Morning Coffee: Can Habs find some Montreal magic to even Eastern Conference Final in Game 4?

The Vegas Golden Knights are headed back to the Stanley Cup Final as Western Conference champions.

Just in case any of us had forgot, it’s another reminder that anything is possible if you can find a way to sneak into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Golden Knights finished the regular season with 39 wins and 95 points – a total that wouldn’t have been enough to even qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

Vegas is also the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Final with fewer than 40 regular season wins since the 2002 Carolina Hurricanes.

Turning back the clock, a 1-4-2 stretch in late March is probably the best thing that could have happened.

On March 29^th, the Golden Knights fired Bruce Cassidy as head coach and replaced him with John Tortorella.

Since then, Vegas has produced a 19-4-1 record, including a 7-0-1 mark in the regular season to clinch the Pacific Division title and a four-game series sweep against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche.

The Golden Knights were +225 to beat the Avalanche and +2800 to sweep the Western Conference Final.

Vegas was +1200 to win it all entering the postseason.

The Golden Knights were +600 to win it at the start of the Western Conference Final and they’re down to +115 to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel this morning.

Mitch Marner is the Conn Smythe favourite (+160).

Despite their postseason success, Vegas is still the second choice to win it all behind the Carolina Hurricanes (-105).

After back-to-back overtime wins, the prevailing narrative is that the Hurricanes have finally figured out how to avoid another letdown in the Eastern Conference Final.

Tonight, Carolina has a chance to grab a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4.

The only question now is whether the underdog Habs have enough left in the tank to answer on home ice.

Let’s set the stage and lock in a FanDuel Best Bet for Game 4 in this Morning Coffee column for Wednesday May 27^th, 2026.

Can Habs Find Some Montreal Magic To Even Eastern Conference Final In Game 4?

The Habs have been the feel-good surprise of these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

They’re young, talented, fun to watch, and they were completely overlooked as +3500 longshot to win the Stanley Cup entering the first round.

While they stunned us all with a dominant 6-2 win over the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final, the Canadiens haven’t been able to build off the momentum from that series opener.

Carolina responded with back-to-back overtime wins.

While the Canadiens were one goal away from seizing control of the Eastern Conference Final in both games, the underlying numbers reveal a different narrative.

The Hurricanes have outshot the Habs a combined 65-25 over the last two games.

Carolina has dominated the possession and high danger scoring chances in both wins.

Montreal has relied on Jakub Dobes standing tall in net with 59 saves total to keep them in both contests, but it wasn’t enough for them to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time this postseason.

It also raises the question of how much do the Habs have left in the tank entering Game 4?

While Carolina cruised to back-to-back series sweeps against the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in the first two rounds, the Canadiens went the distance against both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres.

In a series in which consecutive games have been decided by a single goal, it’s fair to wonder how big of a difference it would make if the Habs had the rest advantage over the Hurricanes.

Meanwhile, Montreal needs to rediscover some magic on home ice after three straight and five of their last six games at the Bell Centre.

It’s hard to imagine the Habs having a chance in this series if they don’t respond with a win tonight.

For my FanDuel Best Bet, I’ll lock in a builder Same Game Parlay with both teams to score 2+ goals and Andrei Svechnikov to record 2+ shots on goal at -104 odds.

Svechnikov scored the overtime winner on his fifth shot on goal in Game 3.

He’s cleared 2+ shots on goal in each of the first three games of the series and in five straight games overall.

Meanwhile, both teams to score 2+ goals is 3-for-3 in the Eastern Conference Final, as the Habs have found ways to respond despite being outplayed at 5-on-5.

With their backs against the wall, the Canadiens need to figure out a way to get more pucks on net and generate more offence to avoid another narrow loss.

I’ll bank on both teams scoring at least two goals again and Svechnikov to register 2+ shots on goal with a -104 builder SGP for my FanDuel Best Bet.

Have a great day, everyone!