In a vacuum, the Montreal Canadiens splitting Game 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes is a positive thing. The goal of the road team is always to steal one of the first two contests of any given round, and it applies a lot of pressure to the home squad to respond quickly. Likewise, going back to familiar soil, trailing 0-2 is far from ideal.
Only 12.4% of NHL teams in the salary cap era have managed to bounce back from that deficit. While it isn't impossible, it's far from probable. So the Canadiens' swiping of Game 1 in Carolina was crucial in their quest back to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Hurricanes were never going to roll over for the upstart Habs. They have their own Eastern Conference Final demons to dance with, and head coach Rod Brind'Amour knows what buttons to push and when. Still, there was a feeling that Montreal really let one get away in Game 2. That's in the rearview mirror now, though. And the Canadiens have to head into Game 3 aware that they are in danger of repeating the same mistake for the third consecutive series.
Canadiens have no choice but to take care of business on home ice against Hurricanes
Montreal got away with only winning one home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, thanks in large part to the heroics of Jakub Dobes. Goalies are the great equalizer, and the Habs got Conn Smythe-level netminding from Dobes in round one. Carrying a 2-4 record at the Bell Center is not a recipe for success, however.
No team in league history has ever hoisted the Stanley Cup while having a losing record on home ice.
Being clutch and learning to win in Game 7's is one thing, but the Canadiens and their young core must begin to develop the killer instinct that Stanley Cup champions possess. Not taking a stranglehold in rounds one and two didn't come back to bite them, but the Hurricanes are on a different level than the Sabres and Lightning.
Nick Suzuki and the Canadiens' stars must step up in Game 3 and Game 4 at the Bell Center
The Canadiens beat the Lightning without getting much scoring from their top-six forward group. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky finally came alive--especially on the power play--against Buffalo, but the team's most important players still mostly struggled on home ice.
Suzuki leads the Canadiens in points this postseason with 16, but he has no goals at the Bell Center. In fact, you have to go all the way back to April 7 to find the last time Montreal's captain found the back of the net at home. All told, he's scored just one time in his last 13 home games.
Slafkovsky has at least notched one goal at the Bell Center, while Caufield has at least scored three of his five goals in front of the home crowd.
All things considered, the Habs have a tremendous opportunity to put the Hurricanes in an unenviable 3-1 hole after these next two games.
Montreal wasn't able to do that against Tampa Bay or Buffalo, and it didn't cost the team the series due to two clutch Game 7 wins. Not taking care of business at the Bell Center against Carolina will almost certainly turn out differently, however, and the team's best players need to be exactly that in Games 3 and 4 if they want to put the Eastern Conference Final almost entirely out of reach for the Hurricanes.
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