Carolina Is 5-0 in Overtime This Postseason. Montreal Should Be Terrified.

Carolina is one win from the Stanley Cup Final. That part you probably knew. But diddja notice the overtime record?

The Kid sent over the numbers and the pattern is absurd: Carolina is 5-0 in overtime during these playoffs. They are the fourth team in NHL history to win at least their first five overtime games in a single postseason. They won Games 2 and 3 of this very series in overtime. If Montreal forces extra time in an elimination game tonight, the math says bet Carolina.

Here's what makes it worse for the Canadiens: they are not generating offense. Montreal managed 16 shots in Game 4. Sixteen. The Kid pulled it up and Carolina's shot total from Game 4 alone — 42 — equals Montreal's combined shot totals from Games 2, 3, and 4. The Canadiens have been held to fewer than 19 shots in each of the last three games. This is the same team that went 7-2 on the road in these playoffs before this series. The same team that won Game 7s in Tampa and Buffalo in hostile buildings. They are not getting chances.

Frederik Andersen recorded his fifth career playoff shutout in Game 4, sole possession of the franchise record. The man is 11-1 in these playoffs with a 1.58 GAA. He's allowed 19 goals in 12 games. But here's the thing — he hasn't had to be spectacular because he hasn't been tested. Andersen has faced 18 or fewer shots in six straight games. Carolina's defensive structure is so suffocating that the goaltending almost becomes incidental.

The backstory adds another layer. Claude Lemieux, Andersen's agent and close friend, passed away earlier this week. Lemieux had served as the Canadiens' torchbearer for Game 3 in Montreal. Andersen called him family. The next time Andersen took the ice, he put up a shutout. That's not data. That's something else.

Montreal's path tonight is narrow: score first (Carolina has opened scoring in all four games of the series), maintain defensive discipline (good luck — they've been outshot by an average of nearly 20 shots per game in the last three), and if you force overtime, somehow become the first team to beat these Hurricanes in extra time this postseason.

Carolina is listed around -232 on the moneyline. That seems about right. The Hurricanes are -170 to score first. Given that they've done it in all four games, that also seems about right.

Game 5. Tonight. 8pm ET. Carolina can clinch a date with Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final. If Montreal forces overtime, I'm betting the Hurricanes anyway. The pattern is the pattern.