Hurricanes rally past Canadiens

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes, held to eight shots on goal through two periods, scored three goals on 10 shots in the third to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 at PNC Arena on Friday.
Cam Ward made 31 saves for the Hurricanes (6-6-4), who won their third straight, all at home. Victor Rask had a goal and an assist, and Ron Hainsey had two assists.
After going 3-3-4 while playing eight of their first 10 on the road, the Hurricanes have begun to turn things around by playing a tight, defensive style and relying on strong play from Ward.

"We're building some momentum here at home," Ward said. "I'm just trying to be relaxed out there, and fortunately things have been going well for me."
WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Hurricanes highlights
Montreal (13-3-2) lost its third straight. Al Montoya made 15 saves.
Carolina tied the game at 1-1 at 3:12 of the third period when Jeff Skinner redirected Hainsey's shot from the left point. The goal was the 150th for Skinner, who turned his left skate to send the puck over Montoya's glove.

Teuvo Teravainen gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead at 7:43 when he tipped in Hainsey's shot from the blue line, keeping his stick below the cross bar.
Carolina pushed the lead to 3-1 at 9:02 on Rask's seventh goal of the season. Elias Lindholm dug the puck off the boards and fed Rask in the right circle.
"Really good play by Lindholm," said Rask, who is tied with Skinner for the team lead in goals. "He got it in the middle and I just tried to get it on net."
Andrew Shaw cut the Montreal's deficit to 3-2 when he redirected Andrei Markov's shot past Ward's glove at 15:29.
The Canadiens held a 21-8 advantage in shots through two periods, and had the only goal of the first 40 minutes.
Jeff Petry gave Montreal the lead at 14:19 of the second period when he finished the long rebound of Markov's shot from inside the blue line. Markov extended his point streak to seven games. Charles Hudon, recalled from St. John's of the American Hockey League on Thursday, had the second assist.
The Hurricanes challenged the goal, contending that Daniel Carr interfered with Ward, who was on his back when Petry's shot crossed the goal line. The officials determined that Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin caused Carr to come in contact with Ward, and the goal stood.

Goal of the game

While most skate deflections occur near the crease, Skinner's was quite unusual. He was lurking near the left post, but he came out past the faceoff dot and intentionally turned his skate to redirect the shot.

Save of the game

Markov made a strong bid to tie the game with 3:00 remaining, but Ward pushed out hard to the top of the crease and stacked his pads for the save. "I got a little bit excited," Ward said with a smile. "Good thing he shot it. If he held onto it, it could have been a different story.

Highlight of the game

Shaw's tip was well-executed. After leaving a drop pass for Markov, he took the return pass and redirected it on the backhand with very little motion, giving Ward little chance to react.

Unsung moment of the game

Not a particular moment, but an element of the game - staying out of the penalty box. The Hurricanes are a disciplined team, but taking just one minor penalty helped them stay in the game when Montreal was already dominating 5-on-5.

They said it

"We weren't playing terrible, but we certainly weren't playing good. We just weren't generating much. When you get it in, if it's not dumped in the right spot, they rip it right back out. Ninety-five percent of the time we could not get any staying power in their end for all of those two periods." -- Hurricanes defenseman Ron Hainsey
"We played a really good road game. When you're on the road and you give up 18 shots and you've got over 30, usually you win those types of hockey games. The effort was there. You need puck luck, and we don't have puck luck lately." -- Canadiens coach Michel Therrien
"This is a good League. There aren't very many nights when you're playing a team that isn't any good. You've got to have a healthy amount of respect for everybody in this League. But if we're beating good teams, that's got to put us in that category at some point." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters

Need to know

Montreal scored the first goal for the 14th time in 18 games. ... Alexander Radulov, Montreal's second-leading scorer with 14 points, missed his second straight game because of illness. … With his eighth assist, Carolina rookie Sebastian Aho leads the team in that category. ... After winning 38 percent of faceoffs through two period, the Hurricanes won 65 percent in the third.

What's next

Canadiens: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, NHLN-US, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-CR, NHL.TV)