Blake urges – Facing a chance to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006, Carolina’s Jackson Blake told the Hurricanes they must stay focused on Game 5 tonight rather than getting ahead of themselves. The Eastern Conference Final sits at 3-1 for Carolina,
On Friday night at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, the Carolina Hurricanes can take a major step toward the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006.
They’ll do it with momentum on their side and a series that is already swinging hard in their direction. Carolina holds a three games to one lead over the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Final, and Game 5 is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Jackson Blake, a forward who scored the overtime series-winning goal in the previous round to move the Hurricanes past the Philadelphia Flyers, knows exactly what’s at stake. Excitement is there. But so is the need for control.
“You’ve got to focus on tonight and know what we did the last three games to be successful in those,” Blake said via Walt Ruff on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I’m pretty sure everyone in the locker room is pretty excited to go.”
Blake’s message lands as Carolina gets ready to close a series that has become increasingly difficult for Montreal to break open. During the Stanley Cup Playoffs so far, Blake has scored four goals with nine assists. In the regular season, he added 22 goals and 31 assists for the Metropolitan Division-winning Hurricanes.
What Carolina has done defensively has been just as important to the series picture. In each of the last three games, the Hurricanes have managed to prevent Montreal from getting more than 18 shots on goal—an outcome that has also created an unfortunate Montreal team record.
The pressure inside Bell Centre showed up in the stands, too. The restless Montreal crowd began pleading with the players with chants of “Shoot the puck!” After a Canadiens player finally registered a shot well past the midway point of the final frame, the crowd released a sarcastic Bronx cheer.
The game plan for Montreal, then, has to be simple on paper: find a way to generate offense faster and more often. For Carolina, the challenge is subtler—turn a chance to advance into a job finished on schedule, without letting the size of the moment scramble the details.
That’s the tightrope Blake is warning about, even as the building buzzes and the series clock keeps moving. Game 5 is the next test—tonight, at 8:00 p.m. ET—where one team can finally pull itself back into the Stanley Cup Final conversation after more than a decade.
Carolina Hurricanes Montreal Canadiens Jackson Blake Game 5 Eastern Conference Final Stanley Cup Playoffs 2006 overtime series-winning goal Bell Centre shots on goal