The Carolina Hurricanes finally return to game action on Thursday.
Key word: Finally.
The Hurricanes have been awaiting their opposition for the Eastern Conference finals since May 9, and the respite ends when they take on Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 in Raleigh, N.C.
Carolina’s 11-day layoff is the longest for an NHL team since Montreal had 12 days off between playoff series in 1919.
“You’re going to be amped up either way, it’s playoff hockey,” forward Sebastian Aho said on Wednesday. “We had something similar between Round 1 and 2. Obviously, it wasn’t quite as long, but still a break. I think we’ve been doing all the right things here, staying sharp physically, and (getting) a bit of a mental break for the first few days.”
Carolina, which finished atop the conference in the regular season, reached this point with consecutive sweeps in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, eliminating the Ottawa Senators and then the Philadelphia Flyers with eight straight wins.
The Hurricanes are the first team since the 1985 Edmonton Oilers to sweep their opposition in the first two rounds, and the first since the format changed to four best-of-seven series in 1987.
On the surface, Carolina is a heavy favorite against the young Canadiens, but the Hurricanes are quick to dispel that notion, and not just because they have been eliminated in the conference finals the last four times they made it this far.
Montreal won all three regular-season meetings between the teams, including a pair in late March, by a combined score of 15-8.
“They’re a high-pressure team,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “They’re fast, have a good goalie, a good power play. They don’t give you much time and make it hard on you to get anywhere on the ice. … The way they play is a playoff, grinding game and they showed it those first two series against two good teams.”
The Canadiens, who last reached the league semifinals in 2021, arrived to this point with a pair of seven-game series victories against the two teams that finished above them in the Atlantic Division. After dispatching the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round, Montreal upended the Buffalo Sabres in a thrilling Game 7 overtime on Monday.
It has been an impressive turnaround for a club that finished at the bottom of the league standings in the 2021-22 season – during which the Canadiens made a coaching change and hired current bench boss Martin St. Louis – and is the youngest squad to reach the third round in more than 30 years, when the 1992-93 Canadiens advanced to the conference finals.
“Ever since, we’ve had the belief that we can be a really good team really quickly,” captain Nick Suzuki said. “Guys have really bought into how we play and everything that Marty preaches. So, it’s really cool to be in this situation this fast, being such a young team. We just have a lot of fun, and we just want to keep the journey going.”
A few aspects of Montreal’s game that differ from the previous Carolina opponents is team speed and offensive ability.
The Canadiens netted 43 goals through the first two rounds and averaged more goals per game than Carolina (3.07 to 3.00). A huge part of Montreal’s offensive success has been with the man-advantage.
The Canadiens scored a league-leading 13 power-play goals in the first two rounds (13 of 52), including eight against Buffalo.
That attack will test Carolina’s penalty kill, which has surrendered only two power-play goals in 40 postseason opportunities. Goaltender Frederik Andersen has allowed only 10 goals, and no more than two in an outing.
“We’re confident in everyone in the room,” said forward Alex Newhook, the overtime hero against Buffalo. “We know what we’re capable of. We’re excited to keep it rolling.”
