In A Tale As Old As Time, Rust Beat The Piss Out Of Rest As The Carolina Hurricanes Got Pumped In Game 1
Jared C. Tilton. Getty Images.Rust vs Rest. It's one of the intense rivalries in sports. A battle which has been waged for centuries, constantly going back and forth. An endless debate in which a decisive victor is hardly ever truly crowned.
That is, of course, until last night happened. Because Rust delivered a knockout blow to Rest of the likes we've never seen before.
The Carolina Hurricanes got greedy as all hell to start these playoffs. It took just 8 games for them to win their first two playoff series. A sweep against Ottawa in round 1, followed up by a sweep against Philadelphia in round 2. Their last game before last night was May 9th. They played just 8 games since April 14th. This is a team that has been sitting at home with their thumb up their ass for the last 2 weeks. And waiting for them on the other side were the Montreal Canadiens. A team which has had to scratch and claw their way through two game 7's already. A team which has been battle tested all playoffs so far. They have faced all the adversity you could throw at them, while Carolina has basically had a preseason.
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Sure, Seth Jarvis got the party started in the first minute of the game. But after that, it was a proper dick kicking. 4-1 ballgame before Carolina could even head back into the locker room for the first time to figure out what the frick just happened. The Canes hadn't given up more than 2 goals in a game all playoffs so far, and now they gave up 4 goals in a period.
This is par for the course for Carolina, though. A team that looks completely unbeatable at home through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and then they can't get a single thing going in the Conference Finals. This is now the 4th time since 2019 that Carolina has advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. They got swept in 2019 by the Bruins, swept in 2023 by Florida, and lost 4-1 to Florida again last year. So last night puts them at 1-13 in their last 14 Conference Finals games. 1-17 if you want to bring 2009 into the mix when they were swept by Pittsburgh. YIKES!