Hurricanes 3, Canadiens 2

The Carolina Hurricanes put a poor performance behind them and skated a very competitive game against one of the best team's in the NHL as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 on Saturday night at the PNC Arena.

The team had another tough start as the Habs jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 2:44 into the game when Daniel Carr scored his first career goal in his first career NHL game on a wrap around.   It looked like this might be another rough game for the home team but Cam Ward tightened up the rest of the way to make things interesting.

The Canes tied up the score, 1-1 at 13:15 into the period when Jeff Skinner took a Jordan Staal pass and faked once then roofed a shot in close over Montreal goalie, Mike Condon.

After the visitors took a 2-1 lead midway through the second, Joakim Nordstrom knocked in a rebound off of a Andrej Nestrasil shot to tie it up again.

The Hurricanes then scored their first powerplay goal in forever as Skinner zipped in his second of the night and seventh on the season to make it 3-2.

The Habs put on a lot of pressure in the Carolina zone but Ward and the home team's defense was equal to the task the rest of the way.

Next up will be a match against the Coyotes on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Game Notes:

• Eric Staal looked to have scored his first goal in 14 games but it was not to be as the refs determined that he scored via goaltender interference and after a long review the score was not counted.   Montreal used the coach's challenge on the play.  The captain looked dejected when he just missed a few close chances during the game.
• The Canes were outshot in this contest 38-29 and were led by Elias Lindholm with five.
• The team outhit their opposition 39-18 and were led by Justin Faulk with six.  Brock McGinn, Phillip Di Giuseppe, and Ron Hainsey each had five.
• For post game audio and stats check Canes PR.