Hurricanes doomed by slow start against Canadiens in Game 1 of East Final

RALEIGH, N.C. –- When Seth Jarvis scored for the Carolina Hurricanes 33 seconds into the game on Thursday, it seemed the concerns of their long layoff between rounds in the Stanley Cup Playoffs were unwarranted.

Rust? What rust?

Then the rest of the first period unfolded, and most of it was bad for the Hurricanes.

They made mistakes. They left the Montreal Canadiens undefended, gave up breakaways. The Hurricanes were discombobulated. Their trademark defense, which is usually stifling, was porous.

“I mean, we lost the game from the start,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said after Carolina’s 6-2 loss to the Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center. “Obviously, giving them that many freebies, any team is going to make you pay, especially at this time of the year. There wasn’t enough respect for them. They played a great game. They were ready to roll and we weren’t.”

Game 2 is here on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; HBO Max, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

It was the first loss of this postseason for the Hurricanes, who swept their first- and second-round series against the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers, respectively. Sometimes, however, it’s not losing so much as how you lose, and this was incredibly uncharacteristic for Carolina.

After allowing two or fewer goals in their first eight games of the postseason, the Hurricanes allowed four goals in the first period on Thursday.

Montreal forward Cole Caufield was wide open for his goal that tied it 1-1 at 1:00 of the first period. Phillip Danault skated in alone from the blue line for a breakaway goal to put the Canadiens ahead 2-1 at 4:04. Alexandre Texier made it 3-1 at 8:11 on a one-timer off a feed from Danault. When Carolina got over aggressive and surrounded Montreal forward Alex Newhook at 11:32 of the first, he passed to a wide-open Ivan Demidov for a 4-1 lead.

“They have a lot of speed. They’re a team that skates really well and looks for second plays,” Jarvis said. “It boils down to our awareness. Just not being quite sharp enough, giving them space and letting their talent go.”

It was the Hurricanes’ first game since May 9, when they wrapped up their series against the Flyers. It would be easy to say this game was the byproduct of that wait because practices can’t replicate game speed, but the Hurricanes weren’t using that as the reason.

“They made some nice plays, give them credit. They finished, but I didn’t think we were very sharp, to put it bluntly," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. "Our top guys had a tough night, and that’s not going to work at this time of the year. So, chalk it up. I think we just toss this game, to be honest. I hate that at this time of the year that’s what we’ve got to do, but there wasn’t much really to grab onto there."

“I think you get behind early like that, it’s tough, but we clearly were not ready for that pace. I’m not going to give the layoff as an excuse, but we weren’t ready to play playoff hockey and that caught us.”

Goaltender Frederik Andersen, who allowed 10 goals in his first eight starts this postseason, allowed five goals on 21 shots against Montreal. Brind’Amour said he didn’t consider pulling Andersen.

“I mean, we’re giving up breakaways. I’m not going to blame him for breakaways,” he said. “I thought maybe for a second, just to give him a breather, but he’s had a ton of rest. It’s actually the opposite. We need to probably get him up to speed, more game action.”

Another of the Hurricanes’ top players who struggled was defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who finished minus-4.

“We came out, we were fine, but yeah, I mean, personally, I think I handed them the game,” Slavin said. “So, I’ve got to be better.”

Of Slavin, Brind’Amour said: “I’ve never seen that. Eight years. So, it happens. I mean again, they have the ability that if you give them a little room then it’s over. That’s what happened tonight. He’ll bounce back.”

The Hurricanes as a whole are going to have to bounce back. Yes, they were bound to lose at some point in the playoffs, but this was one that wasn’t typical for them. Nevertheless, they’ll shake it off. They have to.

“We’ve been through this before,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s a tough night, it’s tough at this time of year to have those. We don’t have a lot of those at all like that and we’re going to have to bounce back, clearly. And I have all the faith in the world we will.”