|
 Right winger Sven Andrighetto scored the only goal in the shootout
to give the Canadiens a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over the
Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon at the Bell Centre.
"It's definitely great to help the team win the game," said
Andrighetto, who converted in the fifth round of the tiebreaker.
"Besides that, Scrivy (goaltender Ben Scrivens) made a big save
after that so it's not only one guy; it's the whole team together."
It was the first time since Nov. 25 and 27 that the Canadiens have
won consecutive games.
Left winger Jeff Skinner scored in regulation for Carolina. Left
winger Max Pacioretty replied for the Canadiens.
Scrivens, making his second start in as many days, stopped 34 shots
for Montreal (26-24-4). Counterpart Cam Ward made 33 saves for the
Hurricanes (24-21-9).
"He was excellent," Carolina coach Bill Peters said of Ward. "I
thought both goaltenders were very good and made some big saves, and
both were very good in the shootout, also."
Skinner extended his point streak to five games when he opened the
scoring at 2:27 of the first period. With the Canadiens struggling
to clear their zone, center Jordan Staal intercepted Montreal
defenseman Tom Gilbert's pass at the top of the right circle. With
Skinner and Gilbert battling in front, Staal fired a shot that
Skinner deflected in for his 19th season.
Center Eric Staal had a prime opportunity to double the Hurricanes'
lead with 30 seconds left in the frame when he tipped right winger
Kris Versteeg's pass toward the goal, but Scrivens was ready on the
play.
"We had a lot of good looks," Eric Staal said. "We liked the way
that we were playing there for the most part through the first,
second. The third was pretty even both ways but we had a lot of
great chances, power play, some really good looks. You want to see
them fall but right now they're not. Especially for me, it's been
tough trying to scrape some confidence.
"I'm going to need one off my behind or something and then go from
there but we'll take the point and we'll be ready next game."
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Pacioretty tied it at 8:11 of the second period. Defenseman P.K.
Subban held off a Hurricanes clearing attempt at the blue line
before feeding defenseman Andrei Markov at the left point. Markov
quickly dished off to Pacioretty at the top of the right circle
before the Canadiens captain fired home his 20th of the season.
"The first wasn't our best but we had a lot of chances to score
after that," Pacioretty said. "We didn't take care of the puck in
the first. I think we got a little bit outworked but we were a
resilient team, came back in the second and third, and played pretty
strong."
Markov's assist on the tally was the 407th of his career, moving him
past Guy Lapointe into 10th place on the Canadiens' all-time assists
list.
Both teams enjoyed several opportunities in the 3-on-3 overtime, but
Ward and Scrivens stood tall.
NOTES: The Canadiens went with the same lineup as Saturday's win,
leaving D Nathan Beaulieu and D Greg Pateryn as the healthy
scratches. ... The Hurricanes scratched D Ryan Murphy, C Brad Malone
and LW Chris Terry. ... Montreal D Andrei Markov suited up for his
900th career NHL game (all with the Habs) as did Carolina C Eric
Staal (all with the Hurricanes), while Canadiens C Torrey Mitchell
appeared in his 500th NHL game. ... The game was the finale of a
three-game Canadian road trip for Carolina. ... The Canadiens closed
out the 25th edition of their annual back-to-back home games on
Super Bowl weekend, a tradition that began in 1990-91.
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