RALEIGH, N.C. — Midway through the second period, the chants began: “Olé, olé olé olé.”

They continued throughout Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, as the Carolina Hurricanes increased their lead from 3-0 to 5-0, and through the closing moments of their 6-1 Stanley Cup Final-clinching win over the Montreal Canadiens.

To the victors go the spoils — and fans at Lenovo Center were more than willing to borrow the trademark chant from the Bell Centre in Montreal, early and often through a game that turned into an extended coronation for the Eastern Conference champs.

The Hurricanes, whose 113 regular-season points led the conference, next face the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights. The series begins June 2 in Raleigh.
Carolina, as so often has been the case during the postseason, was powered by contributions from its second and fourth lines during a three-goal first period. Taylor Hall, the dynamic veteran winger acquired at the 2024 trade deadline, opened the scoring nine minutes, 17 seconds into the game, pushing a rebound past Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobeš. The goal came on a net-front rebound off a shot by Logan Stankoven, who made contact with Dobes, and was the fifth time in five games that Carolina scored first — a crucial factor against a Canadiens team that profoundly struggled to generate offense.

Stankoven scored his ninth goal of the playoffs of his own six minutes later, and fourth-liner Eric Robinson added another at 16:52, giving Carolina a 3-0, first-intermission lead — a margin that seemed to be insurmountable and turned out to be just that.

Jackson Blake, the other member of the Hall-Stankoven line, pushed the score to 4-0 at 7:19 of the second period. The goal gave all three members of the line at least five postseason goals and a 43rd combined point.

Shayne Gostisbehere increased Carolina’s lead to 5-0, a score that held until Cole Caufield beat Frederik Andersen with a power-play wrister at 10:50 of the third period. Andersen finished with 23 saves on 24 shots.

The Canadiens losing Games 4 and 5 in this manner, thoroughly dominated and unable to do anything remotely productive with the puck over 120 minutes of hockey, in no way diminishes what was accomplished this season for a team that is still in the latter stages of a rebuild. But what these two games did provide is an indication of how much work is left and how much their young players have left to learn.

And perhaps the lingering feeling of these two losses — and honestly, the two overtime losses that preceded them were not all that territorially close either — could benefit this young group and help it to learn the level of focus required to play at your best at this stage of the playoffs.

But for now, this will sting for a young team that believed it had a chance to reach the final, and had that belief squashed like a bug by Carolina.

As for the Hurricanes, as time ticked away, their fans mixed in a new chant: “We want the Cup.” They’ve got their shot.

Hurricanes pick up where they left off, dominate first period

Mere seconds after the game’s opening faceoff, Hurricanes winger Jackson Blake had a chance in alone to score, an ominous sign for the beleaguered Canadiens.

Nine minutes later, Blake’s line opened the scoring on a jam play from Taylor Hall, his first of three points on the night. Montreal unsuccessfully challenged the goal — Logan Stankoven had bumped into goaltender Jakub Dobeš — and then went down 2-0 shortly thereafter when Stankoven scored his team-leading ninth of the postseason off a pass from Hall.

Just one minute and 40 seconds later, a big, looping dump out from Canes fourth liner William Carrier turned into a breakaway for teammate Eric Robinson, and it was — as in Game 4 — 3-0 after the first 20 minutes.

With how badly the Habs have struggled to generate offense in the series, the game was effectively over there, less than 17 minutes in. And as has been the case most of these playoffs, the Hall-Stankoven-Blake line was a huge reason why. — Mirtle

Goalie interference was not the problem

There will be much debate over Hall’s game-opening goal and whether it should have stood after Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis challenged for goaltender interference. It certainly appeared as though Stankoven ran into Dobeš before Hall won a battle in front of the net and shoveled it in.

But in the context of how this series went, that is not the point.

The reason the Hurricanes had that opportunity to begin with was that Phillip Danault originally had the puck in the Canadiens zone after recovering a rebound off an Alexander Nikishin one-timer. Danault was essentially all alone. He was not under intense pressure.

He attempted a cross-ice pass to Kaiden Guhle near the Canadiens blue line, a side of the ice where there was pressure, and like clockwork, Shayne Gostisbehere applied that pressure. A few seconds later, the puck was in the Canadiens’ net.

There was an easy opportunity for a Canadiens zone exit that instead turned into a turnover and a defensive scramble to get organized.

Again, Stankoven likely interfered with Dobeš, but that entire situation could have been avoided with some proper puck management, something the Canadiens were unable to do for four games straight. — Basu

Andersen stands tall

Through two rounds of the postseason, Andersen might have been the Conn Smythe frontrunner. Carolina’s goalie was that good against the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers, posting a .950 save percentage, including a remarkable .946 on high-danger shots, and saved about 15 goals above expected.

He may not have been quite as good against the Canadiens, bringing an .846 save percentage in the series into Game 5, and the Hurricanes certainly didn’t need him to maintain his previous level of play, but Andersen handled his business with poise and savvy. One example came on a first-period penalty kill. Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson noticed winger Juraj Slavkovský uncovered near the left goal line and put the puck on Slavkovský’s stick. It’s a play Montreal has used to great success; Hutson to Slavkovský to Cole Caufield at the backdoor. Andersen, though, played it perfectly and filled enough of the net to eliminate Caufield as an option. With that off the table, Slavkovský fumbled the puck and failed to put a shot on net. The Hurricanes consistently cite Andersen’s size and steady demeanor as some of his greatest strengths, and it’s tough to imagine a better example of both.

Andersen’s performance came a day after news broke of Claude Lemieux’s death. Lemieux, the Canadiens legend and Andersen’s longtime agent, was “like family,” the 36-year-old told the North State Gazette before Lemieux’s death. — Gentille

Dobeš has a rough finish, but a bright future

Allowing nine goals in his last two starts of the season clouds how well Dobeš played in the series for the Canadiens. The three he allowed in Game 4 could have easily been five or six, and the 4-0 final score was actually flattering to how the Canadiens played in the game. Same story in the back-to-back 3-2 overtime wins for the Hurricanes in Games 2 and 3.

This final game was not one of Dobeš’ best, for sure, but the data the Canadiens were able to take in on his competitiveness and battle level in a playoff environment is invaluable, especially since Dobeš only turned 25 on Wednesday. Dobeš made 23 saves on 28 shots on Friday.

You never know with goalies, which makes it hard to make any sweeping proclamations of what this playoff performance means for Dobeš’ future with the Canadiens. But it was at the very least an encouraging sign. — Basu