2022-23 Regular Season, Game 54: Hurricanes (35-10-8) v. Montreal Canadiens

The weekend of excitement kicks off on a Thursday night as the Hurricanes honor one of the greats of the franchise. After losing their win and point streaks to the Rangers, the Hurricanes traveled to Washington D.C. to face an Ovechkin-less Capitals team. It wasn't the prettiest game for the Canes but they exited with a 3-2 victory over their division rival. The scoring was back and forth through the first two periods with Brent Burns, Paul Stastny, and Stefan Noesen providing the offense for the Canes. Frederik Andersen bounced back beautifully with a 34-save performance to return to his winning way. The special teams were perfect, killing all three penalties they committed while scoring on their only power play. 

Tonight, the franchise inducts Cam Ward to the Hurricanes Hall of Fame as they honor him with a pregame ceremony. No goalie has been more prominent in team history than Ward, leading the franchise in almost every major statistic while also sitting in the top five in GAA and SV%. He was instrumental in both the 2006 and 2009 playoff runs, winning the Conn Smythe as the postseason MVP as the Canes hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2006. It's fitting that the Canes are inducting him against Montreal since the emergence of Ward came following Game 2 of the series with Montreal in 2006. Few people deserve this honor more than he does. This is long overdue for him so my only hope is that the team meets the situation by delivering a win. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Andrei Svechnikov-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Teuvo Teravainen-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Stefan Noesen-Paul Stastny-Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Calvin de Haan-Jalen Chatfield

Antti Raanta

Frederik Andersen

Injuries/Scratches- Dylan Coghlan (healthy)

IR- Max Pacioretty (Achilles), Ondrej Kase (LTIR- concussion)

The Canes will roll the same group with one small change among the forwards. Andrei Svechnikov will swap places with Teuvo Teravainen tonight. The defensive pairs will also remain the same. Antti Raanta gets the nod in the net on this special night as he tries to extend his personal point streak. He's 10-0-2 in his last 12 decisions dating back almost exactly three months. With at least one point tonight, Raanta will break Cam Ward's franchise record with points in 13 straight decisions. 

Tonight's Opponent: Montreal Canadiens (23-27-4, 50 Points, 8th in the Atlantic Division)

Despite sitting in last place in the division and missing half of their team, the Canadiens have come out of the break with three straight wins. The only problem is that they're playing their way out of the lottery for Connor Bedard. Their injuries might catch up with them eventually, but they are thriving right now. They've scored four or more goals in each of their last four games without guys like Cole Caufield, Brendan Gallagher, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Jake Evan in the lineup. Montreal is coming off a 4-0 victory over Chicago on Tuesday night behind a 22-save shutout from Jake Allen. Jonathan Drouin assisted on three of Montreal's four goals, while Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak had a goal and assist each. The game featured two fights, one at the very beginning and one at the very end. I think we're past all of the stuff surrounding Sebastian Aho and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, so I don't think this is going to be as rough as Montreal's game with Chicago. 

Last Season v. Carolina- The Canes dominated the season series last year, winning all three games by a combined 12-1. The first game featured the return of Kotkaniemi to Montreal. He would end his night by scoring his first as a Hurricane, much to the disdain of the Habs fans. Aho finished the night with two goals and three points. They met in Raleigh to finish 2021 and it was all Carolina. They scored all four of their goals on special teams with Teuvo Teravainen scoring twice and Jaccob Slavin adding three assists in a 4-0 shutout victory for Antti Raanta. They met again in Raleigh at the end of March and the Canes blanked the Habs again with Frederik Andersen stopping all 32 shots he faced with Andrei Svechnikov scoring twice as Aho and Teravainen rounded out their excellent seasons against Montreal with their third multi-point games of the season. Aho recorded seven points in three games while Teravainen finished with six. Andersen and Raanta combined to stop 85 of 86 shots across the three games.  

Montreal's Starting Goalie: Sam Montembeault (11-10-2, 3.17 GAA, .909%)- When your backup has better numbers than your starter, maybe it's time to let him take over for a little bit. Montembeault is above .500 this season, already eclipsing his career-high in wins with 11. He can be a bit streaky at times. He's allowed 17 goals in his last five starts but came through with a win over the Islanders on Saturday after allowing three goals. He's faced the Canes three times in his career. He lost his only start against them last season, stopping 34 shots in a 4-0 loss. He faced them twice as a Florida Panther. He made his NHL debut against the Canes on March 2, 2019, in a 4-3 overtime loss, then stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky the next season in a 6-3 loss. 

Montreal Player to Watch: Jonathan Drouin- There has been a lot surrounding Drouin in recent years, largely related to health. He missed a month earlier this season and a few games before the break with an injury but has been playing extremely well lately. Drouin hasn't scored a goal this season but has 17 assists in 31 games, including five assists in his last two, and 12 in his last 12. Historically, he hasn't been great against the Canes but that doesn't mean he can't turn it around tonight. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(MTL) 3:24- Michael Pezzetta (4) (assisted by Rem Pitlick (3) & Jesse Ylonen (4))

(CAR) 12:14- Jesperi Kotkaniemi (9) (assisted by Martin Necas (27) & Brent Burns (28))

(CAR) 14:47- Seth Jarvis (9) (assisted by Sebastian Aho (24) & Andrei Svechnikov (25))

2nd Period

(MTL) 15:01- Rafael Harvey-Pinard (7) PP (assisted by Mike Hoffman (13) & Joel Armia (7))

3rd Period

(CAR) 2:05- Sebastian Aho (24) (assisted by Calvin de Haan (10) & Andrei Svechnikov (26))

(CAR) 3:53- Seth Jarvis (10) (assisted by Brent Burns (29) & Andrei Svechnikov (27))

(CAR) 5:00- Jordan Staal (15) (assisted by Jordan Martinook (16) & Jesper Fast (14))

(CAR) 19:40- Seth Jarvis (11) SH (assisted by Derek Stepan (4))

Let's Talk About the Game

When the two teams went into the locker rooms after the second period, I wasn't sure how this game was going to end considering how big of a night it was and how far down in the standings their opponent is. Suffice it to say, I just needed to give them a little time to get moving because they came to life in the third period and put Montreal to bed in short order. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the ceremony before the game with Tripp Tracy serving as the master of ceremonies. It was extremely classy of Martin St. Louis and the Canadiens to be on the bench during the festivities and Cam Ward's speech was great. The Canes started the game with some good chances but Montreal would strike first. Michael Pezzetta batted his own rebound out of mid-air to get Montreal out front in the first 3:30 of the night. Playing from behind, the Canes kicked up the intensity. The fourth line had a phenomenal shift with several great chances that Sam Montembeault denied. On the other end, Raanta stopped an excellent one-time chance and then got back to stop Nick Suzuki from scoring from behind the net. Jesperi Kotkaniemi got the Canes on the board with a little help from a great board play by Martin Necas. Kotkaniemi sprinted down the ice and elevated over the blocker of Montembeault to tie it up. Just over 2:30 later, the newly reunited top line found some magic. Andrei Svechnikov slid a puck to Sebastian Aho, who in turn made a beautiful pass to Seth Jarvis as he fired it home to take the lead. They were unable to capitalize on the first power play of the night but they went into the locker room up 2-1. 

The second period was very sloppy for both sides as the puck was turned over in the neutral zone for almost 20 minutes. Both teams had their opportunities in transition that never materialized, largely because of solid defensive plays. Kotkaniemi would take a penalty in the neutral zone, throwing Mike Hoffman to the ice, but the kill came up big and never allowed Montreal to get much going. After a continued stretch of rough play for both sides, Montreal was pretty much handed a great chance to tie it up. Svechnikov was given a penalty for cross-checking Justin Barron from behind but upon further assessment, it was a tough call. For a player like Svechnikov amid a goalless drought to make a play to earn a possible breakaway only for it to be taken away on a call like that has to sting a little. Barron was slow to get up and there's no denying it didn't look great but I don't think it was a penalty. As is the case more often than not, this was all Montreal needed to tie the game as Rafael Harvey-Pinard found a soft spot in the defense and buried the puck to knot the game at two. The Canes made another push at the end of the period to try and regain the lead but Montembeault kept the puck out of the net and pushed it to the intermission tied. 

Any concerns about the Canes losing this game evaporated with their start in the third period. In the first five minutes, the game had gone from 2-2 to 5-2 in the Canes' favor and I was able to breathe a little easier. After Mike Matheson got away with the most blatant penalty for playing a puck without his helmet, Aho won a battle in front of Montembeault and buried a rebound 2:05 into the period to put the Canes ahead once again. The onslaught would continue from there as Svechnikov attempted to score a lacrosse goal. Instead, he got the puck to the point for Brent Burns, who dangled through the entire defense before Jarvis jumped on another rebound for his second of the night to push the lead to two goals. 67 seconds later, the captain and his linemates joined the fun as Jordan Staal buried a sweet pass from Jordan Martinook on a 2-on-1 to make it 5-2. The Canes were basically on cruise control the rest of the night. They couldn't connect on either of their power play in the third period but it didn't really matter. Raanta did make one more sterling save near the end of the game to finish an excellent night between the pipes for him. There was only one more matter to attend to and much to the delight of everyone in attendance, Rod Brind'Amour gave Jarvis a chance to kill a late penalty. In the dying seconds, Derek Stepan helped spring Jarvis on a breakaway and the sophomore made no mistake about it. He roofed a backhander past a sprawling Montembeault as the hats rained onto the ice to celebrate the first hat trick in Jarvis' career, the sixth hat trick of the season for the team. The final horn would sound and the Canes would pay homage to Ward with their Storm Surge in a 6-2 victory. 

There wasn't much to dislike about this effort. Sure, you'd like to kill Montreal's spirit before the third period but they wasted little time getting to them to begin the final frame. To defend Montreal for just a second, they are without a ton of their starters, something we'd said about them the last few times we've played them. They played a tough game for two periods and Montembeault was solid despite his final numbers. For the Canes, three of the four lines scored a goal with Derek Stepan making sure the fourth line was accounted for with an assist on the short-handed goal. 11 different Hurricanes recorded a point tonight with Jarvis, Svechnikov, Aho, and Burns all having multi-point nights. Raanta set the new franchise record with points in 13 straight decisions, passing tonight's honoree. Martinook set a new career-high in assists with his helper on Staal's goal. Calvin de Haan has points in three straight games. Jarvis is clearly the star of the night with his hat trick as the Canes now lead the league in hat tricks (6) and short-handed goals (11). They've built some solid momentum as they can now get focused on the spectacle that awaits on Saturday night. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Andrei Svechnikov (3 Assists)

The search for his first goal in 2023 continues but he was productive once again tonight with the second three-assist game of his career, tying his career-high. He had four shots to go along with his three secondary helpers and laid a couple of hits as he finds ways to contribute while the puck alludes the net. The move to the top line with Aho and Jarvis was a good move and will hopefully lead to a goal soon.

Second Star- Brent Burns (2 Assists)

The things that Burns can do at his age and at this stage of his career never cease to amaze me. The play he made that led to Jarvis' second goal looked effortless as if he were a decade younger. His two assists got him to 40 points for the 11th time in his career, making him the fourth Hurricane to do so this season. He's also the 12th defenseman in franchise history to reach the mark. 

First Star- Seth Jarvis (Hat Trick)

While I've never played hockey before, I'd imagine it has to be pretty special to score your first NHL hat trick with your dad in the stands. In a season where scoring hasn't been the easiest for Jarvis, he made it look easy tonight. The short-handed goal he scored to finish the job was highlight-reel material. He's the ninth player to score 10+ goals this season as the team continues to get scoring from everyone.

What's Next

In the history of this franchise, no regular-season game has been more highly anticipated than this one. On Saturday, the Hurricanes will welcome the Washington Capitals not to PNC Arena, but to Carter-Finley Stadium as they host the Stadium Series game. The two teams just met on Tuesday night and like the Canes, the Capitals played tonight. Washington hosted the Panthers in the nation's capital and it was not a fun night. Six different Panthers scored goals in a 6-3 win for Florida. The Panthers held a 4-1 lead through two periods but Washington pushed back with two third-period goals on the power play before Florida put the game away with two empty-net goals. Darcy Kuemper made 30 stops and Erik Gustafsson assisted on all three goals in the loss. They'll enter the game on a three-game losing streak and without Alex Ovechkin following his father's death. They're barely holding onto the final Wild Card spot as Panthers tied them in points with Washington holding a game in hand. Regardless, I'm expecting a spirited effort from them on this big stage. Rivalry games like this bring the best out of both teams.