RALEIGH, N.C. — For a trio of players who task themselves with putting the Montreal Canadiens on their backs, the load must feel that much lighter Friday.
Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky feasted in a 6-2 Game 1 win Thursday over the Carolina Hurricanes after a playoff-long famine at five-on-five. They combined for six points at five-on-five after only connecting for five through the first 14 games of this post-season, and the relief was palpable afterwards.
“I think it’s really good for our confidence,” said Slafkovsky, who had two goals and an assist in the game. “I would say we haven’t been the best in these playoffs five-on-five, but that’s why the hockey team has 20 guys. Because if you’re not at your best, someone else is probably doing really good as well. We help each other out, and I’m happy the way we played today. We’ve just gotta keep it going or do it better.”
Perhaps no other factor would give the Canadiens a better chance of advancing to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2021, especially if their depth continues to roll to the level it has through these playoffs.
With confidence bolstered, and with the seal finally popped, we wouldn’t bet against Montreal’s top line continuing to click at five-on-five.
Of course, the Hurricanes will have a say in that.
“I think they all played well,” said Taylor Hall on Friday. “Their top line was good. And in the first two rounds, they didn’t have as much offence as they did last night. You think that’s probably on us a little bit. Just forcing them to defend, I think if those guys are in the offensive zone with the puck on their stick, they’re going to do good things and they’re going to be feel good about themselves, but if we put them on their heels and make them defend more than we did last night, I think it's a different story.”
Perhaps.
But Suzuki produced 63 of his 101 points this season at five-on-five, while 40 of Slafkovsky’s 73 points and 39 of Caufield’s 51 goals were scored at five-on-five, and they spent plenty of time being forced to defend. They have a much larger sample of success over that stretch than the limited one of these playoffs so far.
Still, the trio combined for 24 points on the power play against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres through the first two rounds and, saddled with the toughest matchups of these playoffs, they struggled to generate at anywhere near the clip as they were accustomed to at five-on-five.
It’s not as if they were playing badly.
“They’ve defended hard,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis prior to Game 1 in at Lenovo Center. “They’ve had some really hard matchups — not just forwards, but defencemen too. The last series, very active D-men they had to defend. Maybe it’s harder to measure that, but I’m proud of the way they’ve handled that pressure, so to speak, of high expectations. I’m confident, and I know that these guys are doing everything they can to get better results at five-on-five. I don’t think they’re doing it at the price of not defending hard.”
To start this series, scoring without sacrificing strong defensive play took massive weight off Suzuki, Slafkovsky and Caufield’s shoulders.
They connected 27 seconds into their first shift of Game 1 — with Caufield responding to Seth Jarvis’ opening goal on Carolina’s first shot — and then again on the goal Slafkovsky scored to make it 5-2 in the eighth minute of the third period. All three players were in on both goals, and then Suzuki assisted on Slafkovsky’s empty-netter with 2:28 to go.
It’s what they hoped for before the series started.
“I think all three of us can do a better job, but it’s definitely exciting for our group, where we haven’t been producing where we usually are, that guys have stepped up and helped us out,” said Suzuki on Wednesday. “We’ve got to return the favour and play a little better.”
To go out and immediately do it provided a feeling he and his linemates haven’t had enough of since the playoffs began.
They’ve been facing questions about their scoring woes for weeks, but the tone of those questions has now suddenly shifted.
“I’m sure those two guys, too, will be happy about it,” said Suzuki of Caufield and Slafkovsky. “We knew we had to be better, and it’s a good response from us.”
The Canadiens needed it.
But Slafkovsky, Caufield and Suzuki needed it most.
“We were good,” Suzuki said. “I think Slaf and Cole are using their speed, making their plays, thought we defended pretty well and we were able to transition on them quickly. Nice to see us get going in the first game, and hopefully we can keep doing that.”
Hurricanes need more from their best players
For a player widely considered the best defensive defenceman in the world, Jaccob Slavin had a disastrous Game 1.
“Personally, I think I handed them the game,” he said after going minus-3 in the first period and finishing the game minus-4.
Even if Hall said Friday that all the Hurricanes were bad, perhaps none of them will be more motivated to be at their best than Slavin, who’s been a pillar of consistency since stepping into the NHL in 2015.
Thursday’s game was completely out of character for the 32-year-old.
“I've never seen that (in) eight years," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour after the loss. “It happens. 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.”
That feels like a given to the Hurricanes ahead of Game 2.
“I think anybody, any player, any athlete, whether you have a good game or not, you’ve got to move forward and play that next game as best as you can,” said Slavin’s defence partner, Jalen Chatfield. “I’ve talked to him, and he’s going to be ready to go next game and he’s going to play at the elite level that we know he always does…”
Hall, who led the Hurricanes in scoring through the first two rounds with nine points in eight games, said he and linemates Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven expect much more of themselves. They were held in check on Thursday and finished the night a combined minus-8.
Hall also said the Hurricanes must all be better, and he added they must get to their identity and their style of play much more to bring the series back to Montreal tied.
“The second period was how we play, and we call it the stress game where we’re playing in the other team’s end (and) they’re icing pucks, their sticks are breaking, multiple guys on the ice are just doing whatever they can to save goals, and we get momentum off that,” he said. “Our crowd feeds off it. It’s the way we play… Getting to our game is our focus (Saturday).”
