Recap: Raanta, Canes Shutout Canadiens In Return To Play

RALEIGH, NC. -The Carolina Hurricanes finally got back to game action Thursday night, blanking the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 4-0.

As Montreal entered the evening with 13 players in COVID-19 Protocol and star forward Jonathan Drouin being scratched after warmups due to illness, the Canes found themselves on the other end of the paradigm with eight members of their roster returning to play after the team's 12-day break.
After a slow first ten minutes of play Carolina finally got the ball rolling and once they got it going, it never slowed down. On the first of their five power plays on the night, Nino Niederreiter was camped out in front and put back a second effort to give his team the game's first lead.
Less than three minutes later the other Canes special teams unit was able to find the back of the net, with Teuvo Teravainen cashing in on a two-on-one with Sebastian Aho to make it 2-0.

Penalties continued to be a story as the contest progressed into the middle period, as both teams took a pair of penalties each for a second consecutive frame. On the home side's last of the middle 40 Teravainen struck once again, this time earning his ninth of the year on a wonderful feed from Martin Necas.
Moving into the third ahead by a trio, 19-year-old Seth Jarvis, who was one of the Carolina skaters making his return, then chimed in on yet another man advantage. Striking from the slot, the rookie sensation beat Sam Montembeault high to the blocker-side to conclude the evening's scoring at 4-0.

The backbone behind it all for the Canes and biggest story of the night was goaltender Antti Raanta, who stopped all 26 shots faced for his 14th career shutout. In an evening where the pace of play was ever-changing and filled with special teams situations, the 32-year-old netminder was steady throughout, including a strong stop in the second period to keep his the Canadiens "0" on the scoreboard. His final test of the evening was a penalty kill inside the last five minutes, but it was another ace for his night, putting the bow on his first clean sheet of the season.
They Said It:
Antti Raanta on his performance...
"The start of the game was pretty slow for a goalie, there wasn't much happening. Then the last couple minutes of first the started to put the puck to the net. There were a couple of chaotic situations, but we were able to handle those. I felt in the second period, when I made that rebound save, that I was on top of my game and I felt pretty good. Obviously there were a couple shots were I probably could've handled the puck a little bit better, but you know, I haven't played in a couple weeks, so it's always a little bit tough to get all the saves as perfect as you want. You just try and battle and I was fortunate enough to get the shutout today. It's pretty special to be able to play and get the shutout at home. Obviously you never think about those too much, but then when they got that power play with four minutes to go I was like 'oh no, they're going to score'. Our penalty kill was so good today though, so they didn't have a chance."
Teuvo Teravainen on the team's effort after being off for 12 days...
"It's been weird times. We hadn't played in a long time, so it was just good to get back. The home crowd was awesome, so it was all just really special."
Rod Brind'Amour assessing the evening...
"The outcome was great. It was kind of what I thought it was going to look like. We were certainly rusty with our decision making. We weren't making plays, we were turning the puck over, but at the end of the day our penalty kill was great and our goaltending was nice. He made some big saves early and then the power play connected. Definitely a good win."
What's Next?:
The team is schedule to practice Friday before departing to Columbus, where they'll play the Blue Jackets on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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