Party like it’s 2006: Hurricanes thump Canadiens to reach Stanley Cup Final
The Carolina Hurricanes are getting their chance.
For the first time in 20 years, the Hurricanes will play for the Stanley Cup after dispatching the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Final of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A dominating 6-1 victory over the Canadiens on Friday at Lenovo Center ended the series in five games, with the raucous crowd erupting into chants of, “We want the Cup” as time ticked off the clock.
It’s on to the Final for the Hurricanes, where the Vegas Golden Knights will be the opponent, the last team standing in the way.
Vegas’ four-game sweep of the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final gave the Canes home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Final. The first two games will be at Lenovo Center — Game 1 is Tuesday at 8 p.m. — before the series goes to Las Vegas for the next two.
No one who follows the Hurricanes needs to be reminded of the franchise’s last Stanley Cup Final game. It was on June 19, 2006, when the Canes topped the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 in what was then the RBC Center.
Canes captain Rod Brind’Amour all but snatched the Cup out of the hands of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that night, Brind’Amour’s face showing the ecstasy of the long-awaited moment.
Brind’Amour had long dreamed of winning the Cup as a player. For the past eight years, as the Canes’ head coach, his one goal has been to be behind the bench of Stanley Cup champions. Now they have their chance.
“It’s hard to unpack right now,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s a weird feeling. It’s kind of where we all thought we should be, and I mean our group. We thought from the time we put the team together that this is where we would be.
“I’m really proud of the group, and how hard they worked, from day one of training camp until now to get this chance. It’s nice that it paid off and obviously we have one more big hurdle to go, but we’ll try to enjoy this part.”
Consider this: The victory Friday was the 100th postseason wn for the franchise since the move to North Carolina in 1997, and Brind’Amour has been a part of 98 as a player or coach. He is that intertwined with the franchise’s success.
The Canadiens blasted the Canes in the opening game of the conference final, but were beaten down the last four games by a team that has skill, structure, toughness, tight defense and a veteran goaltender in Frederik Andersen seeking his first Stanley Cup ring and playing his best.
“It feels good. And the way we did it, too, how hard we played,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said. “It’s been a lot of grinding, a lot of ups and downs. I’m so proud of the group we have to keep grinding through it and keep at it and never giving up.
“We’ll enjoy it and we know there’s a lot of work ahead. We’re happy to be where we’re at, and we’re excited for the opportunity we have.”
The Canes, 12-1 in the playoffs, took overtime wins in Game 2 and Game 3 — Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrei Svechnikov with the OT winners — and then a 4-0 shutout that was a complete shutdown of the Habs.
After a morning skate Friday at Lenovo Center, the Canes players said there would be no letup with the 3-1 series lead and the comfort level of being on home ice. They have had a singleness of purpose, and it was to win Game 5 and move on.
The Canes then went out and took a 3-0 lead in the opening period as Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Eric Robinson scored. Jackson Blake added a fourth goal in the second period as the Stankoven line, so potent in the playoffs, again came up big, and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere had a power-play goal to make it 5-0.
Cole Caufield’s power-play goal midway through the third got the Canadiens on the board. Seth Jarvis’ empty-netter in the closing minutes sealed the deal.
Stankoven and Hall each had a goal and two assists and 11 players had points for the Canes, who led 5-0 after the second period. Before long, they were gathering around the Prince of Wales Trophy as Eastern Conference champions, celebrating after finally breaking down the ECF barrier.
No one touched the trophy — a long-held playoff superstition that it’s bad luck.
“I had a couple of guys ask me what I thought, and I said, ‘Do what you want. But don’t touch it,’” Brind’Amour said, smiling.
No one did. It’s not the trophy the Canes want to handle. The long wait is over.
“It felt like we had teams that could have got there and we were not doing it,” forward Jordan Martinook said. “It has been a crazy journey in my time here but this team has been really special.
“It’s something you dream about as a kid, that you get a chance to play and win a Stanley Cup. I know I played on the outdoor rink and when I’d win a game it was you were winning the Stanley Cup. Now that I actually have a chance to win it, it’s special.”
The Habs had seven road wins in the playoffs, highlighted by winning at both Tampa Bay and Buffalo in Game 7s to move into the conference final. But the seventh, in Game 1 of the ECF, was the last.
Any questions about the Canes’ intensity level Friday was answered when Blake fired a shot off the rush six seconds into the game.
The Canadiens had an early power play and a chance to score first but managed one shot. The rest of the period, in essence, belonged to the Canes.
The Stankoven line first struck on a play that Habs coach Martin St. Louis would challenge for goalie interference. Stankoven drove the net to Jakub Dobes’ right and got off a shot as he was falling into the crease and sliding toward Dobes. Hall punched in the rebound for the 1-0 lead.
Stankoven’s goal was a product of a faceoff win in the Montreal zone and some hustle by Hall retrieving the puck behind the net. Hall got the puck to Stankoven in the right circle for a blistering top-shelf shot.
Blake picked up the fourth goal of the night after Hall forced a turnover and sped down ice for a shot, with Blake following up on the rebound.
Robinson’s goal was all about pure speed, and alertness by forward Will Carrier, who flipped a pass from the end boards in the Canes zone down the ice. Robinson chased after it and beat Dobes through the pads on a shot the goalie would like to have back.
By the middle of the second period, and the score 4-0, Canes fans began a “Ole! Ole!” chant – a staple at the Bell Centre in Montreal by the Habs faithful. It was a salt-in-the-wound kind of thing, some playful taunting from a Lenovo Center crowd thoroughly enjoying itself.
The Hurricanes swept the Ottawa Senators in the opening round, a series that began with captain Jordan Staal dropping the gloves with Sens captain Brady Tkachuk and getting the better of it.
Next came the Philadelphia Flyers, and that was a four-game sweep. Each series began with a shutout in net from Andersen and the two sweeps resulted in a break of 11 days before the conference final began.
The Montreal Canadiens fell in five. Only the Vegas Golden Knights remain in the way,
Heavy hearts for Andersen, NHL
Carolina Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen played his 13th straight game in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Montreal Canadiens, and did so with a heavy heart.
Andersen’s agent, Claude Lemieux, died Thursday. The news broke just a few days after Lemieux, a former Canadiens star who won four Stanley Cups in his career, carried the torch before Game 3 at the Bell Centre in an emotional scene.
Andersen often is made available to the media after morning skates, but did not take questions Friday. He has not commented on Lemieux’s death.
Before Friday’s game, the Hurricanes honored Lemieux with a moment of silence. Andersen stood stoic along the blue line with his teammates.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour played against Lemieux and later coached his son, Brendan, with the Canes. He said he had a chance to visit with Claude Lemieux a few times when he would come to Raleigh to see his son play.
“It’s tragic,” Brind’Amour said Friday. “It’s a tough day for the hockey world, for sure.”
Brind’Amour plans out pregame talk
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour was asked Friday about how much goes into his pregame spiel to the team.
The team uses social media to send out clips of Brind’Amour’s postgame talks in the locker room after wins the coach staying on the move as he speaks. But what about before a game?
“I have to prepare. I don’t like winging it,” he said. “I think everyone has their own different approach to it. Sometimes, you have the best one and they don’t play that great.
“My job is to get them ready and lay out the plan. Then, the job’s over and we make adjustments during the game. But you’ve got to turn it over to the guys and go play.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Party like it’s 2006: Hurricanes thump Canadiens to reach Stanley Cup Final."
