The Montreal Canadiens are right in the middle of a tight playoff race where every point matters. It wasn't going to be easy, but a win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night would only help their chances to get back to the playoffs for the second straight season.
They ultimately would do just that with an impressive 5-2 win, but the Canadiens took fans on quite the rollercoaster of emotion. It started with the Carolina Hurricanes scoring two goals in the first seven minutes of the game.
However, that would be the end of their scoring and the Canadiens would score four straight to get the win and move to 88 points on the season. These are some of the top takeaways from the game on Tuesday night.
Montreal Canadiens have a horrible start against the Carolina Hurricanes
In what felt like a big game with huge playoff implications, and possible a preview of the first round, the Montreal Canadiens got off to a horrible start. It started almost immediately with Josh Anderson called for interference 97 seconds into the game.
The Hurricanes wasted no time capitalizing on the mistake as Nikolaj Ehlers scored a power play goal to create an early 1-0 lead. A little later in the period, the Hurricanes carried the puck into the zone, and Mike Matheson lost his stick and was unable to clear it.
At the same time, Jordan Staal got deep in the zone, and he was wide open in front of the net to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead. The Canadiens were able to get on the board later in the period when Oliver Kapanen scored, but for the second straight game, Montreal was down 2-1 after the first period.
It was a period that Carolina really dominated almost start to finish as they also out-shot them 16-4 and the Canadiens should feel lucky that they were down only one after the first 20 minutes.
Canadiens show incredible resolve to get back into this game, led by Cole Caufield
The Montreal Canadiens could have easily packed it in after the way the game started, but they refused to give up. The goal by Kapanen in the first period was huge to make it a one-goal game, but in the second, it was Cole Caufield who really led the comeback.
It began less than six minutes into the period, when Cole Caufield scored his 44th goal of the season off an assist by Nick Suzuki. He now has seven goals in the past six games after recording a hat trick against the Islanders that helped them come back in that game.
Caufield thought he had another goal later in the period with a deflection, but after a closer look, it was actually deflected again off Juraj Slafkovsky before he went in the net, so he was only credited with an assist.
Oliver Kapanen breaks out of a goal-scoring slump with two against the Hurricanes
The scoring, or lack thereof, from the Canadiens second-line has been a little bit of a concern as of late. One of those players who has struggled as of late was Oliver Kapanen but he bounced back in a big way against the Hurricanes.
On Tuesday night, he would have not one but two goals and they couldn't have come at bigger times in the game. The first goal Kapanen had was in the first period that at least slowed the momentum the Hurricanes had as it made the score 2-1.
After the goals by Caufield and Slafkovsky, the Canadiens were only ahead by one goal and the Hurricanes easily could have tied it up. However, the goal by Kapanen late in the third really put it out of reach and locked up the two points.
Entering this game, Kapanen hadn't scored a goal in six games and had only two over the prior 12 games. This was a great performance and hopefully something he can build on moving forward.
Jakub Dobes might have just won the starting job for the playoffs with this performance
Dobes finished the night, allowing only two goals, and it seemed more likely that he would be pulled rather than secure a win. As much as Caufield helped get this team back into it, Dobes' performance in net after those two goals kept the game within reach.
Dobes finished the game by setting a career-high in saves with 41 on 43 shots, and he deserves as much credit as Caufield and Oliver Kapanen for the reason for the win tonight.
The Canadiens have shortened their rotation as of late, with Dobes and Jacob Fowler as the two primary goalies. However, as the playoffs approach, the coaching staff is going to have to decide which of these two is going to start in the playoffs.
In a game like this, against one of the top teams in the conference, Dobes showed he is more than ready for those pressure situations. There is still time between now and then, but at this point, Dobes should be the favorite to start for Montreal in the playoffs.
The Canadiens have one more home game on Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets before going on a five-game road trip. This is a tough stretch of games, but getting a win over the Hurricanes is a big boost heading into these upcoming games.