MONTREAL — Rod Brind’Amour said it first.With the Carolina Hurricanes freshly, officially closer to the Stanley Cup final than they’d been in two generations of NHL players — and not for a lack of chances — there was still some degree of confusion over who got them there.Brind’Amour didn’t care which of his guys scored in overtime to beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2. Didn’t care who gave Carolina a 2-1 series lead over the Canadiens, marking the first time since 2006 that the Hurricanes won more than one game in the Eastern Conference finals. Didn’t care whether it was Andrei Svechnikov, who took the initial shot, or Sebastian Aho, who provided the netfront traffic and, initially, was credited with the goal.Aho didn’t care, either, saying he’d leave it up to technology to decide whether he tipped the puck past Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobeš.“I’ll take the win,” Aho said, “and move forward.”Svechnikov? He cared. He actively hoped it wasn’t him, even though by that point, the goal officially was on his record.In some sense, all three were correct. In some sense, it didn’t matter which of the Hurricanes’ first-liners found their way on to the scoresheet at such a crucial moment. In some sense, it wouldn’t have mattered if it were one of their teammates, either. William Carrier would’ve deserved it; he’s the steam engine powering what’s become an impact fourth line. Taylor Hall would’ve made sense; no Hurricane has been more consistently dangerous with the puck on his stick.It matters that it was Svechnikov, though. It matters that Aho and Seth Jarvis, who wound up with the primary assist, played pivotal roles in the sequence. It matters that it was them. One of the league’s most consistently productive forward groups in the regular season, Aho, Svechnikov and Jarvis had been on the ice together for just one five-on-five goal by the Hurricanes in their first 10 playoff games. They’d added a bit away from each other, but not much.There have been valid reasons for that, of course. In the first round, Aho, Svechnikov and Jarvis were tasked with shutting down the Ottawa Senators’ talented first line, and they handled business, largely playing their minutes to a draw. In the second round against the Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina’s second line — Hall, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake — continued to feast. That was enough to beat an overmatched, banged-up opponent.