Hurricanes Push Canadiens to the Brink of Elimination With Dominant Game 4 Victory

The Montreal Canadiens had a big opportunity in front of themselves on Wednesday night. If they were able to clean up their mistakes from the previous two contests, Martin St. Louis' group could've had a chance at tying this series up at 2-2, but instead, it was status quo in Game 4 and they played almost identical to their Game 2 & 3 losses.

Montreal Canadiens fans have plenty of reasons to be frustrated on Wednesday night and as they put their heads to the pillow tonight, many will be thinking about the "what ifs" in this series & what questions will need to be answered in the summer as their team is now staring down elimination in less than 48 hours.

Carolina shuts out Montreal, pushing Canadiens to the brink of elimination

For the fourth time this series, the Carolina Hurricanes jumped out to a 1-0 lead. On the power play with nearly five minutes remaining in the opening frame, Sebastian Aho found the back of the net for the fourth time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the first time in the Eastern Conference Final to give the Hurricanes the advantage. Carolina wasn't done there as they put two more past Jakub Dobeš in quick succession.

A little over a minute after Aho's opener, K'Andre Miller threw the puck on net where it deflected off the skate of Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal and past Dobeš, making it a 2-0 game. Then less than two minutes later, it was Logan Stankoven who fired home his eighth of the postseason on a 2-on-1 with Jackson Blake, leaving the Bell Centre in almost complete silence.

After the first period, the Hurricanes not only had a 3-0 lead, but also outshot the Canadiens 12-5 and it looked like Montreal was looking at another game with 20 or less shots on Frederik Andersen. It was clear that the Montreal Canadiens needed to make some changes, something Martin St. Louis and his staff should have done prior to Wednesday's contest.

As the Canadiens came out from the dressing room for the middle frame, those changes were finally made as St. Louis shuffled his forward lines. Alex Newhook, who has been one of Montreal's best players in the post season, was moved up to the top line to play with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, while Juraj Slafkovsky shifted down to the second trip alongside Jake Evans and Ivan Demidov.

In the bottom six, St. Louis went with Bolduc-Danault-Anderson and Texier-Veleno-Dach. The changes seemed to work as the Canadiens looked much better in the second period than they did in the first, putting ten shots on net. It was the first time Montreal has ten or more shots in a single period since the first period of Game 1 last Thursday. 

Despite stepping up their play in the middle frame, they were unable to find the back of the net as Carolina led 3-0 through 40 minutes. Montreal's penalty kill had plenty of work in that second period, including 1:44 of 5-on-3 action, but they didn't allow another power play marker in this game.

Flash forward to the third period and the Canadiens reverted to how they started the game, and played in Games 2 & 3 - sitting back, no urgency and no effort whatsoever. Carolina outshot Montreal 19-3 in the final frame and at one point, it was 17-0 in favour of the Hurricanes. Overall in the game, Carolina finished with a 43-18 shot advantage.

With under two minutes to play in the third, Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov iced it with an empty netter, giving Carolina a 4-0 victory and a 3-1 series lead. Carolina is now one win away from their third appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in franchise history and first since 2006, when they won hockey's greatest trophy.

What changes does Montreal make for Game 5?

While the Canadiens have come down from 3-1 in a Stanley Cup Playoff series before, most recently against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021, it certainly feels like things are trending towards their exit from the postseason on Friday. That being said, Montreal is going to give it their all in Raleigh on Friday night, but changes are needed if they want to get back into this series.

Breaking up the Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky trio was needed and will likely have to happen in Game 5. Caufield and Suzuki are staying together, there's no question about that, but who does Martin St. Louis put beside them? Alex Newhook again? Perhaps Ivan Demidov? Both are good options, but I'd personally go with the former rather than the latter because of the pace Alex Newhook can play from start to finish and that he's not afraid to get into the dirty areas to create chances.

That would leave Juraj Slafkovsky on the second line with Jake Evans and Ivan Demidov, a trio we saw in the second period and beyond on Wednesday. In the bottom six, that's where we could see some real changes in personnel and potentially on the blue line as well. It wouldn't be a shock if Brendan Gallagher is inserted into the lineup for Joe Veleno or even Kirby Dach, who hasn't had much of an impact in this series with just one shot on goal, six hits and three blocks in four games.

Without a doubt, Arber Xhekaj should come back into the lineup. The Canadiens have missed the physical presence he brings and being outhit 157 to 95 through four games in this series should make Martin St. Louis serious consider putting the Hamilton, Ontario native in for his first game since Game 7 against the Buffalo Sabres.

The Canadiens and their coaching staff will have a lot to ponder over the next couple days and they'll look to stave off elimination on Friday night. Puck drop for Game 5 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina is set for 8 pm ET on CBC & Sportsnet in Canada, as well as TNT in the United States.