Rachel Barkley
After dropping Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final, the Carolina Hurricanes will be back on the grind Saturday night as they welcome the Montreal Canadiens back into Lenovo Center for Game 2.
The game is scheduled for 7:00 PM EDT.
The series opener against the Canadiens was far from grand for the Hurricanes, who fell in a 6-2 game, with the game-winning goal having come just 8:11 into the first period. Ultimately, the Hurricanes lacked their hard-nosed brand of hockey throughout much of the contest.
“You don’t want to use excuses, but that was a long break,” second-line winger Taylor Hall said Friday to the media. “I think, you know, it’s a lot longer than that first break we had. But, you know, one team looked like an Eastern Conference final team, and the other didn’t.
“So, we know we have a lot more to give, and you just don’t want to let things slide. And, you know, I think whether we win or lose tomorrow, we have to play our game and our identity and let that come through for 60 minutes, and let the cards fall where they do. But that wasn’t the game that we were proud of – the game that we know and know how to play. So I think that’s our focus tomorrow.”
One of the big themes following Game 1 was to toss the game into the rearview and keep moving. Hall also touched on that subject, describing his idea of flushing a rough game.
“Yeah, the whole ‘flush it’ thing in the playoffs is pretty hard, and I think it’s that way for a reason. We need to understand what happened yesterday, and why it happened…This morning, we went over a lot of stuff about that. I think when we wake up tomorrow, it’s about game two.
“But, today is still about realizing what happened and correcting that – and there’s nothing wrong with it. You can still do that and have a positive mindset, and still smile and laugh with your friends at the rink, but understand tomorrow has to be a different story.”
While Thursday’s game was notably brutal in terms of play on Carolina’s side of things, there were still glimmers of the game that brought them this far in the playoffs. I covered it all in the postgame analysis, including why it is not time to smash that panic button just yet. You can read all about it here!
In the Crease
In Game 1, Frederik Andersen allowed five goals to slip past him. However, after the game, his teammates and head coach Rod Brind’Amour made it clear that they did not see his play as the issue due to the amount of high-danger chances allowed by the plays in front of him. He has been stellar so far in the postseason and will likely start Game 2. Additionally, there is no reason to expect anyone but Jakub Dobes to take the crease for the Canadiens.
Projected Carolina Hurricanes Lines
Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Seth Jarvis
Taylor Hall – Logan Stankoven – Jackson Blake
Nikolaj Ehlers – Jordan Staal – Jordan Martinook
William Carrier – Mark Jankowski – Eric Robinson
Defense
Jaccob Slavin – Jalen Chatfield
K’Andre Miller – Sean Walker
Shayne Gostisbehere – Alexander Nikishin
Goaltenders
Frederik Andersen / Brandon Bussi
Projected Montreal Canadiens Lines
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Jake Evans – Ivan Demidov
Alexandre Texier – Phillip Danault – Josh Anderson
Zack Bolduc – Oliver Kapanen – Kirby Dach
Defense
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble – Lane Hutson
Kaiden Guhle – Alexandre Carrier
Goaltenders
Jakub Dobes / Jacob Fowler
Special Teams
Carolina Hurricanes power play: 12.8% (12th)
Carolina Hurricanes penalty kill: 95.2% (2nd)
Montreal Canadiens power play: 24.1% (6th)
Montreal Canadiens penalty kill: 75.0% (13th)
Hurricanes Game Notes
Jordan Staal’s line was perhaps the best for the Hurricanes in Game 1, despite not factoring into the scoresheet. Staal won 10 of 15 faceoffs (66.7 FOW%), and his line made 13 shot attempts throughout the game, while only allowing one shot attempt from Montreal when they were on the ice.
Though the rest of the postseason will only be available to watch via national broadcasts, local play-by-play announcer Mike Maniscalco and analyst Tripp Tracy will continue to call games on the Hurricanes’ radio partner. 99.9 The Fan.
How To Watch
TV: TNT, TruTV, HBO MAX, SN, CBC, TVAS
Radio: 99.9 The Fan
