Pyotr Kochetkov made 26 saves and the Carolina Hurricanes reached another milestone while winning without an even-strength goal, defeating the host Montreal Canadiens 3-0 on Saturday night.
Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis scored for the Hurricanes, while Jake Guentzel posted two assists. Jarvis and Aho also each added an assist as Carolina eclipsed the 100-point mark heading into a three-game homestand.
The Hurricanes (47-21-7, 101 points) have points in nine of their past 10 games.
Kochetkov notched his fourth shutout of the season and the eighth of his career.
Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault made 27 saves, but Montreal (28-33-12, 68 points) was unable to build on what had been the team’s first three-game winning streak of the season. It was the first defeat for the Canadiens in three games since coach Martin St. Louis returned from a leave of absence because of a family situation.
Montreal, which went 0-for-3 on power plays, suffered its third shutout of the season, with the other two coming against the Los Angeles Kings. The Canadiens hadn’t been blanked since Dec. 7.
Staal scored a short-handed goal near the midway mark of the second period, Aho converted on a power play in the third period and Jarvis wrapped up the score with an empty-net tally with 2:48 to play.
Staal’s short-handed goal came with teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov in the penalty box for a delay of game infraction. It was the ninth goal of the season for Staal, ending his 15-game scoring drought.
Aho scored his team-leading 33rd goal 3:42 into the third period.
Jarvis continued his recent scoring burst with his 29th goal of the season. He has 10 goals in a 12-game span.
It was just the second time in Montreal’s past six home games that the Canadiens didn’t earn at least one point.
–Field Level Media
