Red Light newsletter 🏒 | This is The Athletic’s hockey newsletter. Sign up here to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.Good morning! I’m Max Bultman, and I cover the Detroit Red Wings and all NHL prospects for The Athletic. I’m excited to step in on Red Light for James Mirtle, who’s covering the Eastern Conference final. And suffice to say, he’s seeing firsthand that the supposed collision course between the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes is being tested.It’s a sports-filled holiday weekend in the U.S., but we’ve got so much Canada in today’s newsletter.🇨🇦 On tap:
A new PWHL champion
Memorial Cup begins this weekend
Let’s get into it.Juraj Slafkovský scores on Frederik Andersen. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)Double Upset?Rust 1, Rest 0With the Hurricanes facing a modern NHL record 11 (!) days off between playoff games, Thursday was set up to be an all-time entry into the rust-versus-rest debate — especially with the Montreal Canadiens fresh off two consecutive seven-game series to begin these playoffs.While it didn’t look like rust for the Hurricanes at first, with Seth Jarvis scoring for Carolina just 33 seconds into the game, the long layoff certainly seemed to impact the Canes’ vaunted defensive structure early.After Carolina’s quick goal, Montreal answered back just 27 seconds later … and then scored three more times in the game’s first 12 minutes. 😳Considering Carolina hadn’t allowed three goals in any playoff game to this point, that was a shocking start to this series. The Canadiens ultimately won 6-2 in a huge statement from the young Habs.Even with the schedule situation, giving up six goals is eye-opening for the playoffs’ most dominant team through the first two rounds.The good news for Carolina is that the rust should be fully off now. In theory, the between-series rest should benefit the Hurricanes more and more as the series wears on and the physical toll amps up on Montreal.But for a Hurricanes team with a history of fizzling out in the conference final, it’s a frustrating start to the series nonetheless.Vegas’ Jack Eichel. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)Reason to doubt the Avs?Well, well, well. After our staff picked the Colorado Avalanche by an overwhelming 28-1 margin in the pre-series predictions — with 25 saying it’ll end in either four or five games — it’s the Vegas Golden Knights with the early series lead after a 4-2 win in Game 1.This is still a best-of-seven, so overreacting to one game is never advisable. But I still wanted to ask our writers covering the series what they learned in the opener and if there’s reason to second-guess those predictions.
