Canadiens fall 6-1 in Game 5 as season ends

Not surprisingly, the Canadiens’ season came to an end Friday night in Carolina with a 6-1 loss to the Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. The Hurricanes, who improved their playoff record to 12-1, will now face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup final with Game 1 slated for Tuesday in Carolina (8 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports). Only two other teams have gone 12-1 to start the NHL playoffs — the 1968 and 1976 Canadiens, who only needed 12

wins in the playoff format back then to win the Stanley Cup. This year’s version of the Canadiens — the youngest team in the playoffs for the second straight year — saw their post-season record fall to 9-10. The Hurricanes took a 5-0 lead Friday night before Cole Caufield scored the first goal in two games for the Canadiens with 9:10 left in the third period. The Canadiens had gone 160:13 without a goal. The Hurricanes added an empty-net goal with 3:41 left on the

clock. The Hurricanes are an outstanding, experienced team that is in the playoffs for the eighth straight season. After losing in the Eastern Conference final in two of the last three years, they are headed to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since winning their first championship in 2006. Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour was captain of the Hurricanes when they won the Cup. This Hurricanes team is built for the playoffs and the Canadiens — in Year 4 of a rebuild —

were simply no match for them. Carolina lost Game 1 of this series 6-2 to the Canadiens following an 11-day break after the Hurricanes had swept the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in the firsts two rounds. The Hurricanes got their legs back after that game and won the next three while outshooting the Canadiens 109-43. It became obvious this series was a mismatch and the end result isn’t a surprise. What is surprising is Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis didn’t make any lineup

changes for Game 5. Assistant captain Brendan Gallagher, who has bled bleu-blanc-rouge for 14 seasons with the Canadiens, becoming the heart and soul of the team, only appeared in three playoff games this year, but deserved a chance to play Friday night and maybe light a spark under his teammates. The Canadiens also could have used the physicality and emotion defenceman Arber Xhekaj brings to the game — not to mention fresh legs — but he was a healthy scratch for the fifth straight game.

Adding Gallagher and Xhekaj to the lineup might not have changed the result, but the Canadiens probably would have gone down with more of a fight than they showed in Game 5. The Canadiens were outshot 15-4 in the first period with the Hurricanes taking a 3-0 lead and this game was basically over with 40 minutes left to play. The final shot count was 30-24 for Carolina. Several Canadiens players looked like they were exhausted and had basically given up while being dominated by

the Hurricanes for the fourth straight game. Kirby Dach had no shots and one hit in 10:23 of ice time. Alexandre Texier had no shots and no hits in 10:04 of ice time and Joe Veleno had no shots and no hits in 6:33 of ice time. Gallagher has definitely lost a step at age 34, but his compete level has never dropped. He definitely could have brought some energy to the fourth line. The veteran winger has one season left on his contract and

it seems pretty certain now he will be bought out this summer. This might have been Gallagher’s last opportunity to wear a Canadiens uniform and he deserved that chance. Xhekaj, 25, can become a restricted free agent this summer and you have to wonder if he has also played his last game with the Canadiens since they didn’t have a spot for him in the lineup with their season on the line. “We’ve played without Gally these playoffs and I think we’ve found a way

to collectively replace that (competitiveness) a little bit,” St. Louis said when he met the media Friday morning in Carolina. “I don’t think it falls on one player. I think it’s just a group mentality, it’s a mindset. We want to compete and we wouldn’t be here without a high compete level from the group.” Nobody expected the Canadiens to make the Eastern Conference final this season and the future still looks bright for a young team that finished sixth in the overall NHL standings

during the regular season with a 48-24-10 record. “It sucks what just occurred in the series,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki told reporters in Carolina after the game. “I thought we could have probably done a little better. But, still, a lot of pride in the group and what we accomplished this year. The guys fought right to the end. We had a pretty gruelling three rounds. We just kept pushing and I think looking back at the whole season there’s a lot of positives to

take away from.” The Hurricanes showed Canadiens management there is still plenty of work to be done in the rebuilding process before this team can be considered a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. It should be a busy summer for general manager Kent Hughes. Getting blown out by the Hurricanes in the last game was a disappointing way to end a season in which the City of Montreal fell in love with this young Canadiens team. It was also disappointing not to see Gallagher in the

lineup for the final game.

Canadiens, Hurricanes, Game 5, Eastern Conference final, Brendan Gallagher, Arber Xhekaj, Martin St. Louis, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kent Hughes, Vegas Golden Knights, Stanley Cup final