Leaky Canes fall 6-2 to Montreal in Game 1 of Eastern Conference Finals

· Yahoo Sports

A dream start in the Eastern Conference Finals quickly eroded into a Game 1 nightmare for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 6-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

The Hurricanes, coming off a 12-day hiatus -- the longest postseason break in more than a century -- got a goal from Seth Jarvis just 33 seconds into the first period.

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Then the wheels came off.

The Canadiens answered less than 30 seconds later, and added three more first-period goals in about an 11-minute span to take a 4-1 lead and stun the sellout crowd at Lenovo Center.

Cole Caufield and Phillip Danault scored in the opening four minutes, Alexandre Texier followed four minutes later, and Ivan Demidov finished a breakaway for the shocking 4-1 lead midway through the opening period. That came against the Eastern Conference's top seed, which hadn't allowed more than two goals in an 8-0 playoff start.

Hurricanes fans are ready for hockey to return after 12 days off.

Eric Robinson got one back for the Canes 2:46 into the second period, but a third-period score from Montreal's Juraj Slafkovsky virtually ended any hopes of a comeback.

Slafkovsky added an empty-netter late in the third for the final margin. Jakub Dobes had 24 saves for Montreal.

Carolina will look to bounce back in Game 2 on Saturday night at Lenovo Center.

The Hurricanes were the first team to sweep their first two playoff rounds since the NHL went to best-of-seven series in all four rounds in 1987. But that led to a lengthy break of 11 days, the longest rest for any team before starting the next playoff run since at least 1920, while waiting on the Canadiens to battle their way past Tampa Bay and Buffalo.

That led to the rest vs. rust discussion about the Hurricanes, along with how well the Canadiens would pivot from those to-the-limit wins.

The Carolina Hurricanes had a lengthy stretch off after sweeping through the first two rounds. Now, they're back on ice Thursday night against Montreal.

And outside of Jarvis beating Dobes just 33 seconds in, the Canadiens answered that question resoundingly in those opening minutes to extend Carolina's misery in this round.

Much of Carolina's success comes from pressuring opponents in the offensive zone and minimizing chances going the other way. But Montreal effectively moved the puck out of danger against Carolina's aggressive pressure early, setting up clean breakouts and multiple breakaway chances at Frederik Andersen.

Danault's goal was a full-speed breakaway right up the middle off a feed from Alexandre Carrier, while Demidov went forehand-backhand-forehand to beat Andersen for the 4-1 lead with 8:28 left in the first.

Andersen was leading the postseason in goals-against average (1.12) and save percentage (.950), but finished with just 16 saves.

Carolina is in the Eastern final for the third time in four years and fourth time in the current eight-season playoff run under Rod Brind'Amour. But the Hurricanes are now 1-13 in those games, including sweeps against Boston in 2019 and Florida in 2023.

Carolina's loss meant the two Stanley Cup favorites both lost the opener of the conference finals. Colorado lost at home to Vegas on Wednesday night.

- The Associated Press contributed.

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