Canadiens’ Struggles Against Hurricanes Reminiscent of 2021 Final

After staving off elimination against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final with an overtime victory at the Bell Centre, the Montreal Canadiens headed back south for what would end up a deciding shutout loss. Despite the lopsided 4-1 series defeat, Game 5 was the closest loss the Habs sustained that series. And there were other undeniable positive takeaways for a franchise that had just won its first Final game in almost 30 years, at least at the time. Knowing what everyone does now though, that stars Carey Price and Shea Weber would soon retire, those positives ring hollow in retrospect.

Canadiens Facing Clearly Superior Opponent in Canes

That Game 5 represented a 1-0 single-goal defeat, meaning the Canadiens at least kept it close. Regardless, their inability to find their offense was arguably representative of a team that just didn’t have any fight left, after having fought tooth and nail for three rounds beforehand, before facing a clearly superior opponent that could best them in just about every facet of the game.

Five years later, the Canadiens’ offensive struggles against the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2026 Eastern Conference Final are eerily reminiscent of how much gas they had run out of then. They may have exploded for six goals in a Game 1 victory. Since then, after having caught the Canes flat-footed after nearly two weeks off between series that one game, they’ve been outshot 109-43 in three straight defeats to fall behind 3-1 and find themselves on the cusp of elimination.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?

Of course, two of those losses came in overtime, and, with any reasonable amount of luck, things would at least be tied 2-2 right now. Granted, with only a single shot on their part in both overtimes (combined), luck rarely even had an opportunity to enter the equation, even if Nick Suzuki had the game on his stick early in the extra frame in Game 3 on a breakaway (only to obviously miss). The Canadiens may not be lucky to be in the Eastern Conference Final. They deserve their spot, but it would take a miracle for them to come back under these circumstances, based on how much the Hurricanes have outplayed them, and that’s just an objective assessment of their play.

Even so, there are clear differences and differences for the better between the two series in question, to be clear. Sure, assuming the Canadiens fail to move past the Hurricanes, they’ll have failed to go as far as they did in 2021. However, the Habs were the youngest team in the NHL to start 2025-26 and were never realistically expected to get this far. While few if any may have expected the 2021 edition of the team to go far either, context is key. That team had been on paper the best one since the 1993 Stanley Cup-winning squad only to fade down the stretch and sneak into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. It was a team then-general manager Marc Bergevin seemed to put together, adding offseason acquisitions like Josh Anderson, Joel Edmundson, Corey Perry and Tyler Toffoli, to accelerate a “reset” after they had unexpectedly reached the postseason the previous spring thanks to a play-in round that served as the centrepiece of the NHL’s return-to-play plan after the pandemic had suddenly brought things to a halt.

Canadiens on Clearer Path to Contention

Taking into account the departures of Price and Weber, it turned out to be a one-off rather than a viable attempt to build towards anything sustainably successful. And to a degree it was always fairly clear the Western Conference-champion Canadiens would have issues returning to the playoffs the following season once the NHL realigned its divisions. This time around, there’s a clearer path to continued contention.

Regardless of baseless suggestions the Canadiens didn’t deserve to beat the favoured Lightning or Buffalo Sabres in the first two rounds this spring, those are teams they played fairly evenly during the regular season and over their respective seven-game series. With exception to their drop-off in play the last few games, the Habs continue to get better with each passing day. Their window should just be opening, whereas those of the Atlantic Division-rival Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs (and maybe even the non-playoff but admittedly injury-stricken Florida Panthers) seem to be closing.

Maybe that’s unfair to the Lightning who still earned 106 points this past regular season. However, when in the lineup, star-defenseman Victor Hedman, now 35, was a shadow of his past self, while 33-year-old Hart Memorial Trophy-candidate Nikita Kucherov up front has a single year left under contract. With a fairly barren farm system, their recent back-to-back Stanley Cups notwithstanding, the Lightning should be envious of the Canadiens who also finished with the same 106 points, as they have far more long-term infrastructure in place.

All that to say, the Lightning are no longer in the same conversation as a team like the Hurricanes. The Canadiens don’t seem to be yet, but, after winning five straight over them, including Game 1, dating back to the final game of the 2024-25 regular season, it seems foolish to suggest they won’t be soon… or count them out entirely in Game 5 on Friday night. Through that lens, winning the three straight, after sweeping the three-game regular-season series, required to move on here seems far less of a Herculean task.

That’s another big difference. In 2021, the Canadiens faced having to win four straight against the reigning-Stanley Cup-champion Lightning after falling behind 3-0 in the Final. That just seemed impossible. Having to win three straight against the Hurricanes, who have a history of choking in these situations, seems at least somewhat-manageable. And, hey, the Habs have at least pulled off the feat a few times in the recent past, most recently in 2021 in the first round, as well.

It Was 3-1!

Remember, it was 3-1. Their opponents back then also had a long history of choking in those situations. It all fits.

The Canadiens can do this. Whether or not they’ve actually got this… that remains to be seen. If they don’t, it’s just the end of one unexpectedly long playoff run of potentially many to come.

Some perspective is in order. The Canadiens have come a long way since falling to last place in 2022. If these last few games are any indication, they still have further to go. However, for a team like the Hurricanes, who reached Round 3 in 2019 after nine years without playoff hockey, and failed to gain much traction then or after two more kicks at the can before this one, this seems like the culmination of their eight subsequent years under head coach Rod Brind’Amour. Good on them. However, them needing three tries just to win a single game at this stage (2025) is further proof the Habs are ahead of schedule.

… And, just like Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis has said after each series victory so far, they’re not done yet. They’ve got one more game left (at least).