In Raleigh, the Hurricanes had a 2-0 lead and squandered it to the Montreal Canadiens in the middle frame.
Caroline rallied back on a goal from Erik Haula to tie it at 3-3 and force overtime.
“We looked like the team we wanted to be in the third period,” Haula said. “It was clear, we all knew it. We just needed a little spark.”
The extra session solved nothing and the game went to the shootout.
Dougie Hamilton ended the affair with the only goal in the skills competition for a 4-3 Canes win.
“There’s a few things we will correct,” Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry said. “But they did a good job of eliminating space, and we made some adjustments bringing support closer and not going for the long passes, and that helped us. We’ll continue to build on that, but overall, I thought it was a pretty good effort from everybody in here.”
The Habs erased the 0-2 deficit on goals from Tomas Tatar, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Weal.
“It was the first regular-season game, so we’re getting better and better every period,” Kotkaniemi said. “You could tell the team was a little better in the second period already.”
Petr Mrazek made 33 saves to get the win for Carolina.
“You don’t want to go to the shootout,” Mrazek said. “It’s great for fans, but we wanted to finish earlier. But two points, first win, what else could we ask for?”
Lucas Wallmark and Martin Necas had the early strikes for Carolina.
“I give the other team a ton of credit,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “They were forcing us to do things that were just not how we play. We made so many turnovers in the neutral zone. It was just counter, counter and right down our throats. [Mrazek] made some big saves to keep us in there.”
[WATCH:Â All Canadiens vs. Hurricanes highlights]
Carey Price made 40 saves in the loss.
“I was impressed, honestly, with the pace of the game from both teams,” Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said. “I think both teams were trying to make a point here tonight, and at the end of the day, you like the effort from your team and you’re disappointed that a point slipped away. But it’s a hard-earned point against a pretty good hockey club.”
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