Rapid Reaction: Bring out the belt! Hurricanes dominate Canadiens 4-0 to take a 3-1 lead in the ECF
All right the Canes are up 3 to 1 in
the series versus the Montreal Canadiens
I'm Chris Lee
That is Brian Murphy and we're here to break it
all down for you in this rapid reaction
Brian I wanted the Carolina Hurricanes to come into this
game take it serious and also get a win
But the way their last two wins came I was
wondering if they're gonna have to like try to sneak
one by
This one was just complete and pure
Utter domination 4 to 0 over the Montreal Canadiens
It's the uh Hurricanes' 3rd shutout of the postseason
Uh but most importantly than that like they I felt
like they took the Canadian spirit this uh tonight
That that's exactly what I was gonna say
It's like they broke their will
You know two overtime losses
You could get you got the sense in the last
two games that the Canadians were being sort of dominated
but were hanging in the game
Tonight that 3 goals in about 2.5 minutes a little
bit more than 2.5 minutes in the at the end
of the first period and all the shots to Martin
San Louis on the bench just look like we don't
have any answers
As the Canadians they just do not have any answers
to what this team is doing to them
5 shots in the first period just 3 shots in
the 3rd period when you thought well they're gonna come
out desperate they're gonna come out firing pucks at all
angles
Only 3 shots in the 3rd period
Uh this looks like a team who's His will has
been broken
A lot of times when you see games like this
if a team goes into the 3rd period uh up
let's say 2 to 03 to 0 that team that's
down usually gets desperate
And all of a sudden you see the pucks flying
right And you may see a game that ends up
with the losing team let's say they never come back
and win
The losing team with like 38 shots on goal the
winning team with 29 shots on goal because everything flips
in the third period
Like Freddie Anderson wasn't under duress at all in that
Third period for the most part
Uh there was a a couple of chances really for
uh Montreal but honestly it was an easy night for
Freddie
He pretty much just had to stay there uh while
the defense did everything for him in front of it
They barely got to him tonight
Yeah outside of late in the 2nd period he had
to make a couple of big stops late in the
2nd
Other than that he only faced 5 shots in the
in the 1st 3 in the in the 3rd and
you could see the frustration mounting
Uh Anderson
Um took numerous shots on on the on Carolina
I mean he was punching guys in the face for
the entire you know half of the game the second
half of the game
And you could just see that frustration really getting to
Montreal
Uh it feels like this is Carolina's series to take
care of at home in game 5
And then we'll be talking about the Stanley Cup Final
43 to 18 was the shot disparity uh in this
game
Carolina of course with 43
Here's what it was guys uh in the other games
this series
Game one where the Carolina Hurricanes lost 28 to 22
OK
So six goals difference
Then in game two it was 26 to 12
Of course the Canes win that a difference of 14
shots
Then it was 39 to 13
It starts getting bigger right here
And then that's the difference of 26
And now 43 to 17
Like this is this is something that is uh is
serious
Like a lot of folks make fun of the way
the Carolina Hurricanes play
Uh they say it's too slow and a lot of
The shots on goal don't really count
They're just sliding slapping it over there
There's no real shots at the goal
And that was kind of the way I was feeling
the other night as well
But like when you end up getting a game like
this I think this is something that says what Rod
Brendan Moore wants to do works and you'll end up
getting a game like this
You keep playing keep you know hitting the other team
in the mouth
You'll eventually get a game like this where you just
simply make them give up
And this happened on their own home ice
Yeah to steal a phrase from another team in North
Carolina keep pounding and that's what they have done to
Montreal
They they keep hitting them deep in their zone
I mean they're the the shot numbers are one thing
The hit numbers are very similar
Carolina is winning the hits battle as well
And I think they're wearing down
I talked about this on TV before game 4
Carolina is the deeper team
They're playing all four lines
Montreal benched its 4th line in overtime of game 3
They shortened their bench in those OT games
Carolina continues to roll out that 4th line and The
the fourth line's been terrific
It started today for the 2nd straight game
The Jankowski Carrie Eric Robinson line has been awesome
So they're they're they've played 6 less games
They're fresher
They're deeper
And and I think we're starting to see the fact
that Montreal had to go 7 games in the 1st
2 rounds
And now this team just keeps coming and coming
They keep hitting you
They keep rolling the lines and all of that I
think has worn down Montreal to the point
Now now those goals were great but You know Carolina
is the one getting the breakaways
They're the ones getting the 2 on 1s
They're beating Montreal at at the game that Montreal wants
to play in addition to beating them at the game
that the Carolina Hurricanes want to play
Of course uh Kane scored those 1st 3 goals within
2 minutes and 47 seconds
Break down those goals individually starting with uh Sebastian Ajo
boy was he due for one right And I I
felt like that goal was probably the prettiest goal of
the series for the Canes
And the reason why I say that is because um
I felt like a In the 1st 3 games you
saw a lot of sloppy puck handling at different times
in the games for the Canes
Um and I thought that this play in particular you
saw a crisp execution with the puck
Uh he he gets the feed from uh Nikolai Ehers
It goes straight to him
He sets up for the one-timer goes right past Dobesh
Dobesh couldn't do anything about it
That goes in
What did you see on that goal Well it's a
power play goal which they Carolina had been 0 for
9 or 0 for 10 on the power play coming
into that
And so you know the TV broadcast had mentioned earlier
that that Aho was open on the power play and
they weren't able to get it to him
Eelers kind of breaks down the defense by skating in
not just keeping it at the perimeter
He skates in finds the lane to Aho and Ajo
just drills the shot perfectly
And that I think sort of set the tone right
Aho almost had to go
The game winner he was in front of the net
When that top line starts playing and the top power
play line starts playing well then then Carolina's really rolling
So we have Chris passing and then you know a
a great one-timer right there on the money pure than
you know uh well water in the country right Uh
then 1 minute and 8 seconds later you talk about
net front presence
And this is the 2nd time in this series where
DeAndre Miller goes to retrieve the puck from the corner
does his backhand right there uh and right in front
of the goal
And Jordan Staal was was tied up
But the strength of the captain ton to still be
tied up but to have his stick right there and
just scoot it in uh right there in front of
Dobesh
And it was so fast that Dobesh couldn't really respond
to it
Like it was
Asked him before he even realized it
And uh it gets into the goal
So 2 to 0 for the Canes on that
And and that is that goal is really indicative of
what the Canes really want to do
They made it dirty
They go retrieve pucks in the corner and then they're
gonna hit hit it towards uh the the net and
then you have the net front presence of the captain
to get it right there
Yeah Ke'Andre Miller has been terrific throughout the postseason
Really good in this series really good in this game
tonight
And his ability to go win pucks in the corner
get that backhand
I mean to put a pass off your backhand to
exactly where you're aiming it right on Stahl's stick right
in front of the net is terrific as well
And then you mentioned this Saul just fighting for position
had gotten knocked out of position fights back gets right
in the spot has the stick right in the right
spot puts it right between Dovesh's legs and and that
I mean The first goal might have been the end
of the game
Obviously that was the only one they needed
They shut him out
But that second goal felt like the backbreaker
Like man we can't
There's nothing we can do with these guys
We we're fighting them in front of the net
We can't get them out of front of the net
Their defensemen are coming up and throwing backhand passes perfectly
on the tape
I mean that that really felt like Montreal like what
what are we supposed to do at this point And
and then not too long after that you had uh
this was the type
Of goal that the Canes had yet to score uh
in this period
This was the the final of the Holy Trinity in
the first period where you have a 2 on 1
and Cannes have had a lot of breakaway opportunities where
it's uh 2 on 1s uh 3 on 2s whatever
it is you know just guys over we saw uh
Seth Jarvis with a 1 on 0 and he couldn't
cash it in and it felt like that's been the
story for the Canes and I wanted them before the
series started cause I I felt like uh Montreal showed
me something in that Buffalo series especially in game 6
If you can move Dobesh like he's very aggressive going
out towards the puck
If you can move Dobesh and then have good passing
to uh the open side of the net you can
get it in
And that's exactly what happened on his play
Uh Jackson Blake comes down with it
And I think normally I think because of the space
he had uh he he didn't go as fast as
he normally would have
I I think he normally kind of rushes those but
he took his time
He let it set up he let it develop and
at the right moment slides it over to Logan Stankoven
Dobash had already committed over towards his side and then
you have a wide open net and that's just like
you can't miss that one
And Logan Staninoven puts it home
Uh he's probably been the he has been the
Best goalscorer for the Kansas postseason but that was his
first of uh of of this uh particular series
And to me that felt like the backbreaker right there
In 2 minutes and 47 seconds you get those three
is and you get them 3 different ways
Uh you you get the the crisp passing that leads
into uh the one-timer that goes in on a power
play
You get the net front presence retrieving the puck out
of the corner and then right there the 2 on
1 and you catch
At home making Dobesh move out of his spot
I thought that was a beautiful goal and that's exactly
what the Canes needed
And and that goal all started on the defensive end
Shane Gossippa knocked down in front of the net gets
up finds a way to go block another puck and
it's his sliding block that leads to the breakaway or
or you know the the breakout by Jackson Blake
So that's really again the the defense turning into offense
for this team
And and I thought look the the defenseman's got to
help Dobesh out there
He's got to take away the pass and let Dobesh
just concentrate on Jackson Blake
He didn't do it either
Blake finds Stananoven
Stanoven's not missing from there
His 8th goal of the postseason
And and you just got the sense that that it
was over
Which is funny because you know Colorado was up 3-0
over
Vegas in game 3 of that series Vegas comes back
scores 5 goals wins that game obviously goes on to
sweep Colorado which was the #1 seed
So you're like whoa wait a second
Montreal is in the exact same spot here
Down 3-0 in the first
Are we going to see this massive comeback you know
on your home ice pride of Canada everything that you're
playing for
And and it just never materialized
The Canes never let them back in this game
Yeah their best opportunity was the 2nd period where they
had their most shots on goal I believe 10 uh
in that particular period
And still a lot of those shots didn't feel like
quality shots at all
It just kind of uh felt like you know the
Canes were just swarming them
And there was plenty of times where Uh Keynes will
try to get some offense going
It looked like uh you know the the Canadians would
break it up and they're about to leave the the
uh the zone
And all of a sudden nope right here at the
blue line we're gonna keep it in and we're gonna
you know make you skate a little bit longer
Like they had those guys tired
They had them frustrated
Uh they didn't know what to do uh in this
game
And I felt like Late in the first period probably
before the 3 goals were scored probably after the 2nd
goal there was a shot of Martin Saint Louis and
he just looked defeated from there and then it just
it keeps going from there
Like every time they showed him he just had this
look of just like just defeat in his eyes like
I have no answers for this
Yeah
And I mean I think it comes down to uh
Montreal's a little bit of a tired team
I think that environment on Friday now back in Raleigh
the chance to clinch and go to the the Stanley
Cup playoffs uh final for the first time in 20
years is gonna be electric
I mean I just It's hard to envision that Montreal
team the one we saw tonight coming back to Raleigh
getting on a plane one more time coming down here
and finding a way to overcome this Carolina Hurricanes team
and that Hurricanes crowd that we're going to see on
Friday
I mean the you know the Canes are 11 and
1 in the postseason
The one loss is that game one loss coming off
the 11-day rest
You really get the sense that was the aberration
The Canes have played pretty consistently in the other 11
games all victories
Now they've had to go to overtime and a bunch
of them 5 of them but there's been a game
at least in every series where they just dominate
They've had a shutout in every series
There's been a game where they just take care of
business and and the other team is sort of helpless
And it feels like The chance of Montreal winning 3
in a row here is pretty slim
Yeah and the the other interesting part is like Montreal
hasn't been very good at home
They're 2 and 6 at home this postseason and um
you know I think on a 4-game losing streak at
home right now 2 of those to the Canes
Meanwhile the Canes are 6-0 on the road
Yeah it's just it's it's crazy
It's it's it's ridiculous
Um all right we we've said all the glowing stuff
Let's talk about the the one thing that looks a
little concerning for me and It's the Canes
They're not gonna do everything perfect
It's the power play man
Like you know you get the one power play goal
uh great uh tag team effort between Eelers and uh
and Sebastian Ajo
Otherwise the power play looks terrible
They went on that 5 on 3 you know you
know two-man advantage
And I was like You're they're gonna put up shots
here
Like this is where they put up shots and it
really felt like you know I don't know the hockey
terminology for this because I'm a I'm a basketball guy
but it just felt like um the the Habs just
kind of did a a pack line defense
They kind of packed it in and the Canes did
nothing about it
They were just passing around the perimeter and then just
really couldn't get anything off and they I don't think
they even got a shot on goal during a 5
on 3 and um
The the the the uh power play in general just
wasn't good tonight
If you're if you're gonna take some teaching tape to
try to get you uh motivated for game 5 I
think that's the one that Rod Brennamore looks at
This team is already frustrated
They may commit more
Penalties against us on Friday night
Be ready for this
We have to cash in when we have our opportunity
Yeah the 5 on 3 was was terrible
I mean I think I think the Canes would be
the first to admit it
Very passive
It kept looking like they were looking for the home
run play
They they were looking for the perfect pass the perfect
shot and and it just didn't materialize
And I just thought they were way too passive
Montreal to their credit you know did a nice job
on on that penalty kill
And that sort of after that penalty kill kill sparked
kind of Montreal's best chances of the night
They've they got a couple of shots late in that
period against Freddie Anderson
Uh obviously couldn't score but that they got a little
bit of a spark from killing off that 5 on
3
But I mean now we're getting we're getting minute
We're getting we're picking on the on on the canes
here
I I that 503 wasn't good enough simply wasn't good
enough but I thought everything else they did tonight was
so good
Yeah it's it's uh exactly what you want
It's the very thing that uh when you know like
I said earlier when we started this
Fans uh you know hockey analysts they may you know
brag on the Hurricanes about their playing style or hockey
purists they don't like the style
They they it doesn't look good to them
They feel like it's not you know a winning style
It is a winning style
Florida won using this same style
They were just better than the Canes were
And now the Canes are here uh in the position
that they are
And with one win away and then you just worry
about the Las Vegas uh Golden Knights
Yeah you know I think we need to give and
we've talked about it but Eric Tolskiy the additions that
they made to this team just continue to pay off
You know Logan Stanov acquired in that trade the Miko
Ranton trade last year but the Canes won right But
the Cannes won
Yeah despite you know despite well and they also got
Taylor Hall in that trade in the original trade
But adding Eelers who who had obviously those two key
goals in game two had an assist tonight adding Ke'Andre
Miller who Ranger fans were ready to get rid of
They were ready to get rid of him
Carolina trades for him
They gave up a lot to get him signed him
to a big contract and he's been outstanding
I mean his stick work I don't want to say
rivals Jacob Slavin
But it's getting close
Um and and there's just so many things he can
do for you
And we've seen it with the the assists in the
last two games
I mean the the pieces that they've added the fourth
line uh I mean just all up and down the
roster
I feel like they're getting contributions up and down the
roster
Those are guys who've been holdovers guys that Tolskiy's brought
in role players stars
It feels like everything is coming together for the Canes
That's a great point uh but I will say that
tonight was needed in the way that Three of your
4 goals were scored by some of the original guys
I host Staal Speshnikov even though it's an empty netter
for Speshnikov uh it it still counts it still goes
on the stat sheet
You needed a game like that where it's not just
Hall or Eelers or Blake or yeah uh or Stan
Coven you know one of the the newer guys uh
that's on the team
It's one of the original guys
The the knock-on
Uh the guys that couldn't win the big one right
They couldn't score in the postseason
That was a knock and they came into this game
They scored they dominated and uh it looked really good
Uh you know it was all centers scoring up until
Speshnikov scored
I was wondering if if Jankowski was gonna get his
so all four centers could get a goal
But uh you know what a night for the Carolina
Hurricanes
And now Brian I'm ready for Friday night
It's gonna be wild
I mean we've seen it's the the loudest barn in
the NHL you know the loudest arena in the NHL
What is it gonna be like on Friday night when
the Hurricanes finally have a chance to get back to
the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20
years Bring your earplugs
Bring the earplugs
Also bring your towels
It's gonna go crazy in there
They better have Petey Pablo in there doing uh North
Carolina
And take your shirt off to surround like a helicopter
all that good stuff
That's Brian Murphy
I'm Chris Lee
Uh this is our rapid reactions and we'll have another
one for you after game 5 on Friday night
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