MONTREAL — The Carolina Hurricanes spoiled the Montreal Canadiens' home opener with a 6-4 victory in Montreal on Tuesday, sealing the result when Andrei Svechnikov slid the puck into an empty net with 1:15 remaining in the third period. Don't be fooled by the scoreline; Carolina controlled the game in every other department, a familiar frustration after the Hurricanes demoralized the Canadiens in four games in last spring's Eastern Conference Final before beating the Vegas Golden Knights for the Stanley Cup.
Montreal is now 1-1-1 with 81 games to go after a shortened training camp, but effort was the only thing that should truly concern the Canadiens. Zachary Bolduc scored twice while Cole Caufield was held to one shot, and the disparity was gaping on defense between Alex Carrier and Noah Dobson. Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi practically gave Montreal the three goals it scored in the opening 20 minutes, but Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes was just as fallible and Dobson had four giveaways. “Carolina will make you feel bad on the ice,” said Phillip Danault.
“They’re just one step ahead, and their collective effort is so solid,” Danault said. Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said Carrier “won’t throw garbage to his teammates” and added, “He’ll own pucks, he’ll eat pucks,” noting, “Especially in the second period, there’s at least a couple plays I want back.” St. Louis was blunt about the turnovers: “You can’t turn pucks over against that team. You’ve got to keep the puck on the move, go get it. Maybe you get first touch. Maybe you don’t, you forecheck. You can’t get cute through the neutral zone with them. They reload fast. They stand. It’s a well-oiled machine. Too many turnovers for sure.”
Danault, Bolduc and linemate Alex Texier did their part, and Carrier played hard and fearlessly after getting knocked out of the previous game by an awkward hit that saw him slam his head and neck into the boards. But everyone else — from Slafkovsky to Caufield, and from Dobson to Dobes — didn’t have it. “I feel like you can tell: Carolina’s compete level is probably the best in the league, and there’s still a gap there we’re trying to (close),” St. Louis said. “In certain parts of the game, we look like we have that, and it’s a team that’s going to challenge you a little bit, but consistently, throughout the game, we didn’t have it enough. And I think it’s (the same for) anyone who plays Carolina; you have to have a high compete level.”