{"id":696790,"date":"2026-05-27T00:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T00:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696790\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T00:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T00:51:11","slug":"montreal-canadiens-martin-st-louis-says-were-not-dead-as-carolina-hurricanes-grab-momentum-of-eastern-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696790\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Canadiens\u2019 Martin St. Louis says \u2018we\u2019re not dead\u2019 as Carolina Hurricanes grab momentum of Eastern final"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 Martin St. Louis is well aware the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> have seized control of the Eastern Conference final.<\/p>\n

After two straight suffocating losses against Carolina\u2019s methodical, unrelenting forecheck, the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> head coach also knows his group is far from finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re behind, but we\u2019re not dead,\u201d St. Louis said in French on Tuesday. \u201cWe continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montreal trails in a series for just the second time this post-season heading into Game 4 on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre, where the Canadiens will try to avoid a daunting 3-1 deficit against their experienced, playoff-tested opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have all the tools. We can play in possession, we can go forecheck,\u201d St. Louis said. \u201cWe\u2019ve shown great maturity throughout the season. We\u2019re playing a very mature team. I don\u2019t know if we can match that maturity, but I think we need to elevate ours a little bit, and I feel we have all the tools.\u201d<\/p>\n

One area the Canadiens must improve? Generating offence.<\/p>\n

Rookie goalie Jakub Dobes<\/a> has bailed Montreal out time and time again during an inspiring run this spring. And while clutch saves are essential to winning in the playoffs, so is producing more than a dozen shots on goal, even if the Canadiens have sometimes proven otherwise.<\/p>\n

Montreal mustered just 12 shots in Saturday\u2019s overtime loss in Carolina, followed by 13 over 74 minutes in another 3-2 extra-time defeat Monday night at home.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the Hurricanes\u2019 volume-heavy approach, the Canadiens have valued quality over quantity all season, boasting the NHL\u2019s best shooting percentage. But even they admit something has to give.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to find a way to get to the net more,\u201d forward Joe Veleno said. \u201cThey\u2019re a team that sometimes feels like they have six players on the ice, but we have to find a way to win more one-on-one battles and get to the net more and create chances on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A big reason the Canadiens can\u2019t generate shots is because they\u2019re spending so much time pinned in their own zone, unable to break Carolina\u2019s pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find ways to execute better and work together to get the puck out,\u201d defenceman Alexandre Carrier<\/a> said. \u201cWe\u2019re not clean on the breakout, then we spend some time in our (defensive) zone, and then it\u2019s like a \u2018boule-de-neige\u2019 (snowball) effect that we can\u2019t forecheck after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes have brought the hits, totalling 127 to Montreal\u2019s 65 through three games, despite also appearing to dominate puck possession.<\/p>\n

Their biggest target? Lane Hutson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall<\/a> caught a piece of Montreal\u2019s \u201cmost important player\u201d in Game 2, while Jordan Martinook<\/a> and William Carrier<\/a> also took runs at the talented five-foot-nine defenceman on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a staple of our game,\u201d said Hurricanes blueliner Shayne Gostisbehere<\/a>. \u201cTheir skill guys, you want to get a piece of them any chance you get, don\u2019t let them get up the ice. When you\u2019re doing that all game, it gets annoying.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going to want to get up the ice when you\u2019re getting hit every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

William Carrier<\/a> crushed Hutson with a high hit near the end boards late in overtime, moments before the American sophomore\u2019s turnover led to Andrei Svechnikov<\/a>\u2019s winner. Hutson, who\u2019d scored a dazzling power-play goal in the second period, blamed himself for the loss in harsh post-game comments, but his teammates are \u201cnot concerned at all\u201d that he\u2019ll respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know Lane\u2019s a gamer. He wants to (make) a difference in the game,\u201d Alexandre Carrier<\/a> said. \u201cIt happens, you make a mistake and then (it\u2019s in the) back of the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s taking hits to make plays. He\u2019s been one of our best players all series long, so I\u2019m not worried at all for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

BUYING IN<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes have reached the Eastern Conference final four times in eight seasons since Rod Brind\u2019Amour \u2014 also the captain when Carolina won the 2006 Stanley Cup \u2014 took over as head coach.<\/p>\n

His regimented, non-negotiable style of play is a big reason why.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoddy showed me that if I want to stay on the team, stay in the lineup, that I had to adapt to that way pretty quickly,\u201d said winger Seth Jarvis<\/a>, who broke into the NHL with Carolina in 2021-22. \u201cOur whole lineup does it and it\u2019s not just a few guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what makes it so easy for guys to come in and play that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOLVING DOBES<\/p>\n

Hall scored late in the first period Monday by jamming a puck past Dobes, but gave the rookie netminder his due after peppering him with seven shots in a game Dobes nearly stole for the Canadiens.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s big, he seals the whole bottom half of the net,\u201d Hall said. \u201cHe battles for a big guy like that. He\u2019s never too far out of his net because he\u2019s so big.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we got three on him (Monday), so we\u2019ll take that going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 Martin St. Louis is well aware the Carolina Hurricanes have seized control of the Eastern Conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-696790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}