BROSSARD, Que. — The holes were gaping, and they were thoroughly exposed to everyone by the end of the Montreal Canadiens’ promising run to within three wins of the Stanley Cup Final.

But president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes didn’t need to watch their team get dismantled by the Carolina Hurricanes to see them. Those two didn’t enter the playoffs under any illusions, and they certainly weren’t suffering delusions of grandeur after the Canadiens beat the Hurricanes 6-2 in Game 1 of the semis before losing the next four by a combined score of 16-5.

“Had you told us before the year that we’d get 106 points and make the Eastern Conference Final,” said Hughes, “I don’t know if I would’ve believed that.”

Not without an established second-line centre to balance Nick Suzuki’s overwhelming responsibilities while maximizing Ivan Demidov’s enormous offensive potential; not without a seasoned, high-quality, right-handed defence partner for superstar lefty Lane Hutson; not without two more big, tenacious, intimidating depth wingers; and especially not without the young players on the Canadiens having a deeper understanding of what it takes to win the Cup.

It's arguable the pain-hardened Hurricanes might not even know. Even if they finally got past the stage they’ve stumbled on three times in recent years.

But it sure looks like they do get it now.

The Hurricanes also don’t have a single hole left to patch.

Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis weren’t forced in the Hurricanes’ 12-1 stampede to the Cup Final to be the offensive catalysts they were in the team’s 113-point regular season because Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake have taken on much of the burden while freeing up the bottom-six forwards to punish the opposition with their physicality and intensity. And the dynamic directly in front of goaltender Frederik Andersen is similar, with top-pairing defenders Jaccob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield buoyed by K’Andre Miller and Sean Walker, who have insulated third-pairing defenders Shayne Gostisbehere and Alexander Nikishin.

You combine that lineup composition with the Hurricanes learning from every humbling defeat to invest like they never........

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