Party like it's 2006: Hurricanes thump Canadiens to reach Stanley Cup Final

Chip Alexander, The News & Observer on May 29, 2026

Published in Hockey

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RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes are getting their chance.

For the first time in 20 years, the Hurricanes will play for the Stanley Cup after dispatching the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference final.

A dominating 6-1 victory over the Canadiens on Friday at Lenovo Center ended the series in five games, with the raucous crowd erupting into chants of, “We want the Cup” as time ticked off the clock.

It’s on to the Final for the Hurricanes, where the Vegas Golden Knights will be the opponent.

Vegas’ four-game sweep of the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final gave the Canes home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Final. The first two games will be at Lenovo Center — Game 1 is Tuesday at 8 p.m. — before the series goes to Las Vegas for the next two.

No one who follows the Hurricanes needs to be reminded of the franchise’s last Stanley Cup Final game. It was on June 19, 2006, when the Canes topped the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 in what was then the RBC Center.

Canes captain Rod Brind’Amour all but snatched the Cup out of the hands of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that night, Brind’Amour’s face showing the ecstasy of the long-awaited moment.

Brind’Amour had long dreamed of winning the Cup. For the past eight years, as the Canes’ head coach, his one goal has been to be behind the bench of Stanley Cup champions. Now have their chance.

Consider this: The playoff win Friday was the 100th for the franchise and Brind’Amour has been a part of 98 as a player or coach. He is that intertwined with the franchise’s success.

The Canadiens blasted the Canes in the opening game of the conference final, but were beaten down the last four games by a team that has skill, structure, toughness, tight defense and a veteran goaltender in Frederik Andersen seeking his first Stanley Cup ring and playing his best.

The Canes, 12-1 in the playoffs, took overtime wins in Game 2 and Game 3 — Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrei Svechnikov with the OT winners — and then a 4-0 shutout that was a complete shutdown of the Habs.

After a morning skate Friday morning at Lenovo Center, the Canes players said there would be no letdown or letup with the 3-1 series lead and the comfort level of being on home ice. They have had a singleness of purpose, and it was to win Game 5 and move on.

The Canes then went out and took a 3-0 lead in the opening period as Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Eric Robinson scored. Jackson Blake added a fourth goal in the second period as the Stankoven line, so potent in the playoffs, again came up big, and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere had a power-play goal to make it 5-0.

Cole Caulfield’s power-play goal midway through the third got the Canadiens on the board. Seth Jarvis’ empty-netter in the closing minutes sealed the deal.

The odds were stacked heavily against the Habs. Only one team has rallied from a 3-1 deficit in a conference final to advance: the 2000 New Jersey Devils, against the Flyers.

The Habs had seven road wins in the playoffs, highlighted by winning at both Tampa Bay and Buffalo in Game 7s to move into the conference final.

Any questions about the Canes’ intensity level Friday was answered when Blake fired a shot off the rush six seconds into the game.

The Canadiens had an early power play and a chance to score first but managed one shot. The rest of the period, in essence, belonged to the Canes.

The Stankoven line first struck on a play that Habs coach Martin St. Louis would challenge for goalie interference. Stankoven drove the net to Jakub Dobes’ right and got off a shot as he was falling into the crease and sliding toward Dobes. Hall punched in the rebound for the 1-0 lead.

Stankoven’s goal was a product of a faceoff win in the Montreal zone and some hustle by Hall retrieving the puck behind the net. Hall got the puck to Stankoven in the right circle for a blistering top-shelf shot.

Blake picked up the fourth goal of the night after Hall forced a turnover and sped down ice for a shot, with Blake following up on the rebound.

Robinson’s goal was all about pure speed, and alertness by forward Will Carrier, who flipped a pass from the end boards in the Canes zone down the ice. Robinson chased after it and beat Dobes through the pads on a shot the goalie would like to have back.

By the middle of the second period, and the score 4-0, Canes fans began a “Ole! Ole!” chant — a staple at the Bell Centre in Montreal by the Habs faithful. It was a salt-in-the-wound kind of thing, some playful taunting from a Lenovo Center crowd thoroughly enjoying itself.

The Hurricanes swept the Ottawa Senators in the opening round, a series that began with captain Jordan Staal dropping the gloves with Sens captain Brady Tkachuk and getting the better of it.

Next came the Philadelphia Flyers, and that was a four-game sweep. Each series began with a shutout in net from Andersen and the two sweeps resulted in a break of 11 days before the conference final began.

The Montreal Canadiens fell in five. Only the Vegas Golden Knights remain in the way.