After going 3-1 on the road in series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres, the Montreal Canadiens crushed the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2, snapping Carolina’s perfect 8-0 playoff start. After the Canadiens' victory, the Hurricanes' star Jaccob Slavin blamed himself for the disappointing outing of the team in the Eastern Conference Final.

“Personally, I think I handed them the game,” Slavin said. “I’ve got to be better.”

After having an amazing time in the quarterfinals and semifinals, where they had a clean sweep against their opponents, the team was the top favorite for the finals.

However, things did not start in their favor, and the Hurricanes lost their first game in their last nine starts. Slavin had a terrible time and recorded a rating of minus-4, one of the worst marks of his career.

It was only the second occasion in 11 seasons that Slavin ended a game at minus-three or lower. Widely considered one of the NHL’s top defensive defensemen, he owns a remarkable plus-175 rating across 784 regular-season games.

However, his coach, Rod Brind'Amour, remained confident in him.

“It happens," Brind'Amour said. "They have the ability where if you give them a little room, then it’s over. That’s what happened tonight. So he’ll bounce back.”

The Hurricanes started the game on a good note and managed a goal to take an early lead, but the Montreal Canadiens quickly fought back, erasing the early 33-second deficit, and scored four goals in just 10 minutes and 32 seconds.

The Canadiens made franchise history with the fastest four-goal burst to start a road playoff game.

Hurricanes Bounced Back in Game 2

Despite the disappointing start, the Hurricanes were determined to improve in their next outing. Carolina knew they had to play more to their style to find their footing in the Eastern Conference Final series against Montreal.

In Game 2, the Hurricanes' offseason addition, Nikolaj Ehlers, scored 3:29 into overtime to complete a 3-2 win over the Canadiens in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center.

The winning sequence came with Jalen Chatfield knocking the puck into the neutral zone for Mark Jankowski, whose quick touch pass sent Nikolaj Ehlers flying into the zone for a clean chance against Jakub Dobeš and the overtime winner.

The best-of-seven series is now even at 1-1, with Game 3 set for Monday, May 25, in Montreal.

What are your thoughts on the Hurricanes bouncing back? Share in the comments.

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Written by

Ankita Yadav

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar