Slavin shoulders blame after Hurricanes’ defensive meltdown

RALEIGH, N.C. — Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals was an uncharacteristic defensive disaster for the Carolina Hurricanes, and star defenseman Jaccob Slavin felt responsible for it.

“Personally, I think I handed them the game,” Slavin said after the Montreal Canadiens took a 1-0 series lead with a 6-2 rout in Raleigh on Thursday. “I’ve got to be better.”

Considered by many to be the best “defensive defenseman” in the NHL, Slavin was on the ice for three of the Canadiens’ four first-period goals and another in the third period. His minus-4 rating was the worst in his 95 career playoff games and only the second time in his entire NHL career that he was worse than a minus-3 in a game.

“I’ve never seen that [in] eight years,” said Rod Brind’Amour, who has coached Slavin since 2018. “It happens. They have the ability where if you give them a little room, then it’s over. That’s what happened tonight. So he’ll bounce back.”

Game 1 was a battle between a home team that swept its first two playoff series and a road team that needed seven games to win both of its previous series. It marked the first game action for the Hurricanes since sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers on May 9. The 11-day layoff between playoff rounds was the NHL’s longest in 107 years, since Montreal spent 12 idle days in 1919.

“We clearly were not ready for that pace. I’m not going to give the layoff as an excuse, but we weren’t ready to play playoff hockey, and that caught us,” Brind’Amour said of the first period.

His players weren’t willing to use the layoff as an excuse for their calamitous first 20 minutes either.

“No. I don’t think that had anything to do with it. It was just a lack of awareness and just us not being ready to go right from puck drop,” said forward Seth Jarvis, who opened the scoring 33 seconds into Game 1 only to have Montreal’s Cole Caufield tie the score 27 seconds later.

The Hurricanes were overaggressive on Caufield’s goal, chasing the puck en masse to leave him alone in front of goalie Frederik Andersen (16 saves). Carolina also misplayed Montreal’s second goal, as defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere could only watch Phillip Danault score on a breakaway, after defenseman Alexandre Carrier‘s pass deflected off Slavin to spring Danault for the 2-1 lead.

The Canadiens had a flurry of scoring chances after that, with Andersen stopping Zack Bolduc alone in front and Montreal forward Jake Evans just missing with an open net. Alexandre Texier wouldn’t miss on a one-timer in front of Andersen, shaking a Slavin check for his fourth goal of the postseason and a 3-1 lead.

Just 3:31 later, another overaggressive Hurricanes play and another Montreal goal. This time it was K’Andre Miller trying to pressure puck carrier Alex Newhook, who slid the puck to a wide-open Ivan Demidov for the rookie’s third goal of the playoffs and a 4-1 first-period advantage heading into intermission.

“We lost the game from the start. Giving them that many freebies, any team’s going to make you pay, especially this time of year,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “There wasn’t enough respect for them. They played a great game. They were ready to roll and we weren’t.”

The four goals were the most allowed by the Hurricanes in the first period of a playoff game in franchise history. It didn’t bode well for their chances to rally: Teams that scored three first-period goals had won their past 45 playoff games in the NHL.

“I don’t know what we were thinking,” Brind’Amour said.

Andersen was back in his crease to start the second, after almost giving up as many goals in the first period (4) as he had in the entire series against either Ottawa or Philadelphia (5). Brind’Amour said he didn’t think the goals were on his veteran netminder and also felt it was beneficial for him to finish out the game after the long break between series.

“He’s had a ton of rest. I need to get him up to speed,” the coach said.

The Hurricanes found their game in the second period, as Eric Robinson scored his first of the playoffs after Caufield rang a shot off the post. But the period would end with the Habs holding on to a two-goal advantage. Montreal winger Juraj Slafkovsky sucked the air out of the building with his first goal in five games at 7:05 of the third period, slipping behind the Canes’ defense for the goal. He later iced the game with an empty-netter.

This is the fourth time Brind’Amour has coached the Hurricanes to the conference final, having lost in the NHL’s penultimate round in their three previous trips. Carolina now has an 0-7 record in franchise history in Game 1 of the conference final. The Hurricanes have also lost their past 10 conference final home games, the longest home losing streak in that round in Stanley Cup playoffs history.

“I think we’ve been through this before. It’s a tough night. We don’t have a lot of those at all like that. We’re going to have to bounce back, clearly,” Brind’Amour said. “I have all the faith in the world we will.”

Game 2 is Saturday night in Raleigh.