Canadiens at Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes have won two straight games for the first time this season and must raise their level of play another notch to make it three in a row when the league-leading Montreal Canadiens visit on Friday. The Hurricanes rolled over reigning Presidents’ Trophy-winner Washington 5-1 before blanking 2015-16 Western Conference champion San Jose 1-0 on Tuesday.
“It’s huge,” Carolina goaltender Cam Ward told reporters. “You’ve got to build some momentum, and certainly these last two games have been our best games of the year. We did it in a real good fashion, playing really the way we wanted to play, and dominated at times.” Ward has played a big part in the Hurricanes' recent improvement, posting a 3-1-2 record, 1.62 goals-against average and .941 save percentage this month. He will have to be sharp against the Canadiens, who entered Thursday ranked third in the league in scoring (3.29 goals per game) and seventh on the power play (23.5 percent) but are on their first winless streak (0-1-1) of the season. Alex Galchenyuk leads Montreal with 18 points, posting at least one in six straight games and 14 of his 17 overall contests.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet East, RDS (Montreal), FSN Carolinas
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (13-2-2): Montreal has seven players with at least 10 points and newcomer Alexander Radulov is second on the team with 14, but he is expected to miss his second straight game due to illness. Defenseman Shea Weber is off to an outstanding start in his tenure with the Canadiens, registering seven goals – two in his last three games – and a team-high plus-16 rating while quarterbacking a power play that is 4-for-8 over the last three contests. Carey Price (10-0-1) is expected to be rested and play Saturday against Toronto, giving Friday’s start to backup Al Montoya (3-2-1).
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (5-6-4): Ward earned the shutout Tuesday – the 24th of his career and first this season – as Carolina limited its opponent to 27 or fewer shots for the fifth time in the last six games. Joakim Nordstrom, who scored his first goal of the season to win it on Tuesday, told reporters of Ward: “You feel confident that even if you make a mistake, you have him to bail you out. He’s definitely been big for our team.” Jeff Skinner leads the Hurricanes with 13 points and Victor Rask has notched 12 while rookie Sebastian Aho has recorded four in his last three contests.
OVERTIME
1. Montreal recalled F Charles Hudon from St. John’s of the American Hockey League, where he registered nine goals in 15 games.
2. Carolina leads the NHL in penalty-killing at 90.5 percent and is 15-for-15 in seven games this month.
3. The Canadiens have won seven of their last eight meetings with the Hurricanes.