RALEIGH, N.C. — For the longest time, the Montreal Canadiens were a team that won with depth, a team that lacked the star power of many of their opponents and made up that gap at the top of the lineup by being better than the sum of their parts.Then, somewhat suddenly, that all changed.This season, they had a 101-point scorer in Nick Suzuki, a 51-goal scorer in Cole Caufield and a 30-goal scorer in Juraj Slafkovský making up their top line.Just like that, the Canadiens went from a team that relied on depth to being somewhat top-heavy, relying on one line to provide the bulk of the offence while the rest of the lineup could be somewhat comfortable simply playing their matchups to a draw, knowing that if they did that, more often than not, their big line would win the night.But that line did not have much playoff experience — at least not since becoming one of the best offensive lines in the NHL — and the playoffs make producing at that level far more difficult. You are facing the same team night after night, and that team’s primary objective is to shut you down and force the rest of the team to beat them.The Canadiens have been fortunate through two rounds that the rest of the team has done just that, because aside from power-play production, the formidable trio of Caufield, Suzuki and Slafkovský had not produced a whole lot to help power their team into the Eastern Conference final.The Canadiens are having success, but without that top-line production at five-on-five, it is not sustainable. And the top line knows it.As captain, Suzuki knows it. And every time over these two playoff rounds he’s been asked about his line’s five-on-five production, Suzuki has mentioned it. He said it again Wednesday, minutes after arriving at the team hotel in North Carolina and just over 24 hours before starting this series against the Hurricanes.“Obviously, we want to do our part to help the team win, whether that’s defending hard, producing offensively,” Suzuki said then. “Power play’s been pretty good, so we’re a big part of that. But five-on-five, we’ve definitely got to find a way to produce more if we’re going to keep moving forward. It’s not one big thing that’s missing; it’s just little plays here and there. I think all three of us can do a better job, but it’s definitely exciting for our group, where we haven’t been producing where we usually are, that guys have stepped up and helped us out.“We’ve got to return the favour and play a little better.”Entering Game 1 against the Hurricanes, Caufield, Suzuki and Slafkovský had combined for five points at five-on-five between them, good for seventh place on the team.