Hurricanes push Canadiens to brink of elimination after Game 4 victory

The crowd was amped. The energy inside Centre Bell was high as former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak carried the torch inside the building, with hope running rampant.

It’s a shame that the Carolina Hurricanes were there to spoil the fun.

Thanks to another dominating effort, the Hurricanes beat the Canadiens in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final, 4-0, to move within one win from the Stanley Cup Final.

Just like the previous two contests, Carolina controlled the play, hardly allowing Montreal any room to create any offense. However, unlike Games 2 and 3, which saw the Hurricanes require overtime to take a lead in the best-of-seven series, the Canadiens didn’t seem like they had much of a chance after the first 20 minutes.

The crowd was taken out of the game early. Even while Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes made some big saves in the first few minutes, Montreal saw itself trailing Carolina 8-1 in shots before the halfway mark of the contest. Penalties did little to help the Habs, as the Canes’ power play ignited a flurry of goals late in the first period.

After Zachary Bolduc went off for hooking with a little over five minutes to play in the frame, Sebastian Aho hammered home a pass from Nikolaj Ehlers for his fourth goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and his first of the series, giving the visitors the lead.

68 seconds later, Carolina found the back of the net again. K’Andre Miller made a great play in the offensive zone, feeding a pass to captain Jordan Staal, who unknowingly tipped the puck through the legs of Dobes to make it a 2-0 game.

The Canadiens quickly found themselves reeling, but didn’t have time to recover, as a quick transition led to Jackson Blake initiating a 2-on-1 rush, setting up Logan Stankoven for his eighth goal of the playoffs, completely silencing the fans in Montreal.

All three of the Canes’ goals came in a span of 2:47. That ended up being more than enough, as the Habs seemed to be more interested in trying to bully the unwavering Hurricanes. A couple of careless penalties, including Philip Danault’s cross-checking of Stall following a face-off, were the only “highlights” Montreal had in the middle stanza.

The third period was even worse. Carolina played keep-away against a lethargic Habs squad, forcing Dobes to make a number of saves to hold the game from getting out of hand. The fans who decided to stay through the one-sided affair started chanting his name late in regulation, a mix of paying their respect for his efforts and pity.

The Hurricanes were able to seal the win with an empty-net goal from Andrei Svechnikov, taking a commanding 3-1 series lead after winning both contests in la belle province.

Carolina ended up outshooting Montreal 43-17. The Habs had a measly three shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, with the crowd giving their team the Bronx cheer when they hit the net. Dobes made 39 saves in the losing effort and has now faced 534 shots in these playoffs, more than any goaltender this year.

Wednesday night marked the third game in a row where the Habs failed to reach 20 shots on goal. Despite having another easy night, Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen was sharp, posting his third shutout of the postseason, setting a new franchise record with his eighth playoff goose-egg as a Hurricane.

Now, the Canadiens face the tough task of not only trying to rally back from a two-game hole, but they also have to avoid elimination as the series heads back to Raleigh. The only saving grace is that Montreal managed to win the first game of the series in enemy territory.

Game 5 is set for Friday night, with puck drop scheduled for a little after 8 p.m. ET. If the Canes get the job done, they will punch their ticket to the final for the first time since winning it all 20 years ago.