Aho Leads Hurricanes to 8-0 Start and Conference Finals
aho powered the Carolina Hurricanes into the conference finals after back-to-back 4-0 series wins over the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers. No team has opened the playoffs with two straight 4-0 series under the current format, and Carolina now reaches the next round with a 12-day break after its last game on May 9, 2026.
Frederik Andersen In Goal
The run has been built on a tight playoff structure. Carolina needed only 8 games to clear its first two series, while Montreal reached the same round the hard way, winning seven-game sets against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres.
Frederik Andersen has been central to that start. Teemu Utriainen described him as “yli-inhimillinen” in goal, and also said the Hurricanes have pressed Ottawa and Philadelphia with relentless forechecking while controlling the flow of games. Carolina’s first two rounds produced 3-0 and 3-2 home wins before road victories by 4-1 and 3-2, with two games in the Flyers series going to overtime.
Montreal's Longer Road
The contrast with Montreal is sharp. The Canadiens have already played 14 games, six more than Carolina, after surviving both Tampa Bay and Buffalo in seven games. That leaves Jakub Dobeš and the rest of the group carrying more game load into a playoff meeting that has happened 7 times before.
This matchup also brings a familiar opponent back into view. The previous playoff meeting between Carolina and Montreal came in 2006, when the Hurricanes advanced 4-2 and later won their first and only championship. Taylor Hall’s overtime goal in the second game against Philadelphia was part of the path that ended with Carolina still unbeaten through eight playoff games, and the Canadiens now arrive as the team that had to fight for every round.
Westerlund said Carolina has not needed more than 8 playoff games to reach this stage, and that gap in mileage may matter as the conference finals begin. The Hurricanes have the results, the rest advantage, and the unbeaten start; Montreal has the longer route and the extra wear.
