Carolina smothered Montreal in a dominant Game 4 shutout, stifling the Habs' offense while erupting for three goals in three minutes to push within reach of the final.
The series isn't over yet by any means, but the way they Carolina Hurricanes handled the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final certainly makes it seem like it already may be.
The Hurricanes stomped the Canadiens in a 4-0 beatdown at Centre Bell on Wednesday in one of their more complete games of the postseason.
From the drop of the puck to the end, Carolina was far and away the better team.
They piled on the chances, outshooting the Canadiens 43-18 overall, and that was bookended by a hot start and a dominant finish.
The Hurricanes didn't allow a shot on goal through the first eight minutes of the game and then in the final period, they outshot the Habs 19-3.
Despite the Canadiens needing their best possible push in that third period, they didn't manage to put any rubber on Frederik Andersen until the final three minutes of the game, a testament to the Canes' defensive clinic.
The game looked much like the last two, where the Hurricanes held Montreal to 12 and 13 shots respectively, but the difference tonight is that they finally found a little more finish.
Carolina blew the game open midway through the first period, putting three past Jakub Dobes in less than three minutes.
Sebastian Aho got the party started with the team's first power play goal of the series, rifling home a Nikolaj Ehlers feed.
Just over a minute later, the Canes' third line got the cycle going and after a long o-zone shift, K'Andre Miller activated down from the blueline and fed a perfect pass to Jordan Staal in front.
And then a minute and a half later, Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven were sprung on a 2-on-1 thanks to a monster Shayne Gostisbehere block and the former fed the latter for his team leading eighth goal of the playoffs.
From there, the Hurricanes just put the pressure on the Canadiens and even though the Habs had a few pushes, Andersen was there, stopping all 18 shots he faced for his third shutout of the postseason (Andrei Svechnikov scored an empty netter at the end too).
Again, the series isn't over by any means, but it's hard to see the Canadiens finding a way from here.
Outside of Carolina's disastrous Game 1 start, where they gave up four goals in the opening 14 minutes following 11 straight days off, there really hasn't been any portion of games where you can say Montreal was better.
Yes, they've gotten strong goaltending and they've certainly been opportunistic with their chances, but that's not a sustainable method.
Carolina has been better in every matchup, their defense has been dominant on both ends of the ice, they're more physical, they're quicker to pucks, they're more decisive.
I mean, the Hurricanes had as many shots on Wednesday as the Canadiens have had combined over the last three games, even despite playing at home and being able to dictate their matchups in the last two.
The Hurricanes are a machine and the Habs so far just don't have an answer.
That's been the story of the playoffs so far, as Carolina handled the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in back-to-back sweeps and now they sit just one win away from the Stanley Cup Final.
It's been a long road to get to this point, but the job is certainly not done.
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