Svechnikov lifts Hurricanes past Canadiens in overtime, take 2-1 lead

Carolina did not need a fluky bounce to tilt the Eastern Conference final. It used the same postseason formula that has carried the Hurricanes all spring: depth, pressure, structure and late composure. Andrei Svechnikov finished off a 3-2 overtime win over the Canadiens at 14:06, giving Carolina back-to-back 3-2 overtime victories and a 2-1 lead in the series.

The margins in the final score masked how thoroughly Carolina controlled the game. Shayne Gostisbehere and Taylor Hall scored in regulation, Frederik Andersen stopped 11 shots, and the Hurricanes outshot Montreal 38-13 at Bell Centre before an announced crowd of 20,962. The game lasted 3:11, but the flow suggested a much wider gap than the scoreboard showed.

That pattern has become the story of Carolina’s playoff run. The Hurricanes are 5-0 in overtime in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they have now won Games 2 and 3 of this series by identical 3-2 scores in extra time. Taylor Hall pointed to the team’s 11-day layoff before Game 3 and said, “You’re seeing that the rust is off.” Rod Brind’Amour described the group more simply, saying Carolina has “a good group” and that the players “play hard for each other.”

For Montreal, the pressure now shifts sharply. The Canadiens came into the series as the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division after surviving 14 games through the first two rounds, including a 3-2 overtime win in Game 7 over Buffalo. Carolina, the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference, had swept Ottawa and Philadelphia and had not allowed more than two goals in any of its first eight playoff games. That defensive edge, paired with balanced scoring, has made close games look increasingly one-sided in Carolina’s favor.

The Canadiens had swept the regular-season series 7-5, 5-2 and 3-1, but that has not translated into the playoffs. Lane Hutson said Montreal “definitely have another level,” while also acknowledging Carolina is “a good team.” Game 4 is set for Wednesday, May 27, at 8 p.m. ET in Montreal, and if the Canadiens cannot break Carolina’s pattern of closing tight games, the Hurricanes will head deeper into the series with a cushion that is getting harder to erase.