Montembeault makes 20 saves, Canadiens shut out Hurricanes

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens won consecutive games for the first time in a month with a 4-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Sam Montembeault made 20 saves for his fourth shutout this season, and Patrik Laine and Nick Suzuki each had a goal and two assists for Montreal (27-26-5), which went 1-7-1 in its nine games prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

“I think we’re just playing more of a complete game,” Montembeault said. “We played a really solid 60 minutes today. Sorry for the fans, maybe it wasn’t the most exciting game of the year, but we played a really solid game and really simple game. That’s a team that brings a lot of pressure and we did a really good job of getting the puck out of our zone.”

The Canadiens, who defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Saturday, last won consecutive games from Jan. 19-21.

“I think we’ve played some pretty solid hockey,” Laine said. “Obviously, in Ottawa it was a tighter game, but I think we played in a similar way both nights and obviously two wins right away it’s huge for us from where we stand.”

Frederik Andersen made 14 saves for Carolina (33-21-4), which lost 6-3 at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday and is 1-5-0 in its past six games.

“It’s been a bit of the same story,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s not that we’re giving up a ton but when we do it just seemed to kind of find a way, you know, a couple of weird bounces to start and then you’re behind the eight ball. You’ve got to give them credit, they didn’t give us much. They were doing a nice job of defending when they got the lead.”

Juraj Slafkovsky put Montreal up 1-0 at 8:05 of the first period. He deflected Jayden Struble’s wrist shot from the left point for his second goal in as many games.

Laine made it 2-0 at 17:37 when he tipped Alexandre Carrier’s shot from the point.

Suzuki pushed it to 3-0 with a power-play goal at 10:04 of the second period. He fired a wrist shot past Andersen’s glove from above the right face-off dot after taking a cross-ice pass from Laine.

“I feel like whenever I’ve played them throughout my career, they’ve always had a healthy PK,” Laine said. “We try to keep it simple. There were a couple of breakdowns they had and obviously we were able to capitalize, which was nice, which gives us confidence for our power play, and it’ll be a major part for our success, you know, trying to get the PP going in these last 24 games.”

Lane Hutson made it 4-0 with Montreal’s second straight power-play goal at 10:22 of the third period, a wrist shot through traffic from the left point. The defenseman leads NHL rookies with 43 points (four goals, 39 assists).

“We’re starting off games down a couple and chasing is never a recipe for success,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal. “I just didn’t think we were defending well enough. We’re kind of hoping to outscore teams and hoping to out-chance teams and playing that 50/50, you know, if we get more goals than them kind of thing. We’ve always been built on a club that defends well, and I think we’ve slipped in that aspect of our game.”

NOTES: Canadiens forward Josh Anderson left at 10:08 of the third after he slammed into the end boards, putting out his arms to brace himself after he was upended by Jalen Chatfield, who was penalized for holding. There was no update on Anderson after the game. ... Canadiens forward Cole Caufield had an assist on Suzuki’s goal. It was his 200th point (108 goals, 92 assists) in his 263rd NHL game, making him the fastest Montreal player to reach that milestone in the past 30 years. … Montembeault has the most shutouts by a Canadiens goalie since Carey Price had four shutouts in 2019-20. … Suzuki reached 40 assists for the fourth straight season. Only Guy Lafleur (10 consecutive 40-assist seasons) and Saku Koivu and Bobby Smith (each with five straight 40-assist seasons) have had more for Montreal.