BBC Line Holds Strong for Carolina

MONTREAL —  Carolina didn’t want to play a seventh game against the Montreal Canadiens. The BBC line made sure that didn’t happen.

Rookie Erik Cole, the “C” in Carolina’s high-scoring line that also includes Rod Brind’Amour and Bates Battaglia, scored twice in the first 3 minutes 33 seconds Monday night and the Hurricanes blitzed Montreal for five first-period goals en route to an 8-2 victory that clinched the best-of-seven playoff series in front of 21,000 at the Molson Centre.

“We said that we wanted to come out and try to get the momentum right away and take the crowd out of the game, but we never expected it to be like that,” Cole said. “It’s just what’s been going on the last couple of games, where we’re fortunate to get the bounces.”

It was the first victory in six playoff games against the Canadiens for the franchise, which entered the league in 1979 as the Hartford Whalers and moved to North Carolina five years ago. Montreal won two Game 7s of those series with overtime goals.

“I think we’ve taken steps every year,” said Carolina captain Ron Francis, who was Hartford’s first choice in the 1981 draft and is in his second stint with the club. “This year we’ve taken some big steps, there’s no question. This is the best and deepest team we’ve had.”

Carolina will make the franchise’s first appearance in the conference finals, against either Toronto or Ottawa. That series is tied, 3-3, with the seventh game tonight at Toronto.

“For me, it’s the first time in my career, so it’s certainly nice to be on the winning end against these guys,” said Francis, whose assist on Battaglia’s second-period goal gave him a team-record 32 career playoff points, one more than Kevin Dineen.