In Raleigh, Frederik Andersen made 32 saves and the Hurricanes shut out the Montreal Canadiens, 4-0, on Thursday night.
“Obviously, we didn’t take any penalties until then,” Andersen said. “We did a [heck] of a job to keep them from entering the zone for the most part. I think we wanted to play a complete game, and I thought we did that.”
Carolina improved to 45-15-8.
Andrei Svechnikov hit for a double for the Canes.
“The intentions are there, but you just come off it a little and you take three penalties. But we had done enough work to build a game that it wasn’t an issue,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
Sebastian Aho struck on the power play in the first period to give Carolina a 1-0 lead.
“It was a very solid effort through the lineup,” Aho said. “Obviously, ‘Freddie’ made those saves that he needed to make.”
Svechnikov scored with 12 seconds left in the first for a 2-0 lead.
Teuvo Teravainen pushed the lead to 3-0 early in the middle frame.
“Carolina brings a lot of chaos to their offensive game where the puck is funneling toward the net,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I thought we handled that pretty good considering the time that they had.”
Svechnikov added his second goal with less than four minutes left on the clock in the third period for the 4-0 final.
“When we try to get out (of the defensive zone) and make a play up to the winger, their (defensemen) are right on top of us, and that’s hard to play against,” St. Louis said. “It’s hard to duplicate those reps to feel that pressure from everywhere. To get better at that, you have to live it. … I think our guys are going to be more prepared next time.”
Jake Allen made 40 saves in another loss without support.
“Their top-six forwards play (all out) every single night,” Allen said. “They play on both sides of the puck, they’re on top of guys, they give you no time and space. That’s the culture they have on that team, and that’s something I think we’re trying to build here.”
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