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It was the perfect recipe for success game four Wednesday night. The Canes quieted the crowd in Montreal with three quick goals in the first period over the span of just 2 minutes and 47 seconds. Then the stifling defense led their way for the rest of the game as Carolina won four to nothing to move to just one win away from heading to the Stanley Cup final. We have that next game tonight at 8 Eastern as the Canes would look to finish it off. And it's been a dominating effort from the Canes. When you look at the largest shot on goal differential in the first four games of the series since 1960, Carolina making this graphic right here plus 72.
Certainly outshooting Montreal everywhere you look. Pete Blackburn here with us on the ones and twos this Friday. And Pete, from the goal differential, shot differential to the momentum, it feels like it's completely on the side of the Canes right now as they try to close out the Canadians tonight. When you look at how this series has played out, what reason do you have for Montreal to feel like there's some optimism out there? Uh, there's not a lot, honestly. I think that you have to dig a little deep to find it. Uh I think that what I would say is that over the last three games you can look on one hand the Canadians are averaging 13.1 shots per 60 which is
the lowest threeame total or three-game average since 1955 including regular season and playoffs. So they are obviously not generating nearly enough to be competitive in this series. But two of those three games went to overtime and they lost in overtime, but they were in it. So like that is the optimism here. If you're Montreal, if you're Marty St. Louis, you say, "Listen, we're kind of getting smoked in this series, but two of the three games we gave ourselves a shot to win and we were right there. So if we can improve and we can close the margins and close the gap in terms of the possession game against Carolina, we can get back in this." Whether or not that's true and whether or not there's enough belief in that fact, we'll see.
Yeah, belief an interesting word to use because that's exactly what San Louise said the other day that it starts with belief that they can get this done and come out of that 3-1 hole. The hole though has been created partially in part by some of those Kane stars like Sebastian Ao. When you look at his stats, he's had a goal and an assist so far, but it feels like his presence just looms so much stronger for Carolina than that. What impact has he had on this squad? Yeah, I think that he's done a really good job of driving play and when you talk about like noticeable stars in this lineup, uh he's very near the top of that group. And when you're going up against a Montreal Canadians team that I
think has more elite game-breaking talent at the top, those guys just haven't been visible at all in this series. And so, you know, we're talking about a Carolina Hurricanes team that has been chided and criticized in years past saying they don't have the guys that help push them through and beat elite top tier talent on the other side. Sebastian Aaho has caught a lot of that flak and been a guy that everybody looks at that needs to be better. He has been better in this series and he has been a impact player in helping drive his line and help drive the Kane's offense and their aggressiveness and their 200 foot game and I think the rest of the team all the way down from the top to the bottom is following his lead.
Pete, you know, it's no secret that I am a big Rod Bindore fan. um love the way he coaches them up and you even mentioned a little bit in the history of the Canes of how they've a little bit been criticized for not being able to get it all the way done. What do you think a win tonight would do to change the narrative surrounding Brenda Moore and him as a coach? At the very least, it moves the goalpost for the people that hate the Carolina Hurricanes and criticize the Carolina Hurricanes because right now where the goalpost sits says this team can't get past the Eastern Conference final. And historically, they haven't been able to. But it's very clear at this point in time that they are not
only the best team in the series, but they have been the best team in the Eastern Conference bracket. And so their system works. They're playing their system throughout these the entirety of these playoffs. And the one game that they've lost came on the heels of 12 days of rest, which is an insane amount of rest. And I don't think that they looked anything like what they have shown us to be through the remainder of the playoffs in that one game. So Rod Brennen's system is absolutely working. There is a 100% buy in top to bottom in the lineup. And I think sort of the narrative that's been attached to Rod and his system is that he can't win in the playoffs. this team uh you know runs
out of gas at a certain point down the line. We have not seen that so far. So if they move on to the Stanley Cup final, the goal post at least gets moved and I would certainly give them a real shot to beat the Vegas Golden Knights and hoist the cup. So that narrative should at least be uh coming apart at the seams right now. So 58 wins for Brenda Moore in the playoffs trying to get to 59. Does he get that done tonight? I ask you, does Vegas find out they're playing the Carolina Hurricanes or do the Canadians force a game six? Who wins? Yeah, I really do think that the series is over, but I don't know if it comes tonight because I think that getting the fourth win is the hardest in a playoff series, especially when
you're in a situation that you haven't been before. Like the Carolina Hurricanes have not been in this situation where they're one win away from the Stanley Cup final. and that group that might be an overwhelming pressure. And there's also part of me that does believe in the bounceback ability of the Montreal Canadians and their ability to keep it close even if the game doesn't really fully go their way. So, I can see a situation where Montreal wins tonight, but I don't really see a situation where they come all the way back in this series and upset Carolina. Pete Blackburn, thank you so much. We'll look forward to seeing what happens tonight on the ice and how that sets up for the Stanley Cup final coming up here
in the future. One more look as we look at that game five tonight in Raleigh, North Carolina between the Canadians and the Hurricanes. Carolina 9 and0 all time when leading 3-1 in a best of seven series. Can they make it 100? Montreal 7 and three though on the road this postseason. Welcome back into HQ. It's a good thing Montreal got game one because since then it has been all Carolina. Three straight wins set up an elimination game five for the Canadians on the road in enemy territory. Ouch. It's going to be tough but not impossible. We welcome in Todd Ferman here to help get us ready to go. Uh the game one loss I mentioned has been the only loss Carol Carolina has suffered in this postseason. This team is on a mission to
get back to its first Stanley Cup final in two decades. One win away. Todd, what have they shown you that has you believing they'll get there? This is the Carolina team that we have seen for the last couple of years. Fortunately for the Hurricanes this year, Emily, they didn't have the distinction of running through the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals. And as a result, we're seeing Carolina at their absolute best. And you mentioned that game one appearance against the Montreal Canadians that feels like an anomaly more than anything else. something we can attribute to Carolina having one of
the longest layoffs between series that we've seen in over a century. This is a Canes team that runs line after line. They want to wear you down with depth. They're getting contributions throughout the lineup. We're starting to see all three blue line pairings that Rod Bindmore is rolling out performing at a high level. And what appeared to be a little bit of a struggle from Jacob Slavven and Keandre Miller in game one is now officially an afterthought. When you dig into some of these underlying metrics, they're absolutely staggering. At five on five so far this series, the first four games, Carolina has generated
69% of the expected goal volume. That's up from 60% at five on five throughout the duration of the playoffs. And it just feels like a formality that they're going to dispatch the Canadians. The question becomes, does it happen tonight in Raleigh or does the series have to shift back to the Bell Center for Carolina to finish this thing off in six? Yeah. On the other side, Montreal fighting for their season, but a big reason that they find themselves here in this 3-1 hole is just 43 shots in the past three games. How do they create more tonight to try to win this game? Last I checked, it's tough to win hockey games when you're not getting pucks on net. And this is the perfect embodiment
of what has gone wrong for Montreal. And we can even go one step further when you look at the high danger chances created over the last three games. 52 for the Carolina Hurricanes and 18 for Montreal. The Canadians have struggled to get the puck out of their own end. Those stretch passes that pay dividends leading oddman rushes in game one feels like it happened a decade ago at this current juncture. And while we knew coming into the series that Carolina was going to dominate the shot volume just by the nature of how they play compared to Montreal's philosophy that it's a lot more quality over quantity, I don't think anybody anticipated that the shot
totals would be this low, a historic low by NHL standards. Montreal needs to find a way to get more pucks on Freddy Anderson. They have to get to those greasy areas in front and hope for the first time in a while that they can play with a lead. So Carolina has to abandon some of their defensive structure. But for the Canadians to be successful, it just can't come from that top line of Cole Cfield, Nick Suzuki, and Uricovski. Part of what made them so successful in upsets against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres before was that they were getting guys further down the lineup from the bottom nine forward group to be able to generate offensive
chances. Those have dried up. We'll see if they can reverse that trend tonight and prolong their stay in the NHL's postseason. Yeah, you didn't need to make Freddy Anderson look any better than he already has looked. So, getting some shots on goal will certainly help there. Uh well Todd, you know the Habs will be playing with a heavy heart after the passing of the uh franchise legend Claude Lemieux. He died yesterday at the age of 60. He had just served as the torchbearer prior to game three of this Eastern Conference final. He won the cup with Montreal back in 1986.
How does something like this affect the way the Canadians come out in this game? The Canadians have a long storyried NHL history and something like this is a scenario that I don't think anybody anticipated given the fact you mentioned it. He was the torchbearer for Montreal in game three at the Bell Center. An absolutely electric environment and then we learn around the learn about the tragic circumstances around his passing. I think this is going to galvanize the Montreal Canadians on a variety of fronts. And you never want to see strength necessarily out purely inspired because of tragedy. Uh but it's again a proud franchise that I believe is going
to treat this as an opportunity to play for Claude Demu, one of the most decorated postseason scorers. And a little bit of a storyline here. Claude Demu has connections not just to this Canadians franchise, but also to the crease for the Carolina Hurricanes. He's actually the agent for Freddy Anderson. So, you wonder what kind of psychological toll it may take on the Carolina Hurricanes net minder as well. Wow. Yeah. Our thoughts of course go out to everybody in the NHL community. He played with so many different franchises and touch so many lives. Uh Todd, of course, a tough transition to make here, but we got to pick a winner. And by we,
I actually mean you. So, who wins this game five? When you said we, I thought I was going to be able to pass the buck, Emily, and put your feet to the fire in terms of picking a game five winner. Uh, I'm going to take the lowhanging fruit and think that Carolina finds a way to close out Montreal tonight. I'm not sure it's necessarily going to be easy uh by any stretch. And when you look at the current price in the betting market of minus 245 with our friends at FanDuel, an implied probability north of 70%. I can't get there. So, this isn't an endorsement of a wager on the Carolina Hurricanes in this spot. knowing how much this price has run from where they opened in game four as a minus$135
favorite. Uh they closed right around minus $155. But this is oddsmakers forcing you to pay that tax. We know as cliche as it sounds, the toughest game to win in a series isn't a closeout scenario. I think Carolina finds a way, but Montreal is going to claw, scratch, and do everything they can to prolong this. But Carolina just too deep, too talented, and playing at a high level right now that I think will be tough for Montreal to combat. Okay, Montreal though pretty good on the road this postseason. Seven and three, just two and six at home. So maybe it's better for them away from home ice. So if you don't encourage necessarily uh betting on the spread here, what's your best bet for tonight?
So this is going to be a contrarian approach. I said I think Carolina wins the game, but I think you get Montreal's absolute best in the first 20 minutes. And at a price tag on the money line right around plus $160, I feel that's a value proposition that's too good to pass up. The price though that I really like, Emily, maybe too rich for some folks out there, is actually back in the Canadians plus a half a goal in the first period. I'm willing to lay minus a$150 to do so. You look at this Carolina team and it's not like they were runaway freight training and closeout situations already this postseason when they had to go to the Bell Center and take care of the Ottawa Senators in round one. They needed 60
plus minutes of hockey to close out the Philadelphia Flyers. Now, both of those series were on the road in closeout situations, but I think Carolina may come in a touch complacent early and look for Montreal to throw a few haymakers riding some of that emotion as they try and play uh in response to the unfortunate passing of Claude Demu as
