The Carolina Hurricanes ushered in the new year and decade with an all-around team effort in a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday night in front of a second-straight sellout crowd at PNC Arena.
“Our crowd is great,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I think they feed off of us. This game had its moments. There was a lot of dead moments just because of a lot of whistles, but the game was really really fast. Montreal is probably the fastest team we played all year and they got to us early. It was an exciting game, but the crowd is always… it’s a great place to play and the guys love it.”
As has become the status quo, it was the team’s Finnish talent that was on display as Sebastian Aho and Erik Haula each scored and Teuvo Teravianen grabbed two assists.
The Canes got on the board early as the Carolina power play struck just under two minutes into the game. It was a Finnish connection as Teravainen found Haula behind the net, who executed a power move to the front and the puck popped up in the air where it was batted in by Aho.
“Yeah, you never know, but I felt that it was a good goal,” said Aho on the review for the goal. “…Both teams were playing a really fast game and that worked out well for us.”
Moments later, a rare turnover by Teravainen, the Canes’ best two-way player, resulted in a goal the other way. Max Domi pickpocketed Teravainen and was all alone versus Petr Mrazek in the slot, sniping one past him.
Though the pace of the game had favored the Habs at the onset, as the period went on the Canes started buzzing more and more. Multiple lines started generating chance after chance against Canadiens netminder Charlie Lindgren, but the young goalie, with a combination of skill and luck, managed to hold off the storm through the remainder of the first 20.
The second saw the same see-sawing as the beginning, but it was the Canes that found a second gear.
Entering the zone, Teravainen weaved past defenders and fed a pass up to Brett Pesce who had activated. Pesce skated it down and dished a backhand pass right to Haula who finished the easy tap-in to reclaim the lead.
“It feels good,” said Haula on his return from injury. “That’s the goal every night; to show up and play your best. I think in general my line’s been playing better and creating chances and just playing with the punches.”
The Canes penalty kill played another huge role in the first two periods. With the Habs having a power play opportunity in each of the first two periods, the Carolina kill unit held the Canadiens to only one total shot on goal with the man-advantages
“It starts from the goalies,” said Aho on the success of the penalty kill. “When you have these two goalies that are hot, you have the confidence to put the pressure on them. You can count on them to make a save.”
The Habs thought they had tied it with rookie Ryan Poehling netting the potential equalizer, but the play was called back after the Canes successfully challenged the play for goaltender interference as Phillip Danault had pushed Mrazek back into the crease.
“I was telling [Nino Niederreiter] ‘There was no way,’” said Pesce on the overturn. “[Danault] was holding my stick and he kind of just pulled me in and it was just part of the play.”
The Hurricanes continued to weather the Canadiens presses through the remainder of third period and the Canadiens got one more crack to tie the game as Ryan Dzingel was called for a high stick with a little over three minutes remaining.
However, the great Carolina penalty kill prevented the Habs from even mustering a shot and as Dzingel’s penalty expired, he picked up the clear and skated it around the net and shot it in to give the Canes a two-goal lead.
Carolina held on to finish out the year with a franchise-record 54 regular-season wins in 2019 good for second best total in the NHL trailing only defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues.
The Canes will have to wait till next year for their next game as they take on the Washington Capitals Friday, Jan. 3 at PNC Arena.
Hurricanes left wing Erik Haula juggles the puck during a stoppage versus the Canadiens on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019 at PNC Arena. Haula had one goal and one assist in 17 shifts in the 3-1 win.
