outshooting them 11-3.
But, then came the third period.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored twice, the last of the two into the empty net in a period in which both teams weren't shooting too much.
While shots were 6-2 in favor of Montreal, the Hurricanes were held without a shot for 18:38.
When the Hurricanes are humming, they are incredibly hard to beat, but they clearly weren't ready for the pace that Montreal has been playing with and paid the price.
And Islanders fans probably enjoyed every second of it.