2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference Final
Game 1: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Carolina Hurricanes (M1)
Start time: **8:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM PDT**
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the United States: TNT, truTV
Streaming: HBO Max, Sportsnet+
Going into the post-season, the Montreal Canadiens’ goal was to improve on last year’s surprise appearance. They accomplished that by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games after claiming just one win versus the Washington Capitals in 2025. They advanced to play a team that made the post-season for the first time in 15 years, so that was another chance for the Canadiens to prove their year-over-year growth. A new goal was set, and again they moved on. The team has now tied the 1993 iteration of itself as the youngest team to progress to the conference finals, and that has them ahead of schedule in their rebuild.
At this point, they’re playing a bonus round with low expectations versus the top team in the Eastern Conference and second-best squad in the overall standings. But the Habs have gotten used to winning, and now halfway to the ultimate goal they’re not just going to put their feet up and call the season a success. They just had a group of players hit their stride in the last series versus Buffalo, and ride a wave on confidence into the final four.
The Canadiens have been underdogs in each series so far, and that will go to an extreme level in this series. Based just on games played alone, the Hurricanes are twice as fresh as Montreal having played just eight total games. Carolina is a solid defensive team, and their average of 1.25 goals against per game is an intimidating mark they carry into this series.
Finishing as the second-best defensive club in the regular season also proved too much for most teams to contend with, but that didn’t scare the Habs. They scored seven goals in Carolina on New Year’s Day, the most the Hurricanes have allowed in the 90 games they’ve played in 2025-26. Montreal went on to win the final two games of the season series in regulation, the only team in the NHL to beat the Hurricanes three times, and the only team in the Eastern Conference to beat them more than once.
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistics | Hurricanes |
|---|---|---|
| 48-24-10 | Record | 53-22-7 |
| 46.1% | Expected-goal share | 55.5% |
| 3.07 | Goals per game | 3.00 |
| 2.71 | Goals against per game | 1.25 |
| 25.0% | PP% | 13.5% |
| 74.1% | PK% | 95.0% |
| 3-0-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 0-3-0 |
| Alex Newhook (7) | Most goals | Logan Stankoven (7) |
| Lane Hutson (12) | Most assists | Taylor Hall (9) |
| Lane Hutson (14) | Most points | Taylor Hall (12) |
Montreal’s attempt to pull off a third consecutive upset and the biggest so far would become more likely if they can add a seventh road win of the post-season to their record tonight. As good as the Hurricanes have been this year and in the past five seasons coming out of the COVID-year realignment, finishing no worse than second in the Metropolitan Division, they haven’t been able to advance past this stage, winning just one game in their last two conference finals. If you extend that to their eight consecutive post-season appearances, they are 1-12 in the third round of the playoffs. If Montreal makes that 1-13 this evening, and improves to 4-0 this year, minds could start racing throughout the Hurricanes organization.
Carolina has taken steps to improve its odds in the past few years. The initial plan of acquiring Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche didn’t work out as general manager Eric Tulsky hoped, but Plan B from that trade was acquiring Logan Stankoven when Rantanen was shipped to the Dallas Stars, and that secondary move is paying off in a big way this post-season. Stankoven has seven goals, scoring in all but two games so far. Taylor Hall was a less eventful acquisition for Carolina last season, and currently leads the team in points with 12 while also being a wrecking ball in the opening two series targeting top players on the opposing side with big hits. It’s a deeper offensive team this time around as it attempts to break its third-round curse.
Montreal’s line of Alex Newhook, Jake Evans, and Ivan Demidov that worked so well in the Sabres series will be trying to stay hot. It will face more resistance than what the Sabres provided especially in the minutes when Buffalo wasn’t leading, but will be a trio the Hurricanes need to focus on. While the two teams Carolina has played so far, the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers, struggled to score in their series, the Canadiens’ main producers this year did enjoy success in the regular season. Juraj Slafkovský, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield combined for eight goals, with Caufield scoring in each game. Lane Hutson enjoyed two multi-point performances, and Demidov had five points in his rookie campaign. The offence has been there, and that should provide the Hurricanes with their toughest test so far.
