- Too much praise from the Montreal side for the last anthem singer singing in French. The Hurricanes go English only.
First period
- A quick chance for Logan Stankoven, but Mike Matheson speeds back to break up the pass before it gets across to him.
- Still plenty of space for Juraj Slafkovský to skate through as the top line goes on the attack.
- A weak shot coming in from the point by William Carrier gets tipped by Eric Robinson, but if was enough to change the trajectory of the slow-moving puck and get it into the net as Dobeš was sliding across to stop the initial shot.
- It wouldn’t be a proper Canadiens playoff game without spotting the opponent the first goal.
- Slafkovský blocks a shot with the outside of his knee and has to hobble to the bench.
- A lot of Carolina pressure right now as the Canadiens are yet to test Frederik Andersen.
- Montreal gets a good shift from the fourth line, and Carolina has to ice the puck, ending the pressure after about seven minutes.
- The top line almost claimed an own goal from Carolina with a three-way passing play that was deflected by K’Andre Miller.
- The Hurricanes win an offensive-zone faceoff, but Ivan Demidov picks the puck off just inside the blue line to launch the counter. Demidov ends up losing the puck on a sliding block, but Stankoven interfered with Kaiden Guhle on the rush, so Demidov and the top unit will come on looking to tie the game.
- Carolina did well defending on the PK, but Montreal almost missed a few passes that would have found open players.
- Taylor Hall’s blind clearing pass is intercepted by Guhle at the blue line. He gave it to Phillip Danault, who in turn sets up Josh Anderson, and Montreal has tied the game on their first shot on goal.
First shot on goal for the #Habs is a Josh Anderson goal.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) May 23, 2026
1-1 pic.twitter.com/lCi5ht62vb
- They need to test Andersen more often.
- Jordan Martinook finds Jordan Staal heading to the net for a shot from the slot. Dobeš got just enough of the point-blank chance to have it deflect off the post and out.
- Andrei Svechnikov gets his hands up on Lane Hutson after the whistle sounds. Jayden Struble grabs Svechnikov’s jaw from behind and spins him to the ice. That will be a power play for Carolina.
- Anderson takes a hard cross-check into the boards from Svechnikov, then gets up to keep Guhle from retaliating as Carolina’s brings its own power play to an end.
- A bad blind pass in the neutral zone from Slafkovský gives Carolina a late short-handed two-on-one, but Seth Jarvis can’t figure out how to get a shot from a pass into his feet and the Canadiens don’t pay for it.
- The zone time for Montreal wasn’t as bad at the shots look, but there’s no need for them to have only two shots on goal after 20 minutes given how poorly Andersen has played. They need to change that next period.
Second period
- A good start to the period for Montreal following 11 seconds of power-play time, but they still can’t turn it into shots.
- Jakub Dobeš gets a stick stuck in the straps of his pad, but keeps playing his position, and is able to pull it loose as Matheson waits with the puck behind the net. A bit of a side mission for the goaltender.
- The top line cycles well, but the final pass that would have been a great scoring chance missed the mark.
- Josh Anderson gets the puck and a bit of space to work with. He tees up Alexandre Carrier for a one-timer than goes off Andersen’s pad and to the end boards.
- Anderson wipes out inside the offensive zone at the end of the shift, and that allows the Hurricanes to counter. They get about two minutes of zone time out of it, and eventually a power play as Mark Jankowski tries to skate around the net and gets interfered with by Dobeš.
- The crowd cheered all the possession on the power play, but three shots that went well wide and one dangerous moment when the puck got the front of the net was all the Hurricanes managed.
- Montreal has something cooking back at five-on-five with the top line, but Slafkovský’s stick gets knocked out of his hands just as he was going to take it in on net.
- Svechnikov picks up the puck on the halfwall in Montreal’s zone and rips a shot toward the net that goes off the crossbar.
- Nikolaj Ehlers get the puck in the zone and is defended well by Hutson to keep him high in the slot, but Ehlers spins and pulls across his body, and through Dobeš’s five-hole to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead.
- Suzuki gets a chance in the dying seconds in all alone, but Andersen saves his team from a late mishap.
- For some reason, Alexandre Texier decides to jab Miller in the nether region on the last play of the period, so now his team will begin the third period short-handed.
- It’s a pretty good defensive display from Montreal tonight, but offensively they don’t want to just toss pucks on net, looking for the cross-ice passes that are being taken away.
Third period
- A more dangerous power play this time, but the Hurricanes can’t extend their lead.
- Another solid cycling shift from Montreal’s top line, but again they don’t have an open lane to make a pass. It might take an individual drive to open things up.
- The second line finally gets a shot, a deflection off Miller that Andersen doesn’t see, but he was able to freeze it.
- Dobeš dives across the crease and steals a goal away from Jarvis. His best save of the post-season.
- Hutson gets in behind Carolina’s net and doesn’t see an open teammate, but dodges a check and comes out front to take a shot of his own that Andersen steers aside.
- Noah Dobson jumps up and nearly collects a pass from Caufield for chance from the top of the crease.
- Suddenly it’s a shooting gallery in Carolina’s zone. Montreal is starting to take the shots that are available.
- Carolina has an offensive shift of their own to break the pressure a bit.
- Josh Anderson decides it’s time to change how things are going. He speeds into the offensive zone, and despite losing the puck off his stick continues to the front of the net. Carrier jumps up for one shot, and then Anderson sends the rebound through Andersen as he’s falling backward into his net.
Josh Anderson gets a greasy one, and we're all tied up at two. pic.twitter.com/aAhCs51c2A
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) May 24, 2026
- Matheson jumps up trying to catch the Hurricanes again as they recover from the goal against, but Andersen makes the save.
- Newhook blasts a one-timer. Andersen had no idea where the puck was, but his teammates cleared it out of a dangerous place a foot in front him as he was looking behind.
- Staal tries another spinning goal, but sends the puck wide.
- Weirdly, the game has opened up a bit in the dying minutes of regulation after a tight first 55 or so.
- Montreal puts together a couple of shifts at the end of regulation looking for a late winner, but this game will go to overtime.
Overtime
- Andersen has made about two clean saves in this game, so Montreal needs to not only fire a shot at every opportunity, but hang around looking for rebounds as well.
- Hutson takes a big hit in the corner from Taylor Hall, and is down in pain. He stays on and gets to the bench on his own, so hopefully he will be okay for Game 3.
- Montreal wasn’t able to get the puck over the blue line at all in overtime, and Ehlers evens the series. A turnover at the offensive blue line catches two Montreal defencemen on the right side of the ice, and it takes Noah Dobson too long to recognize that he needs to close off the left lane. He doesn’t, Ehlers gets a shot from the slot, and beats Dobeš blocker side.
- It wasn’t quite a bad as overtime in Game 2 of the Lightning series, but it again looked like the Canadiens didn’t have the same urgency after already claiming a win on the road.
- Now the series returns the Bell Centre, where it will become a best-of-five starting on Monday night.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) He’s been a reliable option for them
2) Even got a loser point
1) Might have been a missed opportunity with how Andersen was looking
