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Alex Zachman
Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward prepares to stop a shot from Canadiens left wing Charles Hudon during a breakaway in the second period at PNC Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 27 for a 3-1 Carolina win. Ward has won five straight games and is now 8-0-1 in his last 10 games.
Cam Ward is the gift that keeps on giving for the Carolina Hurricanes of late. The veteran goalie won his fifth-straight start, and the Canes picked up their third-straight victory and sixth of seven in a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night at PNC Arena.
Forward Sebastian Aho had two goals for the Canes (17-12-7), with fellow Finn Teuvo Teravainen chipping in his ninth of the season. Ward stopped 23 of 24 Canadiens (16-7-4) shots to continue his hot streak.
Special teams got the job done for Carolina in this one, with the penalty kill going a perfect three for three and Aho’s third-period game winner coming on the power play.
“It’s always a big part of every game,” forward Jordan Staal said. “There’ll be a few games throughout the year where you might lose the special teams battle and still win, but more often than not you’re going to have to win on the power play and PK if you want to win games. Tonight was big from everyone.”
The Canes wasted little time jumping out in front of this one, as defenseman Justin Faulk slid in from the blueline and made a slick backhand feed to Teravainen between the circles, who buried a shot top shelf to make it 1-0 less than four minutes in.
“There was a lot of good things in the game,” head coach Bill Peters said. “It’s tough coming out of the break, you don’t know what you’re going to get. I liked out start. I liked our finish, the fact that we only gave up five shots in the third when the game’s tied at the time. … There’s a lot of things to like.”
With the Canes on a power play with about eight minutes left in the first, it was Montreal that got a golden chance to tie the game, but Ward flashed the pad on forward Max Pacioretty in alone to keep Carolina up by a goal.
“There’s momentum shifts in the game,” Ward said. “Really we were controlling the play right up until that breakaway on Pacioretty. If they score there, it can change the whole momentum of the game. That’s obviously my job, when we have a breakdown, to come up with a save like that, and fortunately tonight I was able to make them.”
Ward again came up big with a little over three minutes to go in the first, denying Habs forward Alex Galchenyuk after a defensive-zone turnover by the Canes.
Montreal tied the game at one a little over five minutes into the second; Galchenyuk snapped a shot over Ward’s glove from the top of the right circle to make it 1-1.
Ward bounced back quickly, stoning Montreal forward Charles Hudon on a breakaway not two minutes later to keep it tied.
“[Ward] was good again,” Peters said. “We didn’t give up much in the first, but when we did it was big. He was huge for us there. Give him credit for obviously looking after himself over the break, coming back and picking up where he left off.”
The Canes did restore their lead on the power play with 10:45 to play, with forward Sebastian Aho sweeping in a rebound on his backhand off a net mouth scramble in front of Habs goalie Carey Price, who stopped 33 of 36 Hurricanes shots, to make it 2-1.
“We had chances on our first power play,” Aho said. “All of them are kind of different plays. We just have to make some plays and when we have chances, put the puck in the net.”
Aho iced the game with an empty netter with 1:24 to play and Price on the bench for an extra skater.
The Canes will wrap up their current three-game homestand with a visit from the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday night.