Hurricanes played sloppy hockey in Game 1

The Carolina Hurricanes dropped Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Final series to the Montreal Canadiens Thursday night in a 6-2 loss.

Despite outshooting the Canadiens and dominating in possession for chunks of the game, sloppy defensive play and a less-than-stellar performance from Frederik Andersen led to the Hurricanes losing their first game of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Even Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin, widely considered one of the best defensive defenseman in the NHL, had a poor performance in Game 1, finishing the night with a plus-minus rating of minus-four, the worst mark he’s recorded in 95 career playoff games.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Canadiens’ Game 1 win, how the Hurricanes looked after a 12-day break and what Carolina needs to do in order to bounce back as the two teams prepare for Game 2 on Saturday.

Tyler Yaremchuk: This result, 6-2 for Montreal, I did not think it was possible 33 seconds into that hockey game.

Carter Hutton: I think anyone who would tell you that they felt different after the Hurricanes scored early would be lying to you. I saw that goal and thought, “Oh there’s the rested Hurricanes taking care of the tired Canadiens.”

But then there was a flip. The big answer for Montreal was coming back right away, Cole Caufield scoring on some sloppy play from the Hurricanes. Again, Rod Brind’Amour’s conversation after the game sums it up … with four guys below the red line, they let a 50-goal scorer alone in front of their net.

We talk a lot about responses to goals for or goals against, that next shift response, and this was a real tough way for the Carolina Hurricanes to respond.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…