The Canadiens’ impressive compete level was on display again Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
Unfortunately for them, so was their lack of offence — especially from their forwards — as they lost 3-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes.
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The Canadiens saw their season-high three-game winning streak come to an end, but they continue to play some solid hockey against the best teams in the NHL, including a 2-1 win over the Avalanche last Tuesday in Colorado.
The Hurricanes improved their record to 47-21-7 and they now have 101 points, along with a clinched playoff spot with seven games left in their regular season. The Canadiens fell to 28-33-12. The Hurricanes came into the game ranked seventh in the NHL in scoring with an average of 3.38 goals per game, while the Canadiens ranked 27th with an average of 2.72. The Hurricanes have five players with at least 20 goals, while the Canadiens have two: Nick Suzuki (30) and Cole Caufield (20).
Compete level is a good thing, but the team that scores the most goals still wins and the Canadiens struggle to score.
This marked the third time this season the Canadiens have been shut out. The first two times were against the Los Angeles Kings by identical 4-0 scores.
The Canadiens were outshot 30-26 by the Hurricanes and they couldn’t beat goalie Pyotr Kochetkov, who earned his fourth shutout of the season. The Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal (short-handed) and Sebastian Aho (power play) scored on Samuel Montembeault, while Seth Jarvis added an empty-netter.
The Hurricanes have won their last nine games against the Canadiens and are 16-1-1 in the last 18 matchups between these two teams dating back to 2017.
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