RALEIGH, N.C. — As the Carolina Hurricanes celebrated on the ice after clinching their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 20 years, Rod Brind’Amour embraced his players while reminding them another series awaited.
Veteran forward Jordan Martinook then approached his coach.
“All right, Marty, you got us here,” Brind’Amour told him.
“One more,” Martinook replied, on cue. “Yep, one more.”
After eight seasons with Brind’Amour at the helm — the former captain who led Carolina to the Cup in 2006 — the team finally overcame their Eastern Conference Final obstacle by eliminating the Montreal Canadiens in five games Friday night. The breakthrough was especially meaningful for five players who endured three previous conference final losses since 2019 when Brind’Amour began coaching: Martinook, captain Jordan Staal, forwards Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, and defenseman Jaccob Slavin.
“It’s hard to really describe,” Staal said as he sat at his locker. “It’s been a lot of grinding, a lot of ups and downs. … I’m just so happy to be where we’re at and just excited for the opportunity ahead.”
Carolina’s transformation started when Brind’Amour was promoted to head coach in 2018 following seven years as an assistant. The Hurricanes were stuck in a nine-year playoff absence at that time.
They’ve qualified for the postseason every year since. The five core players have remained throughout Brind’Amour’s entire tenure:
— Staal joined Carolina from Pittsburgh during the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He captured the Cup with the Penguins in 2009 — including a sweep of the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final while Brind’Amour was still playing — but endured six seasons without playoffs in Carolina.
— Slavin was selected in the fourth round of 2012 and had spent three years with Carolina before emerging as one of the league’s premier defensive defensemen.
— Aho was chosen in the second round of 2015 and had two seasons with Carolina while developing into the team’s top-line center.
— Carolina obtained Martinook from Arizona shortly after Brind’Amour’s appointment, acquiring a player who would form a strong checking line with Staal.
— Carolina selected Svechnikov second overall a month following Brind’Amour’s promotion, with Svechnikov becoming a physical presence alongside Aho.
Success came quickly. Carolina eliminated defending Cup champion Washington in a seven-game opening round, then made a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Final before Boston swept them.
It marked the beginning of both sustained achievement and repeated disappointment.
The Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference Final again in 2023, this time holding home-ice advantage against the Florida Panthers. However, they suffered another sweep in four one-goal contests, including a four-overtime marathon in Game 1.
Last year brought a rematch that quickly deteriorated. They dropped Games 1 and 2 in performances that frustrated their typically energetic home crowd, fell behind 0-3 in the series and were eliminated in five games.
That left Carolina with a 1-12 record in that round under Brind’Amour, unable to convert years of regular-season consistency into postseason advancement. It contributed to the “scar tissue” Martinook referenced Friday night, shared by the five core players with Brind’Amour and holdovers like assistant coach Jeff Daniels and longtime video coach Chris Huffine.
“They’ve really grinded out and did it the right way,” Brind’Amour said, “and took a lot of, I think, flack for getting this far and not getting past it. Unduly. I don’t think that was right, because they played as hard as they could. … They gave it everything they had, and that’s all you can ask.
“We got better this year, we added some pieces that made us better to get us to this point. But as a coach, you watch these guys every day, there’s nobody luckier than me to have these guys, the way they approach their business on a daily basis, not just now.”
That dedication was most evident against Montreal.
The Hurricanes swept Ottawa and Philadelphia in the opening two rounds, earning an 11-day break between rounds — the longest playoff intermission in over a century. They emerged with a terrible start against the Canadiens, who scored four first-period goals in a 6-2 victory that recalled previous conference final struggles.
Rather than collapse, the experienced Hurricanes rallied.
Nikolaj Ehlers delivered a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 2. They captured Game 3 by the same overtime margin on Svechnikov’s road winner, with Aho providing a screen on Jakub Dobes at the crease. From there, they found their suffocating style that Staal compared to a “machine,” winning 4-0 on the road before Friday’s 6-1 home triumph.
Carolina became the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Final with just one loss since 1983, according to SportRadar, and the first to accomplish this feat since the league adopted best-of-seven series for all four playoff rounds in 1987.
Now they face Vegas for the Cup, a rare new chapter for Carolina’s core group in this extended journey.
“I feel like it was more maybe you guys talking about, ‘Oh, this is the Eastern Conference Final, can’t go past it,’” Aho told reporters in the locker room afterward. “I thought the room was definitely very confident in what we can do. But yeah, it feels good to play for the Cup now.”
