Carolina HurricanesvsMontreal Canadiens
CAR 4/MTL 0
Things to say
Carolina beat Montreal 4-0 at the Bell Centre to close it out.
01
opener
Canes rolled into Montreal and shut 'em out, 4-0. Habs never had it. Carolina's just deeper top to bottom right now.
02
key player
Ehlers was everywhere — two helpers and the kind of zone time that breaks a defense. Quietly the best guy on the ice.
03
hot take
Montreal getting blanked at home in May tells you everything. This run's basically over.
04
deep cut
Gostisbehere put up a two-point night from the back end — a D-man quarterbacking that power play is the part nobody talks about.
05
exit
Anyway, Carolina's looking scary heading into the next one — I'm watching to see if Montreal even shows up.
The recap
Carolina rolled into the Bell Centre and slammed the door, blanking Montreal 4-0 behind a goalie who stopped everything thrown his way. Jordan Staal got the captain's goal going, but the real engine was Nikolaj Ehlers feeding two helpers and Shayne Gostisbehere quarterbacking a two-point night from the back end.
Once the Canes potted a couple early, Montreal just couldn't solve them, and you could feel the building deflate. Clean shutout, four-goal cushion, never really in doubt.