Hurricanes blow two goal lead, drop 7-5 result to Montreal

One thing that’s been remarkable about this season for the Carolina Hurricanes is that despite the mountain of injuries they have faced, there have been few nights when it was truly apparent they were missing some really important players. Thursday night, though, hoping to put a horrible game in Pittsburgh behind them, it pretty clearly showed that they were missing Jaccob Slavin, Shayne Gostisbehere and Seth Jarvis. In a game that would be called a game of runs if it were basketball, the Montreal Canadiens had the last one to notch a 7-5 win over the Canes.

The first period seemed to be a continuation of the rough game in Pittsburgh. Just four minutes in the Canes were down 2-0 thanks to goals by Nick Suzuki and Oliver Kapanen. Suzuki’s goal came when the Canes coudn’t clear the zone and the Montreal Captain picked it off the blue line and sniped it past Brandon Bussi. The second was a complete breakdown as Sean Walker left Kapanen to follow the puck in front of the goal. Ivan Demidov was able to feed the pass straight to Kapanen who slammed it home.

The good news for the Canes though is that unlike Tuesday, the team was able to quickly respond. It began on a Power Play started by Nikolaj Ehlers taking a stick in a…sensitive area. He was able to get back on the ice during the man advantage, taking a feed from Alexander Nikishin to skate through the dot and score past Jakub Dobes.

The success on the Power Play seemed to wake the team up as they carried play for the rest of the first period. Less than two minutes later Sebastian Aho—who had the other assist on the first goal—was able to deflect a Joel Nystrom shot past the Montreal goalie to knot the score at two.

Less then three minutes after THAT the Canes continued their dominance of play and dog piled on Dobes. Andrei Svechnikov was able to stay patient for a rebound, and poked it past the Montreal goalie to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead going into the first intermission.

Aho was given another assist on the play, meaning that he ended the period notching a point on each goal, and Svechnikov’s score was his second point as he was credited with the secondary assist on Aho’s goal.

The good vibes continued at the start of the second period when the Canadiens were called for a hold, inducing another Power Play. This time fans got to see the booming shot of Alexander Nikishin, as he blasted a 90+ mph shot from the blue line past Dobes and was able to extend the lead for the Hurricanes 4-2.

Sebastian Aho was once again credited with an assist, giving him a point on all four goals on the night and Svechnikov notched his third point along with Nikishin. It seemed like the Canes were rolling, but that ended up being the end of the good vibes for a while.

The turn started when Arber Xhekaj slashed Svechnikov on a breakaway, and then as that shot was missed Xhekaj shoved Svechnikov hard into the boards once he had come to a stop. The officials only called the slash, the Canadiens were able to keep the Canes off the scoreboard on the Power Play, and then Montreal got back to their game. It resulted in them scoring the next four goals on Bussi.

The first came about a minute after the end of the Power Play when Sammy Blais was able to get ahead of the Mike Reilly and Joel Nystrom pairing, splitting them and going in alone to get the shot past Bussi and bring the score to 4-3. Then in just a 23 second span, Cole Caufield notched his 20th and then Josh Anderson scored to give Montreal the lead back at 5-4. The air completely left Lenovo Center. The fifth goal came from perhaps the worst pass you could imagine by Ehlers to a wide open Anderson.

Things didn’t get much better for the majority of the third. Carolina had several chances, but Montreal also had a few close. Then, Juraj Slafkovský just skated up the ice off a puck capture and flung the puck at the net while being shadowed by Nystrom. Bussi didn’t close up the short post in time and the puck snuck in. Montreal had a 6-4 lead, and for the first time since the magic ride began, it was fair to wonder if the league had figured the waiver wire pickup out.

Things seemed without hope but then on an offensive zone draw Rod Brind’Amour pulled Bussi and Carolina took advantage almost immediately. The Canes put the top line on the ice that provided all the early magic and Ehlers pushed a shot toward the net that trickled in with Sebastian Aho up front. Aho tipped it in, and ended up having a hand in all five goals for the night.

The five point night though would go to waste as a faceoff on an icing saw Brind’Amour pull Bussi again. The Canes lost the faceoff, never really recovered and Lane Hutson flinged the puck from the opposite goal line into the empty cage, providing the final score for the 7-5 result.

The Canes now are staring at a back-to-back this weekend with the best team in the league coming into their barn Saturday, just to turn around and play the New Jersey Devils in Newark on Sunday. Both Goalies have now given up five or more goals in their most recent starts, and with only Jarvis skating on Thursday in a yellow jersey, there’s no sign that any of the other injuries are on deck to be healed any time soon.

A good result for the Canes was the Islanders losing earlier in the day, so they ended Saturday still with a three point lead on them and the Flyers in the Metro, and four on the Capitals. Montreal inched to within a point of the Red Wings atop the Atlantic who snatched a point in Pittsburgh earlier in the evening.

Next up for Carolina is Colorado on Saturday Night. It’s a return of the Nordiques vs. Whalers, this time in front of the Raleigh crowd. It’ll also be the return of Brent Burns, Martin Necas, and Jack Drury to Raleigh. Expect emotions to be high.