In Raleigh, the Carolina Hurricanes overcame an early goal from the visiting Montreal Canadiens and won their fourth game in their last five, 2-1, in overtime.
Curtis McElhinney made 28 saves to get the win as the Canes moved to 42-26-7 and are three points clear of the Habs for the first wild card spot.
Trevor van Riemsdyk scored in third to force OT – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“[Canadiens goalie Carey Price] was the phenomenal tonight,” McElhinney said. “Obviously, he’s the one of the best, if not the best, in the game for the last little while. It’s always fun playing against him. I was just trying to keep pace with him. It’s just nice to be on the right side of it.”
The loser’s point kept the Columbus Blue Jackets two points back of the Canadiens.
“This was our third game in four nights and I thought the fatigue factor caught up,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. “I started seeing it midway through the second period. We just hung on through the third period. When you pick up seven points out of eight, it’s a good week.”
The Canes’ Andrei Svechnikov struck at 3:15 of the extra session for the win.
“We are throwing [Svechnikov] out there in key situations now and in overtime,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I love the confidence he has. He’s earned the right to be out there, that’s the whole key. Huge goal.”
Paul Byron had staked the Habs to a 1-0 lead past the half way point of the opening frame.
Trevor van Riemsdyk tied the game to force the extra session.
“They have a winger coming out, (so) just get it by that guy,” van Riemsdyk said. “Then hopefully we’ve got bodies at the net, which we did, and we got lucky. It felt like one of those nights where it was going to take something like that to beat Price. He’s an unbelievable goalie.”
[WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Hurricanes highlights]
Price made 38 saves in the loss.
“It would have been nice to get the win and reward [Price] with two points. He stood on his head and played well for us. There were chances we could have capitalized on and we didn’t, but you can’t think about those,” Shea Weber said.
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