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GAME 1:
Kevin Weekes made 25 saves for his second consecutive shutout to bring the Carolina Hurricanes to 1-0 in their series against eighth-seeded Montréal. After going two periods without scoring a goal, Hurricanes captain Ron Francis scored 3:49 into the third period. He was followed by rookie Erik Cole at 17:42 for the team's 2-0 victory in Carolina. José Théodore made 35 saves for the Canadiens, who were without defencemen Sheldon Souray and Patrice Brisebois, who were out on injuries.
GAME 2:
Saku Koivu put away the first goal of game two at 7:25 of the first period, and Andrei Markov deked in a backhander at 16:51 to give the Canadiens an early 2-0 lead. Doug Gilmour extended that lead 1:03 into the second period with a power-play goal. In the final seconds of the second period, Rod Brind'Amour scored for the Hurricanes on a 5-on-3 power-play. Unable to continue the scoring, Carolina fell 4-1 to Montréal with Bill Lindsay's empty net goal in the last two minutes of the game. Carolina was without Jeff O'Neill, who was suspended for one game after and incident in game one of the series. Théodore made 45 saves, bringing his total up to 191/197 over the last five games, while Kevin Weekes only stopped 12 in his first career playoff loss.
GAME 3:
Saku Koivu tapped in his third goal of the playoffs to start Montréal off with a 1-0 lead. Carolina's Bates Battaglia evened up the score at 3:24 of the third period, and it was off to overtime. Carolina's impressive overtime record could not help them this time as the crowd was on Montréal's side on home ice. Donald Audette, scoring his sixth goal of the playoffs, closed out the game at 2:26 of the extra period, giving the Canadiens a 2-1 win and lead in the series.
GAME 4:
Kevin Weekes would start for the last time in the 2002 playoffs as Montréal players Andreas Dackell and Yanic Perreault each scored goals 1:02 apart half-way through the first period. #1 goalie Arturs Irbe made his return to the playoffs at the beginning of the second period, and let in just one power-play tap-in from Sergei Berezin at 10:56 before shutting the Canadiens outfor the rest of the game. With a penalty called against Montréal early in the third period, Canadiens coach Michel Therrien recieved a second penalty for "abuse of officials", giving Sean Hill the chance to score on a 5-on-3 advantage at 3:57. Bates Battaglia scored 12:43 into the third to bring the score up to 3-2, and with Irbe pulled for an extra man, Erik Cole forced overtime with 41 seconds remaining. After an OT loss in game three, the Hurricanes got their game back with Niclas Wallin' goal just 3:14 into the extra time.
GAME 5:
With Arturs Irbe back in his position as starting goalie, stopping 30 shots, Carolina took a home ice win to move ahead 3-2 in their series with Montréal. Martin Gelinas scored forthe Canes at 3:17 of the first, and Rod Brind'Amour made his third of the playoffs at 2:13 of the second period to bring the score up to 2-0. Ron Francis got a power-play goal early in the third period, tying Kevin Dineen for most playoff points in franchise history. Tommy Westlund made the score 4-0 at 11:18 of the third, before Karl Dykhuis' slapshot three minutes later finally got Montréal up on the board. Bates Battaglia took the goal back two minutes later for a final score of 5-2 for the Hurricanes, who head back to Montréal to try and eliminate the Canadiens.
GAME 6:
The Montréal Canadiens seemed to fall apart after Erik Cole's goal just 25 seconds into game six of their Eastern Conference semifinals series. Cole received a second goal, his fifth of the playoffs, just over three minutes later, and then Sean Hill, Josef Vasicek, and Kevyn Adams each scored a goal before the first period was finished. Stéphane Quintal managed to get a point for the Canadiens with 11 seconds remaining in the first period, and the team went to the locker room very discouraged. Stéphane Fiset would replace Théodore as goalie for the second period, but was equally ineffective as Battaglia and Hill each scored power-play goals. Jeff O'Neill topped off Carolina's scoring 8 seconds before the third period. Montréal squeaked just one more goal by Arturs Irbe for a score of 8-2. The Canadiens had allowed 17 fatal goals in the last three games, giving up the lead in the series to enable Carolina to move on with a 4-2 tally. The Eastern Conference Finals would see the Hurricanes vs. the Maple Leafs with game one at home in Carolina.
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