"You've got to take it one step at a time, and this is just another step in the process," Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. "We've got a good group in here who's all been there before now, and everyone knows what to expect and knows what is expected of us.
"So, we've got to make sure we go in with the right mindset and continue to just chip away and work hard like we do."
The Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference, will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series against the Canadiens, the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic.
Game 1 will be in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, HBO Max, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS).
Carolina is 8-0 in the playoffs and has allowed a total of 10 goals. They are the fifth team in NHL history to begin a playoffs with eight straight wins, and the first since the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 (9-0).
Montreal, meanwhile, also needed seven games to eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.
"Well, it's a good thing because we're going to be one of four teams left, so however how long we’ve got to rest or be off, we'll do it," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I think the good part is we just literally had the exact same thing, and we had a plan and clearly it was OK, so we can follow that and run with it."
The Hurricanes had a week off in between the first and second round and will have 11 days off before the conference final starts.
"There's positives and negatives to it," Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall said. " I think the big positive is that we're on to the third round relatively unscathed and healthy. You don't want to see injuries per se, but we hope these series go far and these teams have battles.
"That's the advantage that we're going to have. They're going to be hockey ready if the series goes long, but I think Rod, our strength staff, all of our staff do a good job making sure that we're ready athletically to play, and from there we get our footing pretty quickly."
Hall leads the Hurricanes in the playoffs with 12 points (three goals, nine assists). Forward Jackson Blake has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) and forward Logan Stankoven has seven goals and an assist. Defenseman K'Andre Miller has six assists.
Goalie Frederik Andersen has started all eight games, going 8-0 with a 1.12 goals-against average, .950 save percentage and two shutouts.
Defenseman Lane Hutson leads the Canadiens with 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in 14 games this postseason. Nick Suzuki is second with 13 points (four goals, nine assists), and Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky each has nine points (four goals, five assists). Alex Newhook leads Montreal with seven goals, including scoring the overtime winner in Game 7 against the Sabres.
Jakub Dobes has started every game for the Canadiens, going 8-6 with a 2.52 GAA and .910 save percentage. Jacob Fowler has allowed one goal on two shots in 8:23 of ice time in his only appearance.
The Hurricanes went 0-3-0 against the Canadiens this season, getting outscored 15-8. Sebastian Aho had six points (two goals, four assists) and Andrei Svechnikov had five points (two goals, three assists). Forward Nikolaj Ehlers had four points (two goals, two assists).
Andersen was 0-2-0 with a 3.73 GAA and .806 save percentage, and Brandon Bussi was 0-1-0 with a 6.17 GAA and .727 save percentage.
Caufield (three goals, two assists), Suzuki (three goals, two assists), Slafkovsky (two goals, three assists) and Ivan Demidov (one goal, four assists) each had five points for Montreal against Carolina. Hutson had four points (one goal, three assists).
Dobes was 3-0-0 with a 2.67 GAA and .922 save percentage, allowing eight goals on 103 shots.
Carolina and Montreal have played twice in the postseason, with the Hurricanes winning each. The most recent was a six-game series in the Conference Quarterfinals in 2006.
NHL.com senior writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report
