Canadiens at Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes look to build off an important victory and continue their dominance in the series when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night for a battle of Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls. The Hurricanes dropped three straight contests before outlasting NHL-best Washington 6-4 on Saturday and will go after an eighth victory in nine games against the Canadiens.
“We’re just battling adversity,” Carolina forward Warren Foegele told reporters after recording two goals and an assist in the victory. “I think lately if something doesn’t go our way, we’re not responding the right way. (Saturday), it was good to see us keep the foot forward and go from there.” The Hurricanes, who defeated Montreal 4-3 in a shootout Oct. 3, hold down a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference while the Canadiens dropped their last two and sit three points out of third place in the Atlantic Division. Montreal had won six of eight games before a tough two-day trip to the Sunshine State where it allowed 11 goals in a pair of losses, capped by a 6-5 debacle at Florida on Sunday in which coach Claude Julien said everybody is to blame. “Just not tight enough,” Canadiens captain Shea Weber told reporters. “It was just loose everywhere. We’ve got to be as determined defensively as we are offensively, especially when we get down. It seems like we get down and we find this energy and this life and the passion. We need to play with it consistently.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, RDS, TSN2 (Montreal), FS Carolinas
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (18-15-6): Carey Price, who had won six of eight starts before Christmas, was in net for both games in Florida and saw his save percentage in December drop to .908 while his overall mark fell to .901. Left wing Tomas Tatar leads the club with 16 goals and 35 points after recording three and two, respectively, in the past three contests while center Max Domi is riding a five-game goal streak and owns at least a point in six straight. Defenseman Jeff Petry has also warmed up with two goals to go along with six assists during a four-game point streak to push his total to 24 points, second behind Weber (31) among blue liners.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (23-14-2): Right wing Andrei Svechnikov scored for the fourth time in six games Saturday and leads the team 17 while matching left wing Teuvo Teravainen for the top spot with 38 points. Rookie Martin Necas has scored three times in three contests and fellow forward Lucas Wallmark extended his point streak to a career-high six games (four goals, four assists) with a tally Saturday. “He’s super important,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Wallmark. “When there is a leak, he kind of plugs it. Whatever we ask him to do, whether it’s killing penalties, and now he’s getting power-play goals and playing against the best lines."
OVERTIME
1. Montreal’s rookie F Nick Suzuki boasts one goal and seven assists during a five-game point streak
2. The Hurricanes have allowed 10 power-play goals in the past six contests and Montreal is 7-for-13 with the man advantage in the same span.
3. Canadiens C Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored in each of the last two games after returning from a concussion.