MONTREAL — In two of the last three postseasons, the Carolina Hurricanes had short stays in the Eastern Conference final.
They’re one game away from another — and they’re enjoying this one a bit more.Carolina beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 in Game 4 at the Bell Centre on Wednesday, pushing their series lead to 3-1 and moving within one victory of a matchup with the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final.A three-goal first period on Wednesday fueled the Hurricanes, who turned the territorial dominance they’d established in Games 2 and 3 into a multi-goal lead against a desperate opponent. The early advantage allowed them to tighten the screws even more against the Canadiens, whose first shot of the game didn’t come until more than eight minutes after puck drop.By the end of the period, Carolina held a 3-0 lead and a 12-5 edge in shots, and the gap only increased as the game progressed; Carolina finished the game with 43 shots to the Canadiens’ 18 and didn’t log one in the third period until 2:53 remained.It might have been the strongest single game of the postseason for the Hurricanes, who swept the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers before dropping Game 1 to Montreal by a score of 6-2. They’ve charged back since, putting themselves 60 minutes from their first Eastern Conference title since 2026. They’ve lost in this round three times since, including in four games to the Florida Panthers in 2023 and five games last year.Carolina’s first-period goal scorers were Sebastian Aho, Jordan Staal and Logan Stankoven. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty better. Nikolaj Ehlers assisted on Aho and Staal’s goals, and goaltender Frederik Andersen made 18 saves.This is not the first time these playoffs the young Canadiens have had their season on the line; they won Game 7 twice in the first two rounds. But a 3-1 deficit is a challenge this group has not faced since the first round of last year’s playoffs, when they lost Game 4 on home ice to the Washington Capitals before losing Game 5 on the road, a game they also trailed 3-0 before finally losing 4-1.It’s not the losing that should bother the Canadiens — the Hurricanes are an extremely difficult opponent — but the repetitive nature of the losses should be of some concern to this young team and their young coach Martin St. Louis, coaching his fourth career playoff series.The one repetitive thing that is most encouraging for the Canadiens is the continued excellence of rookie goaltender Jakub Dobeš, who celebrated his 25th birthday with 39 saves, including stopping breakaways by Jackson Blake and Seth Jarvis.Game 5 is at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C. on Friday night.Hurricanes dominate first with three quick goalsFor the first time all series, the goals came in a big ol’ bunch for Carolina, as all three of the Hurricanes top centers tallied in a span of just 2:47 late in the first for their first three-goal lead of the series.
