Carolina Hurricanes Fall to Montreal Canadiens in Eric Staal’s 900th NHL Game
By Brett Finger
The Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens had a goalie duel to remember on Sunday afternoon, but it was the Habs that came out with the 2-1 shootout victory.
Final. 2. 152. 1. 109
Scoring Summary
1st Period
CAR Goal (2:27) – Jeff Skinner (19), assisted by Jordan Staal (19)
The Carolina Hurricanes were able to come out flying in Quebec. A great grinding shift led to Justin Faulk pinching in and keeping the puck in the zone, and the puck went to Jordan Staal, whose shot on net was beautifully deflected in by Jeff Skinner in front.
2nd Period
MTL Goal (8:11) – Max Pacioretty (20), assisted by Andrei Markov (23), P.K. Subban (37)
Great, crisp puck movement in the Canes zone led to Markov hitting Pacioretty with gorgeous pass which led to a bullet from Pacioretty that beat Cam Ward to tie the game at 1.
3rd Period
No Goals
Overtime
No Goals
Shootout
MTL Goal (5th Round) – Sven Andrighetto
Three Stars
1st Star – Ben Scrivens, G (MTL) – 34 saves, 35 shots against, .971 save percentage, win
2nd Star – Cam Ward, G (CAR) – 33 saves, 34 shots against, .971 save percentage
3rd Star – Sven Andrighetto, RW (MTL) – game-winning shootout goal, 2 shots, 13:51 TOI
Recap
The Carolina Hurricanes came out on the wrong side of an amazing goalie dual on Sunday afternoon in Montreal.
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The Canes struck early with a beautiful deflection goal from Jeff Skinner, but Ben Scrivens came up big for the Habs from there on. The 29-year-old goalie made 34 saves on 35 shots, and the visiting Hurricanes failed to find an answer.
Carolina Hurricanes
On the other side of the ice, Cam Ward delivered one of his best performances of the season, making 33 saves, many of them of the breathtaking variety, on 34 Montreal shots. He stood his ground and answered the bell whenever his team needed it.
Eric Staal‘s 900th NHL game was one that didn’t go as scripted for him. On top of being denied in the 5th round of the shootout, he had numerous scoring chances along the goal line, especially on a late first period powerplay, but he wasn’t able to put the puck in the net on Sunday.
Noah Hanifin sneakily delivered one of the best performances of his young NHL career. He skated well and made very good plays with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone. He had the second highest corsi numbers amongst all players.
The unsung hero of this game for Carolina was John-Michael Liles. He was quick and smart in the offensive zone, and he delivered some key, goal-saving plays in front of Cam Ward to ultimately push the game to extra time. He was credited with a game-high four blocked shots against the Canadiens.
The Carolina Hurricanes got their chances, but they couldn’t find an answer for a hot goalie. There’s more good than bad to take away from this one, and now they will get four days to think it over before they hit the ice once again on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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The Canes will play six of their next seven games on home ice starting Friday. The next two weeks will likely decide what direction this team will go at the February 29 trade deadline.