The Carolina Hurricanes kept their Montreal magic alive on Tuesday night, and they had to work through plenty of turbulence to do it.
Carolina jumped into an early hole, traded punches with the Canadiens all night, and still walked out of Montreal with a 6-4 win in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch. It was the kind of game that swung back and forth so fast it barely gave either side time to settle in. By the end, though, the Canes had enough answers - and enough finish - to make their first trip north of the border this season a successful one.
Jackson Blake helped set the tone early when his shot hit Taylor Hall at the side of the net and caromed in for the opening goal. Montreal answered almost immediately.
Zach Bolduc buried a rebound to tie it, then Nick Suzuki followed 64 seconds later with a knuckler that beat Brandon Bussi and gave the Canadiens the lead. Carolina briefly pulled level again on a fortunate bounce, as Jalen Chatfield’s shot from the wall deflected off Eric Robinson and past Jakob Dobes, but Montreal cashed in on its first power-play chance when Bolduc scored again from in front to make it 3-2 after one.
From there, the Hurricanes started taking control. Sebastian Aho kept his scoring surge rolling with a power-play goal early in the second period, marking his third straight game with a goal on the man advantage. Later in the frame, Carolina’s fourth line came through with a huge shift, and Mark Jankowski finished it off by roofing a backhand bar-down to put the Canes back in front.
That line kept delivering. Eric Robinson and Jankowski each posted multi-point nights, with both players scoring a goal and assisting on the other’s tally.
Taylor Hall, too, finally found the kind of bounce that can turn a night around. He was in the right spot when the puck dropped at his skates, and he slid a backhand along the ice to give Carolina its first two-goal lead.
Montreal made things uncomfortable late when Juraj Slafkovsky trimmed the margin with Dobes on the bench, but Andrei Svechnikov sealed it with the empty-netter.
Bussi’s night followed a familiar arc. The start was rocky, and Montreal’s first-period damage made it look like Carolina might be chasing the game all night.
He couldn’t do much on Suzuki’s goal, but Bolduc’s power-play finish late in the opening period was one he’ll want back. Still, Bussi settled in.
Carolina gave up only four shots in the second period, and he stopped them all. In the third, he handled nine of 10 Montreal chances, including a few important stops down the stretch.
The final numbers won’t jump off the page, but he got the win, and that’s the part that matters.
Aho and Svechnikov continue to look dangerous every time they step over the boards. Aho has now put up points in three straight games and factored into seven of Carolina’s 11 goals this season.
He scored his fourth goal of the year Tuesday, which puts him atop the league, and he added two assists, including the feed that set up Svechnikov’s empty-netter. Svechnikov, meanwhile, has been generating plenty without much reward until now.
He entered the game with 12 shots and no goals, but he finally broke through to finish things off.
The Hurricanes now head home still looking for their first win in Raleigh this season, with a home date against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night at the Lenovo Center. After that, they’re right back on the road for another back-to-back, visiting Chicago on Saturday and Philadelphia on Sunday.
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Hall provided the finishing touch more than once, Aho kept the offense moving and Svechnikov delivered the goal that helped put the result away. It was the sort of rivalry game that got wild in stretches and tested Carolina in the kind of way coaches usually like to see in November, a reminder that when the Hurricanes are skating well and forcing the issue, they can still look every bit like a team nobody wants to run into later. [Read more 🡒]