Morning Coffee: Can Habs hand Hurricanes first playoff loss?

Last summer, I locked in the Colorado Avalanche as my FanDuel Best Bet to win the Stanley Cup.

Since then, Colorado cruised to a 55-16-11 record to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy for the NHL’s best mark, then won eight of nine to open the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

From +850 to +135 as the favourite to win it all at FanDuel, I was confident in their ability to win Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night.

It turns out that confidence was misplaced.

Carter Hart completely shut the door on the Avalanche through 40 minutes and made 36 saves to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-2 win as a +146 underdog.

Nathan MacKinnon’s six-game goal streak ended. Cale Makar’s absence on the blueline was glaring.

Meanwhile, after Dylan Coghlan opened the scoring for Vegas, Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden picked up where they left off in the first two rounds to extend the lead to 3-0 early in the third period.

Colorado cut the deficit to one late in regulation with goals by Val Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog, but Hart made a couple of big stops and Nic Dowd added an empty-net goal for the Golden Knights to seal the win.

Per MoneyPuck.com, the Avalanche would win Game 1 69.5 per cent of the time on 1,000 simulations based on the game data compiled by the site.

Not last night, though.

With the victory, Vegas’ odds to advance were cut from +198 to +100 at FanDuel.

Colorado to win the series shifted from -250 to -120.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup was cut from +600 to +330 at FanDuel.

The Avalanche jumped from +135 to +220 to win it all.

Colorado is a -188 moneyline favourite for Game 2.

I won’t make you wait until Friday morning to tell you that I’ll be back on the Avalanche to win in 60 at -120.

Turning the page this morning, the focus shifts to the Eastern Conference Finals as the Montreal Canadiens get set to face the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 tonight.

The Habs are +164 to pull off the upset in the series opener and +220 to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Can the Canadiens follow the Golden Knights lead and pull off the upset in Carolina tonight?

Let’s set the stage for Game 1 and lock in a couple of FanDuel Best Bets in this Morning Coffee column for Thursday, May 21, 2026.

Can Habs hand rested Hurricanes first playoff loss in Game 1 Of ECF?

A spectacular goalie performance can be the difference on any given night in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

On the heels of last night’s upset in Colorado, Habs fans are banking on their 24-year-old rookie goaltender being up to the task tonight in Carolina.

For whatever reason, the Canadiens have played their best hockey as the visiting team this season.

After going 24-9-8 on the road during the regular season, Montreal is 6-2 as the visiting team in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, including Game 7 wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres.

Jakub Dobes is 6-2 with a 2.27 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage on the road.

Contrast those numbers with a 2-4 record, a 2.86 GAA, and an .889 save percentage at the Bell Centre.

Tonight, Dobes will become the fourth Canadiens rookie to start a game in the conference finals.

His 11.1 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAE) is the second-best mark of any goaltender in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Unfortunately for the Habs, the only goaltender with a better GSAE is Frederik Andersen.

Andersen registered an 11.2 Goals Saved Above Expected and a .950 save percentage while going 8-0 against the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers.

He hasn’t allowed more than two goals in any game.

Andersen should be well rested after 12 days off to match the longest layoff between series in NHL history.

The popular narrative has been that the layoff will hurt Carolina in a classic trap game tonight.

I’m not convinced that will be the case.

The Hurricanes are a relentless forechecking team that attacks in waves and has the potential to wear opponents down over the course of 60 minutes.

With Montreal coming off back-to-back seven-game series against Tampa Bay and Buffalo, it’s fair to wonder how much they have left in the tank.

This moment has been a long time coming for Carolina.

Rod Brind’Amour’s team is 0-6 all-time in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals – the most losses without a win by any team in this round.

After getting beat up by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers a year ago, the Hurricanes went to work sharpening their resolve and building a team they believe has what it takes to get over the line.

While they haven’t had success on this stage, Carolina has won four of its last five Game 1s overall.

The Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 24-10.

Only the Avalanche (57.98%) have produced a better Expected Goals Percentage than Carolina (56.41%).

As we saw in Colorado last night, a good goalie can steal a win for a team on the road in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Canadiens are banking on Dobes standing tall.

The Hurricanes are counting on Andersen being equal to the task as they get their shot at redemption with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final on the line in this series.

My FanDuel Best Bet for the Eastern Conference Finals is Carolina -1.5 -118.

As someone with an in-pocket play on Montreal to win the Stanley Cup at 100-to-1, I’d love to see the Canadiens pull off the upset and win this series.

However, the Hurricanes have spent years tinkering with a core that their confident in to reach the biggest stage, and at least according to the betting odds they’ve never had a more favourable path to the Stanley Cup Final.

As for Game 1, I’ve got a couple of looks to consider.

First up, I’ll jump on Logan Stankoven 3+ shots on goal.

Stankoven has led Carolina with 3.9 shots on goal on 5.9 shot attempts per game this postseason.

He cleared 3+ shots on goal in six straight games to begin the Stanley Cup Playoffs before registering exactly two in each of his final two games against the Flyers.

I’ll also add Stankoven 1+ points -125 as well as Hall 1+ points -115 to my card for Game 1.

Stankoven leads Carolina with seven goals in eight games this postseason, including three goals combined in a pair of series openers against Ottawa and Philadelphia.

The trio of Stankoven, Hall, and Jackson Blake has outscored opponents 9-1 at 5-on-5 this postseason.

Hall leads the Hurricanes with 12 points, including five primary assists.

Next up, give me Sebastian Aho to record 1+ assist at +120 odds.

Aho has been relatively quiet this postseason with just three goals and four points in eight games.

However, Carolina’s No. 1 centre has had a lot of success against the Habs throughout his career, with 11 assists and 17 points in 11 games.

Aho leads all Hurricanes forwards with 21.59 of average ice time this postseason and should get plenty of looks leading the top line at 5-on-5, the top power play, and the second penalty-kill unit with Seth Jarvis.

Hopefully, I can bounce back after a rough start to the conference finals on Wednesday night.

Have a great day, everyone!