The Carolina Hurricanes went 12-1 through three rounds to advance to the Stanley Cup final, where they'll face the Vegas Golden Knights. They beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 in Game 5.
The Carolina Hurricanes may have lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final, but they went on to win four straight for the third series in a row.
Carolina beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Friday to become Eastern Conference champions and advance to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 20 years. They'll face the Vegas Golden Knights in the final round.
Coach Rod Brind'Amour was the captain when the Hurricanes last made the Cup final in 2006. He made sure nobody touched the Prince of Wales Trophy after they won Game 7 of the East final against the Buffalo Sabres. Four years earlier, then-captain Ron Francis did touch the trophy, and the Hurricanes lost the Cup final to the Detroit Red Wings in five games.
Carolina ended up beating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games to win the Cup in 2006.
Current captain Jordan Staal followed Brind'Amour's lead two decades later and did not touch the Prince of Wales Trophy either.
Staal's decision means neither team advancing to this year's final touched the conference champions' trophies. Vegas kept its hands off the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after sweeping the Colorado Avalanche.
Choosing whether or not to touch the trophy is a matter of superstition. The last three Stanley Cup champions did not touch the conference championship trophy, but the previous three did.
Rest, Not Rust For Hurricanes
The Hurricanes had 11 days of rest between the second and third rounds, which ignited a rest-versus-rust debate. Three teams had at least 10 days of rest between series before the Canes in NHL history; two of them lost the next round, and the 1919 Canadiens' Cup final ended without a winner because of the pandemic.
Carolina was given a scare in Game 1, as the Canadiens won 6-2. Games 2 and 3 could have gone either way as well, with the Hurricanes winning both in overtime.
But the Hurricanes ultimately succeeded with their relentlessly aggressive play in the defensive zone. They limited the Canadiens to five goals and an average of 16.8 shots in Games 2 through 5.
In Game 5, Taylor Hall opened the scoring just over nine minutes into the first period, and Logan Stankoven scored his ninth of the playoffs about six minutes later. Eric Robinson made it 3-0 Carolina before the end of the opening frame.
Jackson Blake and Shayne Gostisbehere grew the lead in the second period. Cole Caufield helped the Canadiens avoid a second straight shutout loss by scoring in the third period, but Seth Jarvis potted an empty-netter.
The Hurricanes swept the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in the first two rounds, and they dropped just one game to Montreal, giving them a 12-1 record heading into their next series against the Golden Knights. They're the first NHL team since 1987, when all four rounds went best-of-seven, to make the final with fewer than two losses.
The Canes only have three days of rest between Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final on Tuesday.
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