2022-23 Regular Season, Game 75: Hurricanes (47-18-9) at Montreal Canadiens

The Hurricanes were deprived of a point on Thursday night after allowing the game-winning goal with 3.2 seconds left in the third period as they dropped a game to the Red Wings that they probably should've won. After allowing a goal in the first minute of the first, Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin scored in the second period to give the Canes the lead. Detroit got one back on the power play and the game would remain tied at two until Jake Walman eventually scored in the final seconds. Frederik Andersen played well despite allowing three goals, making some huge stops in the third to keep the game tied. While they probably should've earned the point, they got nothing out of it as the lead in the division shrunk to one point. Tonight, they begin a back-to-back by traveling north of the border for the third and final meeting of the season with Montreal. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Jordan Martinook-Sebastian Aho-Martin Necas

Stefan Noesen--Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Jesse Puljujarvi

Jack Drury-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Derek Stepan-Paul Stastny-Seth Jarvis

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Shayne Gostisbehere-Jalen Chatfield

Antti Raanta

Frederik Andersen

Injuries/Scratches- Teuvo Teravainen(healthy), Calvin de Haan (healthy), Dylan Coghlan (healthy),

IR- Andrei Svechnikov (Torn ACL), Max Pacioretty (Achilles), Ondrej Kase (concussion)

Antti Raanta will return to the lineup tonight after leaving his last start, ironically enough against Montreal, with a lower-body injury. He allowed two goals on ten shots to the Canadiens and was injured after making a tough stop. He would be replaced after the first period but his point streak remains intact. Teuvo Teravainen will miss his second straight game with an illness. 

Tonight's Opponent: Montreal Canadiens (30-40-6, 66 Points, 8th in the Atlantic)

If the season ended today, Montreal would have the fifth-best odds of winning the draft lottery. Despite missing the last 30 games, Cole Caufield still leads the team in goals with 26. Since meeting just under a month ago, Montreal is just 4-7-1 and including their wins, they've allowed three or more goals in 11 of those 13 games. Their penalty kill has also been struggling, allowing 12 goals on 36 chances (66.7%, third-worst in the league during that span). They've lost their last two games, falling 5-2 to the Panthers on Thursday night. Sean Farrell scored in his NHL debut early in the game before Florida scored four unanswered, with two each from Matthew Tkachuk and Anton Lundell. Rafael Harvey-Pinard scored late on the power play to make it look close before Tkachuk finished his hat trick into the empty net to put the nail in the coffin. I mentioned the stat about Caufield still leading in goals because it highlights how the team has needed to get scoring from everyone. Harvey-Pinard has 14 goals since being called back up, the most since Caufield's injury and the fifth-most on the team this season. However, Harvey-Pinard is going to miss today's game. 

Last Meeting v. Carolina- The Canes and the Habs met in Montreal on February 7 and Montreal looked pretty good for most of the night. Alex Belzile and Mike Hoffman got Montreal out to a 2-0 lead but Jaccob Slavin responded to Hoffman's goal 15 seconds later to get the Canes back in it. Brady Skjei scored 1:00 into the second period before Michael Pezzetta scored 1:49 later to put Montreal back ahead. The Habs would lead 3-2 for most of the remainder of the game until Jesper Fast picked up a rebound just outside of the crease to beat Jake Allen and tie it with 3:38 left to force overtime. Neither team scored in five minutes, so things would be decided in a shootout. Teuvo Teravainen extended the shootout in the bottom of the third as Allen and Frederik Andersen traded saves. In the bottom of the sixth, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, as he was showered with boos, ended it over Allen's shoulder to secure two points for the Canes. 

Montreal's Starting Goalie: Sam Montembeault (15-15-3, 3.30 GAA, .904 SV%)- Despite allowing four goals on Thursday, Montembeault will be back in the crease for the Canadiens. He's split his last four decisions, allowing two goals in each of the two games before Thursday and winning both starts. Montembeault was in the net for the Cam Ward Hall of Fame game in February right before the Stadium Series game. He allowed six goals on 41 shots that night, four in the third period and three to Seth Jarvis in a 6-2 loss for Montreal.

Montreal Player to Watch: Mike Matheson- Over the last ten games, Matheson has started to find his stride offensively. He has points in eight of those ten games and 11 points overall during this most recent stretch, including a three-point night one week ago against Columbus. Almost half of his points this season (30) came in March (14). While it is mostly setting up his teammates, he's also scored three times. Matheson is scoreless in both games against Carolina this season. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 6:00- Brady Skjei (17) (assisted by Paul Stastny (13) & Brett Pesce (25))

2nd Period

(CAR) 10:51- Paul Stastny (9) (assisted by Brent Burns (42) & Seth Jarvis (21))

(CAR) 16:27- Sebastian Aho (34) PP (assisted by Stefan Noesen (20) & Jack Drury (4))

3rd Period

None

Let's Talk About the Game

This was wire-to-wire domination from the Hurricanes tonight. The final score being 3-0 isn't going to fully capture how dominant it was but the final shots being 50-14 might do the trick. Sam Montembeault deserves some love because while he did allow three goals, he made 47 shots and had to spend almost all night defending because the Canes gave him no room to get a breather. He played two good games against the Canes this season. His statline will reflect nine goals allowed in two games but he faced 91 shots in those two games. Otherwise, Montreal didn't really show up for this game. They never had more than five shots in a period, with the Canes leading 18-5 in shots after the first and 36-10 after the second. Brady Skjei wasted very little time getting the Canes ahead in this one. The game didn't reach the first commercial break before Skjei unloaded a wrister from the point through layers of traffic after fanning on his initial attempt. Montembeault went one way and the puck went the other way as he scored his 17th of the season and netted the 52nd goal from the defense, a new franchise record. It turned into a shooting gallery for the Canes after that and Montembeault was ready for the challenge. The period ended 1-0 but it felt like the Canes could've been up by much more. 

Montreal seemed to show a little life at the beginning of the second period on both ends of the ice. Mike Matheson rang the outside of the post in the offensive end and Seth Jarvis was denied with an open net by a defender's stick in the defensive zone. Otherwise, it was much like the first period for the Canes. Jordan Staal completely missed the net on a breakaway chance after Brent Burns fooled the entire defense to spring the captain. The Canes would finally find the second goal as Burns threw a puck at the net and it was deflected past Montembeault by Paul Stastny just past the halfway point in the period. Skjei would be called for a penalty to send the Canes on the kill for the first time as Montreal looked to find a spark. There would be no spark found as the Canes continued to look like the league's second-best kill. Better yet, they'd earn a power play shortly after the kill. After coming up empty on plenty of chances, it looked like they were going to get a 5-on-3 as Martin Necas was hauled down by Johnathan Kovacevic. Instead, the Canes continued to play and would eventually find the back of the net again as Sebastian Aho buried a pass from Stefan Noesen to make it 3-0. The Canes would still get the call on Kovacevic but it would be killed as the Canes skated into the locker room up by three. From there, the Hurricanes settled in defensively, keeping Antti Raanta from having to work hard in his return to the lineup. They would continue to push offensively, failing to put a fourth goal past Montembeault. It wouldn't really matter because after killing their third penalty of the night, the Canes ran the clock down to earn Raanta his fourth shutout of the season and push his point streak to 16 games. 

There are games where a two or three-goal lead doesn't feel safe. Tonight, it never really felt like the Canadiens were going to give the Canes any trouble. Montreal is playing with less than a full deck right now with several of their stars out with injuries. Still, the Canes held Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, and Mike Hoffman without a shot, while Nick Suzuki had just two and Denis Gurianov had one. Meanwhile, the Canes' defense alone finished with 25 shots by themselves. Jesper Fast was the only skater for the Canes to not put a shot on Montembeault but he did record a team-high three hits. The bottom six of the Canes looked impressive. The Staal line with Fast and Jack Drury was excellent and the fourth line with Jarvis was also impressive, contributing to two of the three goals. The top six looked fine too. The defense was firing at will all night. Raanta made saves when he needed to but was largely there for show. 14 shots are tied for the fewest the Canes have allowed this season and the other time it happened, they didn't allow a shot to Tampa Bay for an entire period. By my unofficial count, the Canes' +36 shot differential is their third-highest of the season, behind their +42 against Nashville 
(a 4-3 loss) and +37 against Anaheim (a 3-2 loss). Usually, we'd be talking about the staggering shot differential after a Canes' loss, so this is a nice change of pace. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Seth Jarvis (Assist)

He might be haunted by the goal he should've had in the second period but breaking an eight-game scoreless drought has to be a good feeling. Jarvis picked up the secondary assist on Stastny's goal and he looked very good on the fourth line. While it could be seen as a demotion, the fourth line has consistently been one of the team's best in the last few weeks, so this could help him regain his confidence. 

Second Star- Brent Burns (Assist)

Tonight must've felt like target practice for Burns as he continued to throw the puck on the net all night. He didn't score a goal but he had one of his attempts deflected for a goal, so there's something on the scoresheet. He led the team with eight shots tonight, tying his season high. He's moved into third on the team in points as he continues to add to his franchise record. 

First Star- Paul Stastny (Goal, Assist)

After initially looking like he was going to be the healthy extra, Stastny put up a multi-point night, his second of the season. Like Jarvis, Stastny broke an eight-game drought as he scored for the first time since the Arizona game. He's now just one goal away from joining a large group of players with 10+ goals. It was a good night for the fourth line and Stastny was the brightest of the group tonight.

What's Next for the Canes

It'll be a quick turnaround as the Canes will hop on the plane and head home for a division meeting with the New York Islanders at PNC Arena tomorrow night. The Islanders will be traveling tonight following a 5-0 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ilya Sorokin started but was pulled after just over a period and a half for Semyon Varlamov after allowing four goals on 21 shots. Before the game, I would've been certain Varlamov would get the start tomorrow but now I'm not sure. From there, the Canes will play their penultimate home game on Tuesday night against Ottawa before a three-game road trip with stops in Nashville, Buffalo, and Ottawa. After that, there will only be two games left, a home tilt with Detroit and the finale in Sunrise against the Panthers. 

What's Next for the Teams in the Playoff Hunt

New Jersey (104 Points, 1 Point Behind Carolina for 1st)- The Devils continued to apply the pressure to the Canes by beating Chicago 6-3 on the road tonight. They'll complete a back-to-back by traveling to face a struggling Winnipeg team tomorrow. 

New York (R) (99 Points, 5 Points Behind NJ for 2nd)- After losing to New Jersey on Thursday, the Rangers had to settle for one point in a 3-2 overtime loss to Buffalo in Devon Levi's NHL debut. New York will be in action tomorrow afternoon against Washington. 

New York (I) (87 Points, 1st WC, the Canes' current 1st round opponent)- It was not a fun night in Tampa for the Islanders tonight as they fell 5-0. Ilya Sorokin was lifted in the second period and could get the start tomorrow night when the Islanders travel to Raleigh. 

Florida (85 Points, 2nd WC, 2 Points back of NY)- Behind a quartet of goals from Carter Verhaeghe, the Panthers dismantled Columbus 7-0 tonight. They jump the Penguins for the 2nd WC after winning the final three games on their road trip as they now will be off until Tuesday when they host Buffalo.

Pittsburgh (84 Points, 1 Point out of the WC with a game in hand)- It was going to be a hard job for Pittsburgh as they battled the President's Trophy champs, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Bruins. They could jump back into the 2nd WC spot with a win over Philadelphia tomorrow.