Hurricanes vs Canadiens, Eastern Conference Finals: Odds, Prediction

The Panthers have blotted out the sun for the Eastern Conference over the last two to three years. 

Now, with Florida out of the playoffs and other longtime contenders — like Boston, Tampa, and Toronto — pushed out by either elimination or failing to qualify, the 2026 Conference Finals present an opportunity for a new winner. And the Hurricanes and Canadiens will be the teams lucky enough to fight for a Stanley Cup Finals berth. 

It’s been twenty years since either of these teams raised the Cup or appeared in the Finals. 

Here’s a series preview and a look at the odds for who’s favored to win this year’s Eastern Conference Finals. 

Hurricanes vs Canadiens, Eastern Conference Finals: Odds, Prediction

Carolina Hurricanes (-250)

To give you an idea of what kind of contender Carolina is this year, there are odds for the Hurricanes to sweep the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs. The line is currently set at +6600. 

So far, they’re on pace to do that. They swept Ottawa in the first round and then swept Philadelphia in the second. 

Since their last series ended in four and the other Eastern Conference semifinals went to seven games, Carolina has had a historic 11-day break between playoff rounds. That’s the longest break since 1919, when Montreal had 12 days off between rounds. 

The Hurricanes finished first in a fairly weak Metropolitan Division this season, ending the year with a 53-22-7 record and 113 points, the second highest in the league. They led the Eastern Conference in scoring and power-play percentage, and finished second in fewest goals allowed. 

Carolina may have one of the most balanced rosters in the league, from a scoring perspective. If you look for a Hurricane on the scoring leaderboard, you have to scroll all the way down to number 25 to find Sebastian Aho, who led the team with 80 points. 

The Hurricanes had 13 players with double-digit goals this season, and seven who scored 20 or more. 

Behind Aho, forwards Seth Jarvis, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Andrei Svechnikov were particularly productive. Jarvis, a 23-year-old center, led the team in goals with 32. 

That scoring depth has shown up once again in the playoffs, where Taylor Hall, who had 48 points in 80 games played in the regular season, now has a team-leading 12 points in eight games played. Hall also has a +10 plus/minus rating. Currently, Hall has +1400 odds to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. 

Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen has earned himself the second-best odds for the Conn Smythe Trophy at +400. In eight playoff starts, he has a league-best 1.12 GAA and a .950 save percentage. If you’re unimpressed by a stat line like that in two uncompetitive sweeps, Money Puck gives Andersen a playoff-leading 11.2 goals saved above expected. 

It’s easy to understand why the Hurricanes are such heavy favorites. This may finally be the year that this version of Carolina breaks through in the playoffs. 

But the Canadiens have some unique advantages over the Hurricanes in this matchup that are being discounted.

Montreal Canadiens (+200)

If Carolina’s playoffs have been like an eight-game stay at an all-inclusive secluded island resort with bottomless margaritas, Montreal’s playoffs have been a little more like escaping from Isla Nublar in Jurassic Park. 

For any questions about the Canadiens’ playoff inexperience going into the postseason, the team has earned battle scars on its way to the Conference Finals. 

In the first round, they defeated the 50-win Lightning in a seven-game series with a nail-biting 2-1 victory in the seventh game. Last round, they won another seven-game series, this time against the super-galvanized Atlantic Division-winning Sabres, which ended with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 7. 

For all that hard work, they’ve been rewarded with a series against the buzzsaw Hurricanes. 

But Montreal is the only Eastern Conference team that had real success against Carolina in the regular season. They were one of only three teams that swept the Hurricanes in the regular season, the other two being the Mammoth and the Golden Knights. 

What’s worse for Carolina is that two out of the three games were played in Raleigh at the Lenovo Center. 

None of the games were particularly close, with the last one being a 3-1 Montreal victory on March 29. Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki had two goals and an assist in that game. 

In addition to those three wins, Montreal finished the season with a 48-24-10 record and 106 overall points, earning them the third-best record in the Atlantic Division. 

The team was led by Suzuki in points with 101. Forward Cole Caufield led the team in goals with 51. Last year’s Calder Trophy winner, Lane Hutson, was also an incredibly productive player from the blue line, with the fourth-most points as a defenseman with 78. 

The Canadiens’ goalie, Jakub Dobes, has been a breakout star of the playoffs. He earned a 2.78 GAA and a .901 save percentage during the regular season. In the playoffs, Dobes’ numbers have gotten better, with a 2.52 GAA and .910 save percentage, even though he’s started more games and faced more shots than any other goaltender. 

In the aforementioned statistic in the Hurricanes section, where their goalie, Andersen, ranks as the best goaltender in goals saved above expected, Dobes ranks second. Dobes has done that while facing 152 more shots than Andersen. 

If any goaltender can negate the advantage that Andersen gives his team, it’s the version of Dobes we’ve seen in these playoffs.