Raanta, Canes blank Canadiens, 3-0 Carolina stay atop Metro with win

In Montreal, Antti Raanta made 14 saves  and the Carolina Hurricanes blanked the Canadiens, 3-0, on Saturday.“I missed pretty much three weeks, and you’re always eager to get back and you try to feel as good as possible in the practice and try to do the right things, but it’s always the game that tells you where you’re at,” Raanta said. “I’m not saying that it was a perfect 60 minutes for me, like there were a few moments where I lost the puck a little bit, but overall pretty good.

“Obviously, I made the saves when I needed to and the guys played really well in front of me, so that obviously helped.”

The win helped the Canes stay atop the Metro Division.

“He’s been good for us all year, and I think every time he’s injured he doesn’t complain, he just comes back and kind of gives us new life when we need it,” Hurricanes forward Paul Stastny said.

Brady Skjei scored in the opening stanza to give the Canes a 1-0 lead.

Carolina improved to 48-18-9, and snapped a three-game skid.

“I thought that was about as dominant as you can play a game,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I mean we were in their end the whole game, so if you’re doing that — their goalie made some good saves on some tips and some things. We didn’t create a lot off the rush, but we didn’t need to. That’s how you have to play it.

“When you get a lead make sure you don’t give them rush opportunities and dominate the game in their end. I mean, that’s kind of how you want to do it.”

Montreal dropped to 30-41-6) off their third straight loss.

“You could see that they’re a team getting ready to play in the [Stanley Cup Playoffs],” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “We weren’t there tonight.”

Stastny pushed the advantage to 2-0 midway through the second period.

Sebastian Aho scored off the power to end the second period with the final score at 3-0.

Sam Montembeault made 47 saves in the Habs loss.

“They’re a well-oiled team,” Montembeault said. “There was no room on the ice. At times it felt like there were six of them.”