MONTREAL — It was an ominous statement from Joe Veleno, though it wasn’t meant to be.

When the Montreal Canadiens forward said — just one day after Game 3 of this Eastern Conference Final — that the Carolina Hurricanes were applying so much pressure that it felt at times like they had six players on the ice, he was just trying to credit his opponents. There was no way of knowing to what extent he was also providing a window into his team’s psyche.

We didn’t pick up on it in the moment, either.

But the first 20 minutes of Game 4 revealed the damage done over the Canadiens' first consecutive losses in these playoffs. They expected so much pressure that they buckled even when they weren’t under it, ultimately feeding the Hurricanes 10 scoring chances off turnovers and spotting them a 3-0 lead through the first period.

“Not an easy team to play catch-up hockey against,” said Martin St. Louis after his Canadiens lost 4-0 to go down 3-1 in the series, extending their inexplicably bad post-season record at the Bell Centre to 2-8.

He made changes in the second period that he probably should’ve opted for in the first, and they led to more scoring chances.

But those disappeared in a third period that saw the Canadiens fumble in every zone before finally notching their first shot with 2:53 to........

© Sportsnet