Andrei Svechnikov’s overtime heroics and a relentless forecheck stifled Montreal, as Carolina’s dominant puck possession and defensive pressure secured a commanding edge in the Eastern Conference Final.
The Carolina Hurricanes have jumped out to a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final thanks to a second consecutive overtime win.
Andrei Svechnikov was the Game 3 hero, picking off a Lane Hutson pass and eventually getting open to put a seeing-eye shot through traffic.
Notably too, Carolina once again dominated Montreal for a second straight game, holding them to just 13 shots on goal while piling up 38 shots of their own.
In fact, the Hurricanes held the Canadiens to just a single shot on goal in overtime and, in total, they allowed just three shots in the last 37:43 of the game.
The Canes forechecked the Habs all night long and piled up the chances, doubling them up 92-46 overall, and eventually they just wore Montreal down.
The Canadiens were credited with 15 icings in total, the same amount of shots on goal they had, and they just couldn't find any space and time against the Hurricanes' relentless pressure.
Carolina opened the scoring for the third straight game, with the fourth line once again chipping in.
The line just went to work in the offensive zone and eventually worked a puck out of the corner to Mark Jankowski and his blocked shot found its way to the activating Shayne Gostisbehere for the opening score.
Montreal would respond a bit later as Mike Matheson was left unchecked and he ripped a shot bar and in past Frederik Andersen.
However, the Hurricanes bounced right back as another defenseman jumped into the play with K'Andre Miller finding a loose puck below the dots and feeding it in front to Taylor Hall for his first goal of the series.
The Habs would tie it back up in the second period as Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson executed a pretty give-and-go on the power play, but that would be the last time Carolina would give one up.
Again, the game was closer than it should have been, as the Canes piled up chances, but credit to the Habs. They blocked 33 shots on the night, but that's a trend a team can't really afford to keep up.
Eventually that wears a team down and that's what we may be starting to see as Carolina continues to outpossess and outchance Montreal by more and more drastic numbers.
Perhaps the biggest thing going for the Canes now though is the fact that the top line looked dangerous.
The Hurricanes have been looking for more offense out of the top trio of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis and this was by far their best game of the postseason.
The three combined for a 70% expected goals for percentage and obviously came together for the overtime winner.
If the three can continue playing like they have, it's going to be huge for Carolina.
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