Hurricanes’ Rod Brind’Amour keeps it real on how to move on from Game 1 rout

The Carolina Hurricanes are no longer undefeated in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour watched his team drop Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Montreal Canadiens. This game also wasn’t close, as the Habs claimed a 6-2 win on the road at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

There are a lot of factors at play when discussing this result. For Brind’Amour, moving on from this sort of loss is simple. This is a game his team just needs to pigeonhole, and look forward to the rest of the series.

“Our top guys had a tough night. That’s not going to work this time of year. I think we just toss this game, to be honest. I hate that at this time of year, that’s what we’ve got to do, but there wasn’t much to grab onto there,” the Hurricanes head coach said, via team reporter Walt Ruff.

Carolina did score the first goal of this contest. Seth Jarvis scored 33 seconds into the game to give his team life. However, Montreal scored four unanswered in the first period. And they added another two in the third to put the game on ice for good.

The Hurricanes have not played since May 9th. And this was just their ninth game since April 17th. They had a fantastic run, sweeping both the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in the first two rounds prior to this East Final.

With this loss, the Hurricanes are 1-17 in East Final games dating back to 2009. The team’s lone win came last year in Game 4 against the Florida Panthers. During this time, Carolina has made the East Final in 2009, 2019, 2023, 2025, and 2026.

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