The NHL Playoffs are drawing closer as each game goes by. The Carolina Hurricanes are down to 10 games left after tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. The Hurricanes looked to get a revenge win to even the season series after losing 4-0 in Montreal on Feb. 25. Furthermore, they hoped to extend their lead in the battle for the second seed in the playoffs. The Canadiens looked to take a 2-0 season series lead and distance themselves in the Eastern Conference wild card race. As the final horn sounded, the Hurricanes defeated the Canadiens 4-1.
Game Recap
The first period felt like an eternity as there were multiple goals, penalties, and scrums. Josh Anderson got the Canadiens on the board just 23 seconds into the game, beating Frederik Andersen to make it 1-0. One shot, one goal for the visitors. However, their lead did not last long as Jackson Blake scored his 12th of the season, snapping a 22-game goalless streak, just 18 seconds later to tie the game 1-1. There were two scrums after the Canadiens went after Dmitry Orlov, who made a clean hip check on Anderson. Then, David Savard went after Sebastian Aho when the Finnish forward took an extra poke at Sam Montembeault. After all that, the score stayed 1-1 after 20 minutes of play.
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In the second period, it was all Hurricanes as they scored two goals in 2:24 to take a 1-1 game and make it a 3-1 lead. Taylor Hall scored his eighth goal with the Hurricanes, his fifth in the last three games, to make it 2-1 on the power play. That was his fourth power-play goal since March 15. He is red-hot right now for Carolina. What a way to celebrate playing in his 900th career NHL game. Then, not long after, Sebastian Aho scored his 27th goal of the season to make it 3-1. A great play by Blake in the neutral zone set up the play to find Seth Jarvis, who sauced a beautiful pass to Aho. The secondary assist gave Blake his third point of the game, his first-ever three-point game of his career, as a rookie. The first line of Aho, Blake, and Jarvis gave them a combined two goals and five assists in the first two periods.
In the third period, not much happened as the Hurricanes went into cruise control. While the Canadiens outshot the Hurricanes 8-5, the home team held them at bay, keeping their two-goal lead. Aho did make a huge play getting the puck off the line as it almost went in. That was a clutch moment to keep it 3-1. Andrei Svechnikov, in his first game back since missing the last seven games due to injury, scored an empty net goal to make it 4-1. As the final horn sounded, the Hurricanes won their 44th game of the season and saw their home record go up to 28-8-1 on the season.
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It was an overall great team effort for the Hurricanes as they look to keep the rest of the Eastern Conference at bay as they look to snag the second spot in the playoffs. They have Saturday off before they have a big Metropolitan Division tilt on Sunday.
Getting Closer to April
The Hurricanes (44-24-4) are back at it on Sunday, March 30, as they have a division battle at home against the New York Islanders (32-29-10). The game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. Eastern puck drop. Regarding the Canadiens (33-30-9), they travel to Sunrise, Florida to take on the Florida Panthers (43-25-3) on Sunday, March 30 as well. That game is set to start at 1 p.m. Eastern.
