Hurricanes dominate from start in Game 4 win

MONTREAL -- It was evident in the first 10 seconds of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final that this would be the Carolina Hurricanes’ night.

The Montreal Canadiens won the opening face-off, the puck went deep into their zone, and before they knew it, the Hurricanes forecheck was in their faces. It resulted in a turnover and an early shot on goal for William Carrier.

And though the puck didn’t go in, that play was a harbinger of what would be a dominant, smothering, overwhelming effort from the Hurricanes, who disheartened the Canadiens and frustrated the Bell Centre crowd with 4-0 win on Wednesday. 

The Hurricanes improved to 11-1 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season and 6-0 on the road, but most importantly, they moved within one win of their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 2006 and a date with the Vegas Golden Knights. 

They lead the series 3-1 and can punch their ticket in Game 5 at home at Lenovo Center on Friday (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

The first shift set the tone for the entire night. 

“We talk about starting like that, keeping it simple early,” Hurricanes forward Logan Stankoven said. “Sometimes you have to find the body blows to get to the head and open up the head, so I think when you can stack shifts and set up the other guys for success good things will continue to happen.”

Good things happened all night. The Hurricanes outshot the Canadiens 43-18, including 19-3 in a third period, when Montreal was desperate to get any kind of offense.

It got so dominant that with about seven minutes left in the third period, the fans were chanting, “Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck!”

Asked if this was Carolina’s best game of this postseason, forward Nikolaj Ehlers said, “Definitely one of them. I don’t remember every single (game) at this point to be honest, but definitely one of them. 

“We played really well. They’re a good team, they are going to get their chances, but at the same time, some of the ones that could have been big chances we were able to get in front of. That’s what’s needed in the playoffs.”

They did everything that’s needed to win in the playoffs, using a ferocious forecheck, hitting all over the ice and blocking 18 shots.

They didn’t give the Canadiens any room to breathe, made Montreal look slow, undecisive and tentative, and unlike in their first two wins of the series in Games 2 and 3, they put their opponent away in regulation -- really in the first period -- not needing overtime to finish the job.

“I thought we were solid,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “There are certain areas we could be much better at, but it’s tough to pick apart that game.”

Despite getting to their game from the moment the puck dropped, the Hurricanes couldn’t get on the scoreboard, mostly because Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes was sharp in the early going, making his best save on a Jackson Blake breakaway 2:07 into the game. 

But the Hurricanes did what they always do: Stick to the plan. 

“I liked our start, but then we had a couple of good opportunities, we had a breakaway, we had some (plays where I) thought this could be good,” Brind’Amour said. “I liked that we didn’t score there but we just kept going. It was kind of a theme tonight, I just felt like we were good from start to finish and obviously that was the result we got.”   

Carolina found its scoring touch, putting the game away with three goals in a span of 2:47. 

The decisive stretch began with 5:42 left in the first period. With Montreal on the power play, Canadiens forward Zachary Bolduc took a hooking penalty in the offensive zone against Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin, resulting in 30 seconds of 4-on-4. Just 11 seconds after the Hurricanes went on the eventual power play, Sebastian Aho buried a one-time pass from Ehlers past Dobes at 14:59. 

Carolina smelled blood. 

Just 1:08 later, Hurricanes defenseman K'Andre Miller brought the puck down the right side, cut to the net and sent the puck toward the crease, where Jordan Staal outmuscled Canadiens forward Josh Anderson and redirected the puck past Dobes to make it 2-0 at 16:07.

Then came the crusher. With Montreal trying get something going, Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson got the puck in the middle of the ice above the circles and went to shoot but hesitated for just a moment. When he finally did shoot, Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere not only blocked the attempt, but the resulting rebound started a 2-on-1 that ended with Stankoven beating Dobes with a one-timer off a slick pass from Blake, making it 3-0 at 17:46. 

“You look at (Aho), you look at the skill guys, they’re blocking shots. You know the grinders for our team, they do it every night,” Gostisbehere said. “So for me, it was my time, I didn’t have a choice and fortunately it went positive in the other way.”

Brind’Amour said that play summed up the entire Hurricanes team perfectly. 

“You had your breakdowns, it’s going to happen, and then what’s the next thing?” Brind’Amour said. “You need it from everybody, so even your offensive guys, everybody’s got to do what you have to do to get a win. You don’t always get a block that goes for a (scoring) chance, but that’s a huge point -- probably not a turning point, but that’s a huge play in that game.”

And even when things broke down a bit for Carolina, even when Montreal had a rare Grade-A chance to score, goalie Frederik Andersen was there to snuff it out. His two best saves came late in the second period; he got a piece of a point-blank shot from Anderson at 17:46 and then swallowed up shot from Cole Caufield five seconds later. 

“Freddy’s game always looks easy,” Brind’Amour said. “So regardless of the kind of high-danger chances or whatever, he never looks like he’s diving around out there.”

And then came the icing on the cake. At 5:21 of the third, the Hurricanes entered the Canadiens zone and stayed there for 1:34 -- an absolute eternity in a hockey game -- winning every puck battle, getting to every loose puck and skating circles around the gassed Canadiens. The Hurricanes didn’t score on the shift, but it was so long that when the Canadiens finally cleared the puck out of the zone, a fan in the upper bowl let out a huge “Yeahhh.”

"We're not playing fast enough, when we have the puck, with our feet," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "We're not playing fast enough off the puck so we can kind of bypass the pressure, and they've got really, really good sticks." 

It was the bookend to a fast start that has Carolina on the verge of the Cup Final. The Hurricanes still have to win one more game, and, according to Stankoven, have another level to reach. 

“I still think we have better,” Stankoven said. “It’s great to come out like a team like this and perform like that, but I think at this time of the year you can’t bring your B-game. You have to bring you’re A-game every night to win hockey games here.”