By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Years of consistent regular-season success and postseason wins have again brought the Carolina Hurricanes to the Eastern Conference Final of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
That same roadblock.
The Hurricanes host the Montreal Canadiens to open their best-of-seven series Thursday night, the third time in four seasons they’ve reached the league semifinals. They’re armed yet again with home-ice advantage, this time as the East’s top seed. They’ve won all eight playoff games. And they’re as rested as it gets with long breaks between both rounds.
But this has been the ceiling in an eight-year postseason run. They were swept in this round in 2019, again in 2023, then lost in five games here last year.
“I know everybody’s going to say, whatever, we’ve won one game in the times we’ve been there,” veteran forward Jordan Martinook said. “It is what it is, it’s something we’re going to have to overcome. I think every year is such a different challenge, we’re going to have ups and downs in the next series. And it’s up to us to show we can win.”
This has hovered all season over the Hurricanes, the idea of playing their way back to this point for another shot. They were the league’s No. 2 team behind Presidents’ Trophy-winner Colorado, then took out Ottawa and Philadelphia to become the first team to sweep the first two rounds since the NHL went to best-of-seven series in all four rounds in 1987.
But they’re 1-12 in the East final during this eight-year run under Rod Brind’Amour. The 2019 sweep was a happy-to-be-here group emerging from a nine-year postseason drought. The past two trips came in jarring fashion for a playoff-tested core, first with four one-goal losses to Florida in 2023, including a four-overtime epic. They went down 0-3 in last year’s rematch before salvaging a win.
Next they face a Montreal team that battled through a seven-game series against Tampa Bay, then another one against Buffalo. Montreal won both Game 7s on the road on goals by Alex Newhook.
The Canadiens are back in a conference final for the first time since playing for the Cup in 2021, only to tumble to 29th out of 32 league teams in regular-season points (199) for the following three years. They retooled under general manager Kent Hughes and coach Martin St. Louis to return to the playoffs last year, and haven’t lost consecutive games since mid-March.
“Guys have really bought into how we play and everything that Marty preaches,” said captain Nick Suzuki, a member of the 2021 Cup finalist. “It’s really cool to be in this situation this fast and being such a young team. Now we just have a lot of fun and just want to keep the journey going.”
Lengthy breaks
The 11 days off for the Hurricanes between closing out Philadelphia on May 9 and Game 1 against Montreal is the longest break in the NHL playoffs since at least 1920, according to SportRadar. Carolina also had six days off between Rounds 1 and 2.
Neither team has reported any major injury concerns.
In net
Jakub Dobes has started all 14 games in his second postseason with the Canadiens, including a 37-save effort in Game 7 against the Sabres after a rough Game 6. The 24-year-old has a 2.52 goals-against average and .910 save percentage.
The Hurricanes have gotten elite play from veteran Frederik Andersen, who allowed 10 goals through the first eight games while leading the postseason in GAA (1.12) and save percentage (.950).
Special teams
The Hurricanes are second among all postseason teams by going 38 of 40 (.950) on kills with one shorthanded goal. That unit will face a Canadiens power play ranked sixth in the playoffs (13 of 52, .250).
Neither team has been as effective on the other side. Carolina is 12th among playoff teams on the power play (5 of 37, .135), while Montreal is 13th on the kill (14 of 54, .741).
Stat leaders
Newhook and Carolina’s Logan Stankoven each have seven goals, tied for third among all postseason skaters. Montreal’s Lane Hutson has 14 points in 14 games to rank, tied for sixth-best in the postseason, while Carolina’s Taylor Hall has 12 in eight games.
Edge Montreal?
The Canadiens took all three regular-season meetings and nearly doubled the Hurricanes (15-8) in scoring, including a 5-2 home win on March 24 followed by a 3-1 road win five days later. Montreal was the only Eastern Conference team the Hurricanes didn’t beat in the regular season.
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AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, contributed to this report.