Wayne Gretzky said what he saw. Hours before Thursday night’s puck drop at Lenovo Center, the greatest scorer in NHL history sat down on The Pat McAfee Show and talked about a Montreal Canadiens team that had survived two Game 7s, absorbed an 8-3 beating in Game 6 against Buffalo, and still found a way to win.
He called them high-octane. He said their best players were playing their best hockey. He said you could feel it through the television. Then the Canadiens went to Raleigh and beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2, scoring four goals in the first period before most of the Lenovo Center crowd had settled into their seats.
Wayne Gretzky Predicted Montreal’s Fearless Run Before the Canadiens Proved Him Right in Game 1
Gretzky was asked about the goaltending matchup before the game. Jakub Dobes, the 24-year-old Czech rookie who has quietly become one of the most important players in this postseason, was up against Frederik Andersen, a 12-year NHL veteran who allowed two goals or fewer in each of his first eight starts this spring.
“I’d probably rather face the rookie because everyone’s human,” Gretzky said. “Until you get in that position, you’re going to be a little bit nervous. But good for him. He’s played it unbelievably.”
NHL legend Wayne Gretzky previews Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Montreal Canadiens vs. the Carolina Hurricanes, on the @patmcafeeshow🏒 pic.twitter.com/bJU5VraJ3L
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 21, 2026
From there, Gretzky turned to the question that had been hanging over this series since the bracket was set. Carolina had been sitting idle since May 9. Twelve days off between series, the longest gap in NHL playoff hockey since 1919. Gretzky has lived that experience, and he did not pretend to have a clean answer for it.
“I can’t figure out this eight, nine-day rest thing, because it happened a few times in my career where we had eight days off,” he said.
“I can remember all of us yelling that we’re going to go seven games next series because we don’t want to skate this much in practice. I don’t have the answer for that one. I think what Carolina has to do is come out the first ten minutes, put their toes in the water, just get comfortable again, get back into that game mode, because it doesn’t matter how much you practice.”
Montreal did not give them ten minutes. Seth Jarvis scored for Carolina at 0:33, the fastest goal of the Hurricanes’ playoff run this year. Cole Caufield answered 27 seconds later, assisted by Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki. Phil Danault made it 2-1 at 4:04. Alexandre Texier scored at 8:11. Ivan Demidov added a fourth at 11:32.
By the time the first period was over, the Canadiens led 4-1, having scored four consecutive goals in a span of 10:32. It marked the fastest stretch of four goals to begin a road playoff game in franchise history.
Dobes stopped 25 of 27 shots on the night. Jaccob Slavin finished minus-4. The Canadiens shot 27.3 percent on 22 shots. Carolina, meanwhile, had 27 shots and converted just two.
“It’s not irrelevant,” Martin St. Louis on the fact that Montreal swept Carolina 3-0 in the regular season.
“(The Hurricanes) play a certain way that’s a little bit different than the rest of the league. They play hard. I don’t think it’s a team that we can outwork to a… pic.twitter.com/e45lMrX2I0
— Claire Hanna (@clahanna) May 21, 2026
It was exactly the start Gretzky had warned about. And the reason he had warned about it was sitting in everything he said before puck drop. “Their enthusiasm and their energy, their best players are playing well, and you can feel it,” he said.
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“You can feel it watching them on TV that they don’t believe they can lose. They got beat 8-3 at home in Game 6 and came back and won Game 7 in overtime in Buffalo, which I couldn’t believe. Marty St. Louis did an incredible job.”
Hurricanes are the 4th team to have 10+ days off between playoff games.
None of the previous 3 teams won their next series
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 21, 2026
Rod Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes are now 0-7 in Game 1s in the Eastern Conference Final all-time. They have never lost a series after going 8-0 in a postseason.
Game 2 is Saturday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh at 7 PM ET. Carolina will need to look nothing like they did Thursday to keep this from slipping away early.
