Defender Jaccob Slavin acknowledged his poor performance after Carolina Hurricanes suffered a 6-2 defeat to Montreal Canadiens in Jogo 1 of the Conferência Leste finals, on Thursday in Raleigh, in Carolina of Norte. Considerado One of the best defenders in the NHL, Slavin spent the entire time on the field for three of the four goals scored by Canadiens in the first period and was present for one more in the third period.
“Personally, I think I gave the game to them. Preciso improve,” said Slavin after the match. The defender’s defensive balance was -4, the worst in his 95 career playoff games. Apenas on another occasion throughout his career in the NHL he had recorded a performance more negative than -3 in a single game.
Primeiro disastrous period marks historic defeat
Os Hurricanes endured a catastrophic first period, allowing four goals, the most conceded by the franchise in a playoff opener. Montreal took advantage of an overly aggressive and inaccurate defense from the home team to build a 4-1 lead before the break. Cole Caufield equalized 27 seconds after Seth Jarvis opened the scoring to Carolina, starting the sequence of failures.
Rod Brind’Amour, coach since 2018, acknowledged the lack of preparation after an 11-day break between playoff rounds, the longest break in the NHL in 107 years. The break was due to the fact that Hurricanes had swept Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 in the previous series. “Clearly, we weren’t ready for that pace. Não I’ll use the break as an excuse, but we weren’t ready to play playoff hockey,” Brind’Amour explained.
Defesa in desperation allows fatal counterattacks
Carolina’s overly aggressive strategy created dangerous gaps that Montreal converted with precision. Phillip Danault took advantage of an error in a pass from Alexandre Carrier, who deflected it onto Slavin, to score the second goal and put Canadiens ahead 2-1. Alexandre Texier extended it to 3-1 with a first-time shot, taking advantage of new exaggerated pressure from Hurricanes.
Ivan Demidov, newcomer to the playoffs, scored his third goal of the tie after K’Andre Miller tried to pressure Alex Newhook, allowing a clean pass for the Russian to score the fourth. Captain Jordan Staal criticized the lack of respect for the opponent’s quality: “We lost the game from the start. Dar gave them so many chances, any team will charge you dearly, especially at this time of year. Eles played very well.”
Recuperação in the second and third periods does not change trajectory
Carolina found their rhythm in the second period with Eric Robinson scoring their first goal of the playoffs after Cole Caufield hit the post. Contudo, Montreal maintained a two-goal lead at the end of the period. In the third half, Juraj Slafkovsky scored his first in five games at 7 minutes 5 seconds, infiltrating Hurricanes’s defense. The winger sealed the victory with an empty net goal.
Frederik Andersen returned to goal in the second period after facing a large offensive volume in the first. Coach Brind’Amour stated that he did not consider the goals the veteran goalkeeper’s fault and that it was beneficial to have him in action after the long rest:
- Andersen made 16 saves in the match
- Enfrentou only 4 goals in the first period — more than the total allowed in entire series against Ottawa and Philadelphia (5 goals each)
- Brind’Amour plans to get him back on a competitive pace
Worrying Histórico and outlook for recovery
Carolina now boasts an 0-7 record in franchise history in Jogo 1 of the conference finals. Os Hurricanes have also accumulated 10 consecutive home defeats at this stage of the playoffs since 2004, the longest negative streak recorded by Stanley Cup. Esta is the fourth time that Brind’Amour has led the team to the conference final, having lost in the penultimate round in the three previous attempts.
Apesar from the uncomfortable scenario, the coach remains optimistic for the sequence. “I think we’ve been through this before. It’s a difficult night. Não we have a lot of nights like this. Precisamos we will recover, for sure. Tenho full faith that we will make it,” he said. Jogo 2 will take place on Saturday night again on Raleigh.
