For the Carolina Hurricanes, the stakes couldn’t have been any lower. For the Montreal Canadiens, the stakes couldn’t have been any higher. The Hurricanes entered the game with their playoff seed locked up while the Canadiens needed a point to clinch the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
With a postseason spot on the line, the Canadiens (40-31-11) secured a playoff birth with a 4-2 win over the Hurricanes (47-29-5) Wednesday night at the Bell Centre.
With Carolina’s playoff series against the New Jersey Devils set to start in less than a week, head coach Rod Brind’Amour rested seven starters. To fill those spots, Carolina called up four players from its AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. Center Skylar Brind’Amour — Rod’s son — and defenseman Domenick Fensore made their NHL debuts.
Meanwhile, left wing Bradly Nadeau, who leads the AHL in goals and the Canes’ 2023 first-round pick, appeared in his second professional game along with defenseman Riley Stillman, who’s played in three other games this season. The only prospect the Hurricanes were missing was their top one, Alexander Nikishin, who is still trying to sort out his visas. Nikishin will most likely join the team for the playoffs.
While the baby Canes were being thrown into the fire against a desperate team, they didn’t back down to a Montreal team that had everything to lose. Carolina outshot the Canadiens 29-20 and laid out more hits.
Though in the opening minutes of the first period, the Candiens were flying around, and the Hurricanes did look outmatched.
Just under four minutes into the opening frame, Montreal defenseman Kaiden Guhle ripped a shot from the right faceoff circle past goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov for a 1-0 lead. But it didn’t take long for the Canes to settle in.
After weathering Montreal’s early attack, left wing Taylor Hall evened the score at the midway point of the first. Defenseman Sean Walker dropped off a pass to Hall in the crease that deflected off a Canadiens’ skate. Seeing the puck the whole way, Hall retrieved the loose puck and immediately shot one past goaltender Sam Montembeault to even it at 1-1.
Carolina carried that momentum into the second period, outshooting Montreal 14-5, but the Canadiens made their shots count. Despite controlling most of the game in the middle frame, the Canadiens scored on two of their five shots while the Hurricanes couldn’t net one as they entered the third down 3-1.
Despite having nothing to play for other than pride, Carolina brought it to Montreal in the final 20 minutes, outshooting the playoff-hungry team 11-6. The Hurricanes even put some pressure on the Canadiens, bringing the score within one with over five minutes left in the third period.
With Nadeau screening Montembeault, defenseman Dmitry Orlov fired a shot toward the net from the blue line. Nadeau tipped the shot off of Montembeault, and center Tyson Jost collected the loose puck and stuffed it into the back of the net to make it 3-2. It marked the first career point of Nadeau’s career, who was just named to the AHL All-Rookie Team.
As the Hurricanes pushed for the equalizer in the final minutes, they pulled Kocketkov. Instead of tying it up with the extra attacker, Montreal iced the game when it scored on the empty net with less than two minutes to go.
With one game left to go in the regular season, expect Carolina to roll out a similar lineup tomorrow against the Ottawa Senators. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.
