{"id":705085,"date":"2026-05-30T21:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T21:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/705085\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T21:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T21:52:12","slug":"nhl-world-reacts-as-canadiens-exit-extends-canadas-stanley-cup-drought-to-33-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/705085\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL world reacts as Canadiens\u2019 exit extends Canada\u2019s Stanley Cup drought to 33 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Montreal Canadiens<\/a>\u2018 NHL<\/a> playoff run came to an end Friday night, and with it another year of Canadian Stanley Cup hopes.<\/p>\n

The Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> eliminated Montreal with a decisive 6-1 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final, winning the series 4-1 and advancing to face the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> in the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n

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The result officially extends Canada\u2019s Stanley Cup<\/a> drought to 33 years, with no Canadian-based franchise winning the championship since Montreal captured the Cup in 1993.<\/p>\n

MORE: Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist slams no-interf<\/a>e<\/a>rence ruling against Canadiens<\/a><\/p>\n

The drought soon became a major talking point across social media.<\/p>\n

Barstool Sports posted on X, \u201cFor the 33rd straight year, a team from Canada will not win the Stanley Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon, fans joined the conversation, offering varying perspectives.<\/p>\n

One user responded<\/a>, \u201cThough this is true, the first person to lift the cup on the winning team will be a Canadian.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Another fan argued<\/a> that the narrative resonates more outside Canada, writing, \u201cThe majority of Canadians couldn\u2019t care less about this, and it\u2019s mostly Americans who bring this up for some reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the 33rd straight year.. the cup will spend more days in Canada this summer.. than every other country combined \ud83d\ude09,\u201d one fan mentioned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Others expressed disappointment with no Canadian team remaining.<\/p>\n

One fan wrote<\/a>, \u201cI cancelled my Sportsnet subscription as soon as Montreal lost. I have no interest in either of these teams, and most of Canada prob feeling the same way, just early summer for us Canucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A fan reacted<\/a>, \u201cA Canadian team will never win the cup again in the cap era.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, the Stanley Cup should just apply for permanent residency outside Canada,\u201d one user wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Canadiens showed promise despite Canada\u2019s drought extending\"Montreal<\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens left wing Juraj Slafkovsky (20) skates toward goaltender Jakub Dobes (not pictured) with center Nick Suzuki (14), right wing Cole Caufield (13) at Lenovo Center<\/p>\n

While the national storyline grabbed attention, Montreal\u2019s postseason run deserves significant praise.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens entered the playoffs as one of the league\u2019s youngest teams and exceeded expectations by surviving back-to-back seven-game series against Tampa Bay and Buffalo. However, the grind eventually caught up to them against a rested and structured Carolina team.<\/p>\n

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The Hurricanes exposed the challenge facing young playoff teams. Carolina\u2019s forecheck, defensive layers, and puck management consistently limited Montreal\u2019s speed through the neutral zone. After dropping Game 1, the Hurricanes won four straight and controlled long stretches of play.<\/p>\n

The final score reflected that gap. Taylor Hall<\/a>, Logan Stankoven<\/a> and Eric Robinson<\/a> helped build a 3-0 first-period lead, leaving Montreal chasing the game from the opening frame.<\/p>\n

MORE: Canadiens coach weighs in on \u2018Shoot the Puck\u2019 debate before Game 5<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s drought remains a striking statistic, but it can also overshadow individual team progress. The Canadiens, led by Nick Suzuki<\/a>, Cole Caufield and rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes, established themselves as a legitimate contender moving forward.<\/p>\n

The Stanley Cup will remain outside Canada for another season, yet Montreal\u2019s emergence suggests the country\u2019s next serious challenger may already be in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Montreal Canadiens\u2018 NHL playoff run came to an end Friday night, and with it another year of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,2065,343044,3615,229417,223128,59623,116509,314580,109222,5790,575,202857,85,4787,288874,7529],"class_list":["post-705085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-canada","tag-canadian-team","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-cole-caufield","tag-eric-robinson","tag-henrik-lundqvist","tag-jakub-dobes","tag-juraj-slafkovsky","tag-logan-stankoven","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-nick-suzuki","tag-sports","tag-stanley-cup","tag-taylor-hall","tag-vegas-golden-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705085","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=705085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}