After several postponements across the NHL gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 12-day hiatus, the Canes beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 in PNC Arena on Thursday, Dec. 30.
Carolina (22-7-1) played a complete 60 minutes, taking an initial 1-0 lead midway through the first period and never giving the Habs room to make it a competitive contest. Right wing Nino Niederreiter scored the game-opener, but left wing Teuvo Teräväinen provided two important goals in the first two periods to pad the Canes’ lead and give goaltender Antti Raanta some breathing room.
Raanta held his own anyway, stopping 26 Canadien (7-22-4) shots for his first shutout as a Carolina Hurricane.
“I was fortunate enough to get the shutout today,” Raanta said. “It’s pretty special, especially playing at home, getting the win and getting the shutout. You never think about those too much, but in the last four minutes when [Montreal] got that power play, that’s pretty much where I was ‘Oh no, no, no; now are they going to score?’ But our PK was so, so good today.”
The Canes exerted control on every facet of the game, including special teams. Carolina converted on three of its five power plays and punctuated its scoring prowess with a short-handed goal by Teräväinen in the first.
Montreal, on the other hand, couldn’t get much going on five power play shifts of its own. The Canes’ penalty kill unit, which ranks second in the league, ensured that the Habs had no chance of creeping back into the game.
“At the end of the day, obviously the penalty kill was great,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Our goaltending was nice. He made some great saves early to keep us in the game, and our power play connected. [It was] definitely a good win.”
Carolina owned the faceoff circle as well, winning the puck 71.7% of the time. This dominance in the circle allowed the Hurricanes to control the puck throughout the night and keep Montreal off the board.
The Canes hit the road to start 2022 with a matchup against the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Jan. 1. Puck drops at 1 p.m.
