It’s a must-win for the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night at Lenovo Center.
Puck drop at 8 p.m. (CBC, Sportsnet, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690, 98.5 FM).
The Hurricanes lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can eliminate the Canadiens with a win.
Here are the keys to tonight’s game:
Montreal’s backs are against the wall, but they have recent experience coming back from being down 3-1. They did it against the Maple Leafs in Round 1 of the 2021 playoffs.
Defenceman Kaiden Guhle will play tonight’s game after injuring his knee in Game 4.
The Canadiens enter tonight having lost three straight to the Canes, including twice at the Bell Centre, where they are 2-6 in these playoffs. Montreal’s only win this series came at Lenovo Center.
After getting 25 shots in Games 2 and 3, the Habs didn’t fare much better in Game 4 with 18 shots on Frederik Andersen. Even the Bell Centre crowd got on them about being too selective.
Stay tuned to this page for updates and game highlights throughout the evening. You can also keep the conversation going over on our livestream on the Hockey Inside Out YouTube channel.
First Period: Canadiens collapse
Eric Robinson beat Mike Matheson for the breakaway to add to Carolina’s lead. 3-0 Hurricanes
Stankoven was back for more later in the first. The Canadiens went 0-2 on the power play in the period. 2-0 Hurricanes
Carolina opened scoring when Taylor Hall banged home the loose puck. Coach Martin St. Louis challenged that Logan Stankoven interfered with Jakob Dobes but officials deemed it a good goal. 1-0 Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes paid tribute to former Canadiens’ player Claude Lemieux prior to puck drop. Lemieux died on Thursday.