MONTREAL (AP) Pyotr Kochetkov made 26 saves for his fourth shutout of the season to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 on Saturday night.
Jordan Staal opened the scoring with a short-handed goal midway through the second period, Sebastian Aho connected on a power play early in the third and Seth Jarvis iced it with an empty-netter. Carolina is the only team in the NHL that ranks in the top three in both power-play and penalty-kill efficiency.
āIn a game like tonight where thatās the difference, you want all the parts of your game clicking, but those are two crucial areas,ā Hurricanes coach Rod BrindāAmour said. āThe first couple shifts of the third, we were a little sluggish, but the goaltending was really key, it kept us in it. Goaltending and special teams were the difference.ā
Carolina improved to 47-21-7. Montreal fell to 28-33-12. The Canadiens had won three in a row.
āThis was a difficult game, but you canāt be frustrated because a team is difficult to play against,ā Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. āThis has been a top team in the league for some time now and theyāre a veteran team thatās always on the same page. They donāt have too many holes in their collective game.ā
After a turnover at the Hurricanesā blue line, Staal jumped on a loose puck, finishing off the short-handed breakaway with a shot neatly tucked over Sam Montembeaultās shoulder. Montreal has allowed an NHL-high 12 short-handed goals.
āI thought we were patient, and we didnāt get frustrated,ā Staal said. āIt always helps being in the lead, especially in this league. Itās hard to score goals and I think they made a really good push in the second, but (Pyotr Kochetkov) made some big saves.ā
The Hurricanes doubled the lead after a fortuitous bounce of the puck left Aho with a wide-open net for his 33rd of the season. Jarvis added his 29th.
Montembeault made 27 saves.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: Host Boston on Thursday night.
Canadiens: Host Florida on Tuesday night.
---
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
Copyright 2024 STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.