Despite the ramifications, the Montreal Canadiens’ 4-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre had to feel good for the home side. It was their second in a row coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break. It was also goalie Sam Montembeault’s first career win (and shutout) over the Hurricanes in now-seven career starts against them.
On top of that, captain Nick Suzuki scored his first-ever goal (and second point) in 13 career games against the Hurricanes as well. That put the Canadiens up 3-0 midway through the second period on the power play. On the play, Patrik Laine found an open Suzuki, who put it past Hurricanes goalie Frederik Anderson with a shot from the faceoff circle.
Game Recap
Both Suzuki and Laine scored three points on the night. Suzuki also tallied a point on Juraj Slafkovsky’s eventual game-winning goal eight minutes into the first, when the latter tipped home a shot from Jayden Struble. Laine meanwhile deflected in an Alexandre Carrier point shot that took another bounce off a stick in front for good measure to fool Andersen.
With Laine’s goal, the Canadiens went up 2-0 at 17:37 of the first. Laine and Suzuki also assisted on Lane Hutson’s insurance marker, which closed the scoring at 10:22 of the third. Hutson’s goal, which resulted from a seeing-eye point shot that eluded Andersen, came on the power play with Jalen Chatfield off for holding Josh Anderson, who had gone awkwardly into the boards on the play. Anderson subsequently left the game.
Anderson potentially adds to the Canadiens’ injury woes, with both Kirby Dach and Kaiden Guhle out with lower-body injuries and Emil Heineman having just returned from off the shelf after having gotten hit by a car last month. The Canadiens had called up prospect Owen Beck from the American Hockey League in the days leading up to the game to compensate. Beck started the game on the second line between Alex Newhook and Laine, Dach’s usual spot.
Montembeault made 20 saves to earn the blank sheet for the Canadiens, his fourth shutout of the season. Andersen countered with 14 saves on 18 shots for the Hurricanes.
Despite the injury concerns, the now-27-26-5 Canadiens look to nonetheless keep their momentum going when they host the last-place San Jose Sharks on Thursday. The Hurricanes, who are now 33-21-4, next host the Buffalo Sabres, also on Thursday. Of note, the Sabres then play the Habs in a home-and-home series starting in Buffalo next Saturday and concluding next Monday, March 3 in Montreal.
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