The Canadiens hand the Hurricanes their first playoff loss of 2026

Raphael Simard
The Canadiens hand the Hurricanes their first playoff loss of 2026
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

After a 12-day break, the Hurricanes were finally back in action.

They faced off against the Habs in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Here are the lineups:

As expected, Martin St-Louis made one change to his lineup: Jayden Struble replaced Arber Xhekaj.

The Hurricanes didn't look rusty at the start of the game. Just 33 seconds in, Seth Jarvis put the Hurricanes ahead.

But the response wasn't long in coming.

Cole Caufield scored his fourth goal in six games.

Phillip Danault then gave the Habs the lead on a breakaway.

If it had been Josh Anderson…

Danault added another goal a few minutes later.

He set up Alexandre Texier's goal beautifully. This is the first time in the playoffs that the Hurricanes have allowed three goals in a game.

It took less than 10 minutes in the first game against Montreal.

Did you think Montreal was done there?

Ivan Demidov scored the team's fourth unanswered goal in the first period.

He had scored the same goal against the same goalie on March 25.

In the second period, Caufield hit the post with a powerful shot. The Hurricanes were a bit more opportunistic.

Juraj Slafkovsky restored his team's three-goal lead with a stunning goal.

Definitely his best of the year.

Final score: 6-2. Slaf added another late in the game into an empty net.

With the six goals scored in Game 1, the Habs have more goals in a single game than the Sens and the Flyers had in their series against the Canes (5). That's crazy.

Martin St-Louis's squad thus handed the Canes their first playoff loss. Their last defeat came on April 13. That's over a month ago.

Montreal has seized home-ice advantage and leads the series 1-0.

The two teams will face off again on Saturday night at 7 p.m., still in Raleigh.


Overtime

– Yes.

– The Canadian national anthem was sung in both languages.

– Now that's funny.

– Still.

– He's excellent.

– 8 p.m. games aren't easy.

– A rare bad game for Jaccob Slavin.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!