Hurricanes One Win From Dethroning Montreal, Returning to the Cup Final

Can the past finally rest?

The Carolina Hurricanes dismantled Montreal in Game 4. And now the Canadiens face elimination Friday at Lenovo Center with everything on the line. Carolina leads the series and can close it out and reach their first Stanley Cup Final in many years.

When this same franchise, with Rod Brind'Amour as captain, won it all.

That connection is impossible to ignore.

Brind'Amour was the heart of that championship team, the guy who lifted the Cup over his head in Raleigh. Now he's the guy drawing up the game plans that have Montreal looking absolutely lost. The Hurricanes have an impressive record this postseason and are undefeated on the road. They have outshot their opponents significantly over the last few games. Montreal set an NHL record for fewest shots over a three-game span in a playoff series. That's not hockey. That's a dissection.

The Staal Family Divided By a Rivalry

Here's the part that cuts deepest if you're a Canadiens fan.

Jordan Staal scored early in the first period.

And he celebrated like it meant something. Because it does. His brother Marc plays for Montreal. They grew up in Thunder Bay pulling for the same team, dreaming about the same moments. Now one of them is one win from the Stanley Cup Final and the other is heading home.

Sebastian Aho added a power-play goal, surpassing a franchise record for playoff power-play goals. Think about that. One of the best players to ever wear a Hurricanes sweater has been surpassed in a Carolina uniform, in the playoffs, against Montreal. The kid from Finland keeps getting better and nobody seems to notice.

Andersen Is Standing On the Throat of This Series

Frederik Andersen made a number of saves for his career playoff shutout with Carolina. That breaks a franchise record. The kid who came out of nowhere to win the Conn Smythe has now passed him in the record books. And here's the kicker: he has multiple shutouts in this postseason alone.

That's a franchise record for a single playoff year.

Andersen has an impressive record with statistics through his starts. He became just one of a few goalies in NHL history to win his first several road games to start a postseason. That's not a hot streak.

That's a legacy forming in real time.

The shot totals tell the whole story.

Carolina fired a significant number of shots at Montreal. Montreal managed far fewer. In the third period alone, the shot differential was stark. The Canadiens were desperate to generate anything and Carolina just smothered them. When your goaltending is this good and your team is this committed to shot suppression, you're almost impossible to beat in a seven-game series.

What Happens Friday Night

Carolina can end this at home. The crowd will be loud. The ice will be fast.

And for the first time in many years, the Hurricanes can clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.

But there's a wrinkle nobody's talking about.

Waiting in the West are the Vegas Golden Knights, who swept their last opponent. The top seed in the entire NHL. Vegas didn't just beat them. They rolled through them like their opponent wasn't even in the same league. So whoever comes out of the East has their hands full.

Still, you have to appreciate what Brind'Amour has built here. He took over a team that hadn't been to a Final since he was wearing a different jersey. He turned a group that looked shaky in Game 1 — when Montreal put several past them — into a machine that hasn't lost since. The Hurricanes responded to that loss with several straight wins by a combined score.

That's not a team riding luck.

That's a team that knows exactly who they are.

Game 5. Friday. Lenovo Center. One win from the final.

The past is circling.

Carolina looks ready to put it to bed.