First period
- After a solid couple of shifts from Carolina, Juraj Slafkovský gets a good one for Montreal.
- Brent Burns gets a better one, opening the scoring after a short pass across to the slot from Sebastian Aho that he accepted for a mid-range shot.
- So far the puck has only been in Carolina’s zone while Nick Suzuki’s line is on the ice, but they were also on for the goal, so it’s a high-event trio tonight.
- Jayden Struble goes to the net for a rare offensive chance from Montreal. He takes a swinging stick to the face, and the referee, standing 10 feet away and watching the play, decided to call nothing.
- Nick Suzuki gets hauled down in the slot, and somehow managed to maintain his stick-handle to attempt to set up a chance anyway.
- It is the strangest thing to watch every charge up the ice on the power play be a drop-pass and then the instant the penalty expires the Canadiens get back to just having someone skate through the neutral zone and carry the puck over the line.
- The Habs have some issues clearing the puck, and Mike Matheson ends up watching a shot from the point instead of taking one of the two players in his vicinity, and it’s 2-0.
- The fourth line comes onto the ice for a rare time (its first?) and the result is a goal from Mitchell Stephens that turns this into a completely different game. It was all made possible by the speed of Jesse Ylönen to start the play.
- Suzuki and Cole Caufield are using a lot of tricky little stops and starts along the boards, either changing direction or not, to create a lot of the line’s chances in the last few weeks.
- Despite Montreal beginning to control the flow of play, a rush into the Habs’ zone results in a third goal off the leg of Jack Drury. But the Canadiens’ video team saw contact with Primeau’s skate in the crease, and a coach’s challenge was successful in getting the goal taken off the board.
- An interference penalty on Struble moments after the decision put a very dangerous Hurricanes power play on the ice to try to get that goal right back.
- Primeau makes a nice stop on Jordan Staal by tracking the puck and seeing the forward still had it on his backhand.
- The Canadiens go to a late power play as the Hurricanes are having trouble dealing with Montreal’s top line.
- And the game is tied on a great wraparound by Matheson. He saw Raanta jammed up against his near post, and calculated that he could beat him to the other side to put the puck in.
- That will make up for his error on the second goal.
- The first period ends 2-2 with another Habs comeback. If they can keep a long stretch of winning second period going, they will be in great shape for a win.
Second period
- A giveaway from Kaiden Guhle gives Carolina an early lead. He’s just not the same player over the last month, and Justin Barron can’t help him out of it.
- That ends Primeau’s run of allowing two and exactly two goals in his road starts this year. His unbeaten streak away from home is also in jeopardy.
- A great move around a defenceman allows Jordan Harris to get in close for a shot. It creates a long rebound, but no teammate can get to it.
- The Hurricanes are doing a great job of keeping the neutral zone clogged in this period. There isn’t much to write about on the Habs’ side.
- Michael Pezzetta can’t get his stick on a zipped pass from Stephens for an open tip in tight to the net. The fourth line was close to another goal.
- The Christian Dvorak line comes on the ice next, and a point-blank chance is stopped by Raanta.
- Montreal is getting its looks in bunches tonight, between long stints on their own half of the ice.
- Montreal has looked much better in the second half of the period. The crowd seems to be expecting a goal against as it’s gone completely silent.
- Josh Anderson lands a big hit on Seth Jarvis to send the ‘Canes forward to the ice.
- Dvorak sees the puck sitting behind Raanta in the crease, but can’t get to it fast enough to put it in the net.
Third period
- Josh Anderson blocks a shot and races away on a breakaway. He gets just enough on his shot to have it trickle through Raanta to tie the time. There’s no way that would have gone in in the opening two months of the season. It’s a perfect start to the third period, and forces Carolina to rethink its strategy.
- The crowd is right back to dead silence. You’d think the Habs were in Toronto.
- Slafkovský gets take down on a zone entry, and for some reason the whistle blows right away for the penalty with Suzuki in possession. The captain is not happy about having a chance taken away.
- Again, the top line forces Carolina into a penalty.
- Jayden Struble tries to carry the puck out of his zone, and Michael Bunting gets his stick on his hip trying to slow him down, and that’s another penalty. He tries to goad Struble into a matching minor, but the rookie defenceman just laughs at him.
- Primeau comes up with a critical save on a Drury breakaway. After missing it, Drury tried to claim a hooking penalty, but the referees aren’t buying it.
- It turned out to be not so critical, because Andrei Svechnikov scored right off the ensuing faceoff.
- Slafkovský turns back to the point, reaches to push the puck to a defenceman, and meets the upper arm of Stefan Noesen. The big winger goes down heavily, and is taken out of the game by the concussion spotter.
- The Dvorak line gets hemmed in its own way to often. This time it leads to a Carolina power play with just four minutes to play.
- Guhle stops a Hurricanes cycle with a takedown in the corner.
- With 80 seconds on the clock, Primeau makes a great save on a 15-foot shot. That will probably be the last one he faces before going to the bench. He played decently well, but it’s hard to win when allowing four goals.
- Instead there’s a Caufield penalty in the final minute after Matheson failed to get the puck into the Hurricanes’ zone and it came back the other way.
- That’s a 5-3 loss for Montreal with an empty-netter from Svechnikov to complete his hat trick, ending the points streak at five games.
- Montreal is back in action on Saturday, a game versus Florida that will require a better effort.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Brendan Gallagher could really use him
2) That’s multi-goal comebacks/60
1) Power restored
