Carolina Hurricanes sweep up Montreal Canadiens 4-0

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The Canadiens’ current road trip is providing a measuring stick of how far they have to go in their rebuilding project before they can start thinking about a 25th Stanley Cup.

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Montreal dropped a 4-0 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena Thursday. The Hurricanes, who are leading the Metropolitan Division, dominated this game.

The contest was similar to Tuesday’s 7-4 loss to the Florida Panthers. The one difference in the games was that the Canadiens had an offensive burst late in the second period to tie Tuesday’s game at 4-4.

Jake Allen did his best, but Thursday was the fifth consecutive game in which he faced more than 40 shots. He would have been even busier, but Montreal blocked 16 shots. That’s a sign they were battling, but the Hurricanes were too good.

By comparison, Frederik Andersen had a relatively easy night as he made 32 saves for the shutout.

The road doesn’t get any easier as the Canadiens head into Tampa Saturday to face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning.

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The Canadiens learned the hard way that it is not advisable to give the Hurricanes a power play.

Laurent Dauphin was sent off for cross-checking Jordan Martinook at 3:43 of the first period and the Hurricanes needed only five seconds to take a 1-0 lead. Sebastian Aho won a faceoff against Jake Evans and then went to the net, where he deflected Teuvo Teravainen’s shot from the point. It was the 31st goal of the season for Aho and his 13th on the power play. He has 26 power-play points, while Teravainen picked up his 29th power-play point.

The Hurricanes added another goal with 11.2 seconds remaining in the first period. Andrei Svechnikov was battling David Savard in the crease when he managed to get his stick on the puck and knock it behind Allen. Former Canadian Max Domi had an assist on the goal.

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Montreal’s best scoring chance in the period came when speedy Josh Anderson went in alone on Andersen but fired wide of the net.

Teravainen scored his 17th goal early in the second period, but it was Allen and the Montreal penalty-kill that kept things from spinning totally out of control. The Canadiens took three consecutive penalties, including one for delay of game when Allen lost his mask to give Carolina a 5-on-3 advantage for 54 seconds. Carolina had five shots on goal on the power play, and while the Canadiens kept them off the board, this was another example of the Canadiens spending far too much time in the defensive zone. They were outshot 26-9 in the period.

Svechnikov completed the scoring with an empty-netter.

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The biggest lineup change was on the top line as Joel Armia joined Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

Tyler Pitlick, who missed two games after suffering an upper-body injury Saturday in Toronto, was back in the lineup and Mathieu Perreault was a healthy scratch.

Rookie defenseman Justin Barron made his third consecutive start alongside Joel Edmundson. Barron struggled a bit in Florida Tuesday, but coach Martin St. Louis is giving the 20-year-old an opportunity to show what he can do.

Earlier Thursday, the Canadiens signed Lucas Condotta, a 24-year-old depth forward from UMass Lowell, to a one-year entry-level deal. The two-way contract kicks in next season, but Condotta will be joining the Laval Rocket on a professional tryout.

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