NHL 2025-2026: Canada's Quest to Defeat Bettman and Claim the Cup

This answers the rust vs rest debate. Its a 7 game series and the Habs have been better on the road, so glad we showed up tonight and hopefully put some doubt in Carolina.

Carolina went 19mins without a shot in the third period. Insane.

Animosity said:

Carolina went 19mins without a shot in the third period. Insane.

Click to expand...

Carolina played a depleted Ottawa team that couldn't score & a Philly team that overachieved to get to the second round. They played us tonight in the same hyper aggressive style that they used for those first two rounds but as I said earlier in this thread, when you face a team that is able to adjust and make you pay, you won't get very far (which is why they've been swept by Florida a bunch in recent years).

In contrast, we learned a lot from our Tampa series, which was a veteran playoff team that forced us to play the style we played in the third which is insanely frustrating for a team like Carolina that loves high volume shooting. I still think that Carolina brought in enough pieces this year that they will be able to adjust and ultimately beat the Habs, who are bound to run out of gas the further this series goes. I don't see them getting past the Avs or Vegas though, short of injuries (which is already fucking over the Avs to be fair).

Penance said:

I mean they did blank em in the regular season.

Might just be coaching figured em out.

Click to expand...

Montreal plays a style that takes advantage of Carolina's aggressive play and punishes excessive overpursuit. Most teams aren't good at cross ice passes to exploit Carolina's style (because a bad cross ice pass is usually very bad).

Montreal is very good at it. I think Carolina will adjust a bit and could still win the series, but they have to play a style a bit differently than what got them this far.

That stat that since '03 or something teams that won a Game 7 in their previous series are 7-1 v teams coming off a sweep was pretty nuts.

Stat of the night for Avs fans: teams are 1-20 in conference finals when losing the first two games at home

Doh