Montreal Canadiens visit Carolina Hurricanes, with hopes of ending recent skid

With consecutive losses, allowing six goals in both matches, the Montreal Canadiens focus shifts to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Canadiens lineup featured a familiar face, who had been out of the lineup since early in the season, after suffering a lacerated quadriceps muscle.

Kaiden Guhle draws back in, and I think it couldn't come at a better time, with the Habs looking a bit tired in their last few contests. No. 21 can slow the game down while skating the puck out of the zone, and his physicality and passing/vision combo will provide a boost for the Habs.

It's been a while, and it's great to have one of the core defensemen back in the lineup, if the Habs are looking for positives, having Guhle and Lane Hutson on the back end is a pretty good start.

Montreal needs a win to stop the bleeding and take advantage of the fact that the wildcard race after the Ottawa Senators is as open as a barn door. It would be in the Habs' best interest to grab a hold of the reigns and create some wiggle room in the second wildcard between themselves and the pack just beneath them.

Carolina is not to be taken lightly, a win against them could be a great morale boost for the Habs.

Onto the game

Less than 30 seconds into the game, the Canadiens strike first, with Josh Anderson netting his 13th goal of the year. His line with Christian Dvorak and Brendan has been playing fantastic hockey lately. And, the trio each recorded a point on the game's opening tally.

18 seconds later the Hurricanes tied the game, with Jackson Blake putting his 12th goal of the campaign past Samuel Montembeault. Less than a minute into the game, the teams each have a goal on the board.

Montreal has put together a handful of sleepy starts down the stretch, and striking early was a step in the right direction. However, it was voided with the Canes tying the game in short order.

About two minutes later, former Canadiens third overall selection (2018 draft) Jesperi Kotkaniemi got caught reaching his stick on Jake Evans, tripping up the Habs penalty-killer extraordinaire. Montreal gets their first man advantage in the contest. But the two minutes were nothing more than a practice for the Canes' formidable penalty killers.

Four minutes later, the Hurricanes found themselves back in the sin bin, with Habs returnee Kaiden Guhle drawing a penalty against Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns.

Montreal came up with nothing on their second two-minute man advantage, and the game remains deadlocked 1-1.

For some reason Carolina let Patrik Laine walk in untouched, and load up, before unloading a wrist shot that popped off his blade. Frederik Andersen absorbed the howitzer of a shot, freezing the puck to live another day.

15 minutes have come and gone, in what seems a lot faster than it was. Carolina holds the slight shot edge 6-4. Montembeault and Andersen haven't been busy, but they have been good to start the game. Aside from each letting a goal in

Dmitri Orlov caught Anderson with a hit that left him in no mood to deal with the referees afterwards. Arber Xhekaj was also none too pleased with Orlov, though his Hurricanes teammates blocked Xhekaj's access to their defenseman.

Anderson drew no penalty, Orlov is on the bench, and instead, Dvorak is in the box for roughing. Canes power play.

While killing the penalty off, Carrier fired a clearing attempt directly out of play, batting a Kotkaniemi rebound into the crowd. Five on three for 34 seconds, then back to five on four.

Evans won the ensuing faceoff, firing the puck down towards Andersen.

Sebastian Aho whacked at a loose puck, as the officials never blew the play dead. However, Savard and Mike Matheson passed a message not to do it again. Savard is off for roughing and Aho for slashing. "Refs you suck," is ringing throughout the Lenovo centre.

1:30 remains on the clock, and the Canes lead in shots 10-4.

20 minutes are in the books, and the score remains 1-1.

Second Period

Montreal grabs the first chance of the period, but Andersen is up to the challenge. Carolina then grabbed the puck and transitioned quickly to the Habs zone, but Montembeault went tic-for-tac with his goaltending combattant.

Carolina, who holds the shot advantage, has looked a step ahead of the Habs out of the gate.

Sean Walker got the better of Emil Heineman, a tall task admittedly. Heino is generally on the other side of an open ice hit.

This contest has a playoff feel for sure, and the Habs, who have been outshot, have been fortunate to have Montembeault between the pipes. Defensively, it hasn't been a blemish-free 28 minutes for the Habs, but they remain in a tie with Carolina.

Hutson entered the zone behind Heineman, who had a full head of steam en route to Carolina's net. He fired a hard snapshot at Andersen, and the rebound was swept away before Hutson could converge, and try for a second effort tally.

Carolina was well on its way to setting up a great scoring chance, and Hutson held his stick out for as long as possible to cut off any angle. Unfortunately for Hutson, he tripped Jordan Martinook, with the referee watching from just a stone's throw away.

Power play for the Habs, with 7:11 left in the period. Taylor Hall scored a five-hole one-touch shot off a great pass from Blake. 6:14 remains in the frame, and Carolina leads for the first time tonight.

With six shots after 35 minutes of play, Montreal isn't exactly putting their best foot forward, and Montembeault has been the Canadiens' best player, with little choice in the matter.

That almost always comes back to bite you, and Aho made the Habs pay, firing a great feed from Seth Jarvis past Montembeault. It's not an insurmountable lead, but the shots are 19-6, with 3:50 left in the period.

Montreal is sinking fast, and they don't seem to have access to a life jacket to come up for some air. It has been anything but lazy river swimming. The Habs are in the deep end, and unable to get back to shallow waters.

Gallagher had a ten-bell chance but fired the puck just wide from the right side of the high slot. It hasn't been Montreal's period, and frankly, since the first minute of the first period, it hasn't been their game either. Not a great look at all.

Suzuki registered the Habs' seventh shot of the period with less than 10 seconds on the clock. Andersen turned it aside.

3-1 Carolina after forty minutes of play.

Third Period

I can't look at the shots, and the score and not think the Habs should be a lottery team, this is sad, and the Habs seem to have punk'd us all.

Newhook nearly had the Habs second tally of the game, but it went just wide low blocker on Andersen.

Carolina is dominating Montreal down low, and they have given very little pushback. Montreal looks gassed, and they are putting a ton of pressure on Montembeault.

Evans and Heineman entered the top of the offensive zone together, working the give-and-go. Heineman fired a one-touch shot into the Canes crest on Andersen's jersey.

Gallagher's line has put together a couple of great shifts, creating energy, and getting in the opposition's face. When you're looking for a positive, sometimes a hard-nosed worker's mentality on the ice boosts the mood on the bench.

Heineman returned the favour to Evans with a great saucer pass that landed on his tape in stride. Evans fired a quality opportunity toward Andersen, who has been the difference tonight for Carolina.

13 minutes reads on the scoreboard, and Hutson is trying to create something with the Habs top line providing him the passing options in Carolina's zone.

Slafkovsky had Suzuki wide open in the neutral zone, about a two stride length away from any Hurricanes player, but rifled a pass down to Andersen. Suzuki had a clear cut breakaway, had he hit the mark with his pass.

Carolina got the next chance, their 24th shot of the game. 13 more than the Habs, who have just 11 shots, through nearly 50 minutes of play. It's not hard to see why the Habs only have one goal. A veteran goaltender like Andersen isn't likely to let in more than one if the other side registers below 15 shots.

Newhook found himself in the Hurricanes' zone with a partial breakaway, he tried to head-fake and stickhandle Andersen out of position. No. 31 won the battle against the shooter.

Hutson has easily been the Habs' best player, a trend that has spanned the last five games. Without his creativity, Montreal's offence from the back end would be extremely limited. No. 48 just constantly creates mismatches with his head-fakes and stickhandles, before exploding up the ice, and once the opponent bites, he takes off the opposite way.

With 9:30 reading on the scoreboard, Aho just robbed the Habs of their second goal, pulling a loose puck off the goal line behind Andersen.

Anderson, No. 17, broke in, and worked the puck through some sticks, before trying to catch Andersen (no. 31) between his head and trapper. But the shot went into the stands.

Six minutes reads on the clock, and Carolina still holds onto their two-goal lead. Montreal has made a push, but the Hurricanes' strong defence has matched them stride for stride.

The Canadiens look dejected, and almost shocked that they are in this position. But they have been flat all night, and outplayed nearly the same. 3:56 is left, and Hutson turned the puck over to Aho two feet from his net.

Montembeault is on the bench, and the Habs will make one final push with two minutes left in the game. Carolina looks comfortable defending the front of their net, and Andersen has shut down nearly everything that gets past them.

Suzuki fell trying to beat Svechnikov to a loose puck in the corner, who emerged with the puck out of the corner, and with a second effort batted it into the empty net. Hutson gave him a shove for his efforts.

4-1 Hurricanes win, and the Habs continue their losing ways, stretching it to three games.