MONTREAL \u2014 It was an ominous statement from Joe Veleno, though it wasn\u2019t meant to be.<\/p>\n
When the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> forward said \u2014 just one day after Game 3 of this Eastern Conference Final \u2014 that the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> were applying so much pressure that it felt at times like they had six players on the ice, he was just trying to credit his opponents. There was no way of knowing to what extent he was also providing a window into his team\u2019s psyche.<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t pick up on it in the moment, either.<\/p>\n But the first 20 minutes of Game 4 revealed the damage done over the Canadiens’ first consecutive losses in these playoffs. They expected so much pressure that they buckled even when they weren\u2019t under it, ultimately feeding the Hurricanes 10 scoring chances off turnovers and spotting them a 3-0 lead through the first period.<\/p>\n \u201cNot an easy team to play catch-up hockey against,\u201d said Martin St. Louis after his Canadiens lost 4-0 to go down 3-1 in the series, extending their inexplicably bad post-season record at the Bell Centre to 2-6.<\/p>\n He made changes in the second period that he probably should\u2019ve opted for in the first, and they led to more scoring chances.<\/p>\n But those disappeared in a third period that saw the Canadiens fumble in every zone before finally notching their first shot with 2:53 to go.<\/p>\n Fans chanted \u201cshoot the puck\u201d four minutes prior to that, with the Canadiens sitting on 15 after notching just 25 over their last two games combined.<\/p>\n But the home team couldn\u2019t oblige without first connecting as many as two passes in a row, and they had a hard time doing that from start to finish.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we had players with the most space with the puck and we don\u2019t skate enough, we pass it to a player with no space,\u201d said St. Louis. \u201cSo, you kind of play into their pressure, and it\u2019s a little bit of that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just recognizing that, (with) the way they play, the guy with the most ice in space should take the ice, and we\u2019re not playing fast enough when we have the puck with our feet. We\u2019re not playing fast enough off the puck so we can kind of bypass the pressure, and they\u2019ve got really, really good sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hurricanes have wielded them expertly to inflict a physical and mental toll the Canadiens might not be able to overcome.<\/p>\n The collateral damage of two seven-game series has also unquestionably bubbled to the surface for them. Especially against a Hurricanes team that swept the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers through the first two rounds to earn an 11-day break \u2014 most of which was enjoyed while the Canadiens were still emptying the tank against the Buffalo Sabres.<\/p>\n \u201cFor sure (the rest) helps their style of game,\u201d said St. Louis, and that resonated, if only because their style of game \u2014 200-foot, man-on-man, high-pressure hockey \u2014 has been seen as impossible to sustain over an entire regular season plus playoffs.<\/p>\n Hence the Hurricanes losing 12 of 13 conference final games under coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour prior to this year.<\/p>\n But the Hurricanes never had an 11-day break prior to this year, nor a lead in a conference final in their current era of success, and there\u2019s almost surely a direct correlation between those facts when you consider how convincingly the Hurricanes have beaten the Canadiens since losing 6-2 in Game 1.<\/p>\n In the process, they haven\u2019t just exhausted an already-tired team; they\u2019ve done the type of psychological damage that most will see as impossible to overcome.<\/p>\n So, how do the Canadiens repair it on time to prove most people wrong and at least bring this series back to Bell Centre for a chance to force Game 7?<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve gotta be mentally strong. You\u2019ve got to believe,\u201d said St. Louis. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to believe that you can actually do it. To me, I don\u2019t doubt that I believe that we can do it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Newhook said, \u201cThey make it hard on you to make plays and they try to collapse your space, but we have the skill and we have the team to be able to make plays through that,\u201d making it clear he also still believes.<\/p>\n