4 takeaways from the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes

The Montreal Canadiens were coming off an impressive 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators, but didn't have much time to celebrate with another game the next day against the Carolina Hurricanes. This would be their second meeting with the team in about eight days, and after the Hurricanes blew a 2-0 lead against Montreal, they were expected to be ready to get some revenge.

They certainly did in the first period with a power-play goal, but after that, it was all Montreal as they would score three straight in the second period. Neither team could add to their total in the final period, but that didn't matter for Montreal, which now has 92 points on the season and remains in third place in the Atlantic Division.

These are some of the top takeaways from the game on Sunday night.

Arber Xhekaj returns to action but as a forward

The Montreal Canadiens were forced to make a notable change to their lines ahead of the game as Josh Anderson was out due to an illness. However, instead of putting Alexandre Texier in the lineup, the Canadiens decided to go with defenseman Arber Xhekaj.

Xhekaj hasn't played in a game since March 15th, and even when he was active, he was seeing limited minutes as part of the third defensive pair. Against the Hurricanes, he saw limited minutes once again with only five shifts, but brought some undeniable physicality with four hits in those shifts.

This doesn't seem like a long-term solution or something the Canadiens will do regularly, but it was good to see him get some ice time after an extended absence.

Canadiens top line continues to be unstoppable

The Canadiens' top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky continues to be the difference maker for this team and delivered another big performance against the Carolina Hurricanes. Nick Suzuki got the scoring started and would actually have two goals in the second period, which were his first goals in five games.

Suzuki has primarily been a facilitator on this line over that stretch, with nine assists, and even had one of those in the period on Cole Caufield's 46th goal. Juraj Slafkovsky also had an assist in the period, which was on the power-play goal by Suzuki.

These three together have been incredible and a big reason for this recent five game win streak.

Montreal Canadiens get a scare with Jakub Dobes' potential injury at the end of the first period

Everything seemed to go right for the Montreal Canadiens in this game, but it could have gone very wrong at the end of the first period. Jakub Dobes would go to make a save across the crease and seemed to come up flexing his leg.

The play was right at the end of the period, and it was unclear if he would be able to return or if Jacob Fowler would be in the net. Thankfully, Dobes would return and was able to put together another stellar game for Montreal with 34 saves on 35 shots.

Dobes has now gone 4-1-0 over his last five starts and allowed two or fewer goals in each of his recent starts.

Carolina Hurricanes will want to avoid the Canadiens in the playoffs

This is now the Canadiens' second win in a little over a week against the Carolina Hurricanes, and after the first game, Pierre McGuire made a bold prediction. He believes this was the team that the Canadiens would want in the first round, and after this game, he might be right.

The Canadiens were playing their second road game in as many nights and were able to go on the road against the team leading the Eastern Conference to come away with an impressive victory.

The five-game win streak has now put the Canadiens firmly in third place in the Atlantic Division so they could be looking at a meeting with the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Buffalo Sabres. However, if they do slip into the wild card, a meeting with the Hurricanes might be the best thing for them to advance.