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Canadiens @ Hurricanes Top Six Minutes: Montreal rings in the new year with a 7-5 win

Both teams were guilty of sloppy play, with Montreal being just slightly better to take a big win.

Posted on by Justin Blades
Jan 1, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; MontrŽal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson (17) celebrates his goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at Lenovo Center. | Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
  • No Mike Matheson for tonight’s games after a late announcement that he has an upper-body injury, likely a concussion from taking Brad Marchand’s forearm to the head.

First period

  • The Canadiens have a bit more jump to begin the game, but perhaps a little too much as they keep messing up their zone entries.
  • The fourth line has a very strong shift to hem the Hurricanes in their own zone and allow for a change on the fly to keep the pressure on. Sammy Blais is still on the ice as Carolina tries to clear the zone, and forces a turnover to get the puck to Nick Suzuki, who fires the puck high off the back bar of the net. He knew immediately that it was in, and the ref agreed.
  • A mere 54 seconds later, Juraj Slafkovský’s line got in on the action. Slafkovský got the zone entry and advanced the puck to Ivan Demidov. Demidov attracted all of the attention as he drove to the net, but tossed it across the ice as he got to the crease and Oliver Kapanen just had to hit the empty net.
  • Blais has had three shifts and made a nice play on all of them. He just halted a Carolina cycle and immediately set up an exit out of the defensive zone.
  • Cole Caufield has the puck come to him in the slot but can’t find the handle and topples over after getting a weak shot away. A three-on-one results when Alexandre Carrier goes down, but a helpful deflection from Lane Hutson allows a shot to go off Jakub Dobeš’s mask and out of play to end the danger.
  • Alexandre Texier tries to lift Nikolaj Ehlers’s stick and catches him in the groin, getting called for slashing. Ehlers makes a miraculous recovery from his middle-upper-lower-body injury to score a few seconds into the power play.
  • Montreal seems to hate mutli-goal differentials with a fiery passion.
  • The game is now tied as Sebastian Aho deflects the puck past Dobeš from the slot. So much for trying to win this game by playing for just the opening five minutes.
  • Brendan Gallagher gets the Canadiens out from under some pressure by playing the puck back behind his net, but then Hutson throws the puck away on the other side. The Hurricanes pick it up, and about three second later they make it 3-2. It’s a total collapse from Montreal.
  • Montreal is getting into trouble by trying to shoot the puck from high in the offensive zone. The Hurricanes are cutting those off an transitioning quickly. Getting the puck low in the zone is how the Habs will work their way back into this game.
  • Just an immature response by Montreal after going up two goals on a good team.

Second period

  • It’s a rough shift to start the second period as Hutson goes off for holding. This hasn’t been his greatest game.
  • 4-2 Carolina.
  • Another quick transition for Carolina leads to a slashing call on Arber Xhekaj.
  • The Canadiens players just aren’t expecting the active sticks the Hurricanes are playing with. They believe they have a couple of seconds to make a play, and that’s not the case.
  • They finally decide to get up ice with puck movement rather than just carrying it, and that’s how they create the 4-3 goal. Gallagher plays the puck ahead, Hutson pokes it into the offensive zone, and Blais is the one who races onto the puck and tucks it past Bussi to continue what has been a very good game for him.
  • It looks like the Habs now believe there’s a chance to win this game. It’s the best they’ve looked since the opening shifts of the first period.
  • They do still need to stop trying to make plays just inside the blue line, though. Carolina is all over those.
  • Hutson and Carrier are having a lot of issues in front of the net tonight, swiping at pucks and missing them, which is leading to extra chances for Carolina.
  • Montreal gets a chance on the power play. I highlighted how poor the Hurricanes have been in this situation, so the Habs need to capitalize here.
  • Caufield hits Bussi with a shot the goaltender didn’t follow, but the puck sticks to the netminder for a whistle.
  • Ironically, the Hurricanes were able to get some zone time on a lazy centre-ice flip from Noah Dobson, but the Canadiens stole the puck at the blue line to go down the ice on a two-on-one. Alexandre Texier got the pass across to Caufield, and Caufield scores against Carolina for the first time in his career, which is hard to believe.
  • Ehlers decides to throw the puck out to his slot to escape from forechecking pressure, and the only player there is Josh Anderson. Anderson shifts around to get on his forehand and puts Montreal back in the lead.
  • There are Junior players watching and shaking their heads at the puck-management in this game.
  • Montreal was the second-most immature team that period, and was able to turn the tables as a result, carrying three unanswered goals into the intermission.
  • You get the feeling that most composed team in the third period will be the one to come away with the win. It will be a test for Montreal.

Third period

  • Let’s hope that a panicky opening 30 seconds aren’t an indicator of how these 20 minutes will be played.
  • Now it’s Carolina’s turn to ice the puck after a great chance from Slafkovský.
  • It seems that Slafkovský is a winger on both the Suzuki line and with his usual rookies. If only they could clone him.
  • Perhaps we need to give the players a little bit of grace for the sloppy play considering the poor state of the ice here, but that doesn’t explain some of the decisions with the puck.
  • Anderson has left the game after hobbling off the ice earlier in the period. It’s tough being a middle-six forward in Montreal.
  • This period is mostly the Hurricanes holding the puck in the offensive zone, but on the perimeter. They have two shots through seven minutes needing a tying goal. Montreal is doing well for the type of in-zone defence they’re playing.
  • Slafkovksý just took the puck from his end into the offensive zone for a shot while being hounded by four Hurricanes players. Impressive work from the Slovak.
  • Suzuki gets a shot on the next shift, and pings it off the post.
  • Not nearly as much pressure on Slafkovský on his latest transition, but no less impressive as it take it all the way to the goal line and forces it through a small hole in Bussi’s coverage to make it 6-4.
  • One last multi-goal lead to try to hold.
  • I have a feeling this performance for Carolina is getting us closer to Marc-André Fleury’s fourth farewell game in Montreal.
  • Gallagher keeps the puck on a two-on-one, but it glances off the edge of Bussi’s pad.
  • Bussi is on the bench with three-and-a-half minutes to play.
  • Aho gets the puck at the side of the net and makes it 6-5. Dobson wasn’t really defending anything on the play.
  • Bussi is back on the bench, and can only watch as Hutson’s shot from behind is own goal line hits the middle of the net he vacated. It’s 7-5 Montreal.
  • The Habs win in Raleigh for the first time since 2016, and now have five of six points on this post-Christmas trip, and eight of 10 since their last home game.
  • Now they head west to play Logan Mailloux and the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) They just keep rotating in effective forwards

2) Thank you for the terrible interview, Shane Wright

1) Just scoring at will

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