Max Pacioretty helps Canadiens survive Hurricanes

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens were thankful to improve their remarkable home record despite a strong road game by the streaking Carolina Hurricanes.
Max Pacioretty scored 14 seconds into the third period and Montreal ended Carolina's five-game winning streak with a 2-1 win at Bell Centre on Thursday.
Pacioretty gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead when he banked a backhand shot off the back of Cam Ward's leg over the goal line for his fifth goal.
Carey Price made 31 saves, and Andrew Shaw scored in the first period for Montreal (15-4-2), which had gone 1-3-1 since winning 12 of 13.

"Pacioretty] came up with the big goal to start off the third period, but they definitely played a solid, structured team game," Price said. "They definitely played a very good road game. You've got to give that team a lot of credit for the way they played tonight. I thought they executed their game plan very well."
**[WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Canadiens highlights**
The Canadiens, who lost 4-3 to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, improved to 12-1-1 at home.
Elias Lindholm gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with his second goal at 10:32 of the first period when he shot past Price into the top left corner from the right side.
Ward made 20 saves in his eighth straight start for the Hurricanes (8-7-4), who defeated Montreal 3-2 at home Friday in the middle of their winning streak.
"[Ward] was playing good again and we wanted at least one point, and we deserved at least one point," Lindholm said. "So there's nothing we can do now. We're having a good game going on and just try to move on and try to get the next game as a win."
Ward, who has allowed two goals or fewer in six straight games, made several big saves, including a glove save on a slap shot by Shea Weber during a Montreal power play in the third period.
"He's been outstanding," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "In this League, it's a race to three [goals] typically, right? If you get to three you usually get a point, if not two. Defensively I thought we were fine, I thought we did our job. I thought the penalty kill was good and it was only out there for four minutes, which is about right, you don't want to put it on display all that much, and needed a big save there on the shot from Weber, and we got it.
"So you need that on the penalty kill there, but I think we needed a little more traffic and a few more guys digging in in the blue paint in the offensive zone would have been a little bit more appealing for the coach."
Shaw took Charles Hudon's centering pass from behind the net and shot past Ward from the edge of the crease at 12:08 of the first period to tie it at 1-1.

Goal of the game

Shaw's goal got Montreal right back in the game. He scored 1:36 after Lindholm gave Carolina a short-lived one-goal lead with a shot past Price that stunned the crowd into silence.

Saves of the game

Ward stuck out his right pad to make a toe save on Shaw, and then he gloved a slap shot from Weber targeted for the top right corner from the point later in the same Montreal power play in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Ward slid to his right to make a spectacular save at 13:20 of the third period on Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk, who was set up by right wing Alexander Radulov's pass from the right side.

Unsung moment of the game

Montreal was called for icing when Shaw put a backhand from the neutral zone wide of an empty net with 1:09 remaining and Ward pulled for an extra attacker. With Carolina pressing for the tying goal, Shaw blocked a shot by Justin Faulk after the faceoff in the Canadiens' zone, and later in the same shift cleared the zone from the right corner with less than 20 seconds left on a backhand that sent the puck down the ice, stopping short of Carolina's goal line.

They said it

"We can be better. The power play can be better. We can be at the net, we can be harder at both nets, their net and our net, so there are some things that we did well but there are some things you can improve on moving forward." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"They were on top of us all night, making it difficult to come out of our end and they did a really good job of holding onto the puck down low." -- Canadiens goalie Carey Price

Need to know

Peters used his challenge after Pacioretty scored. He lost his timeout when the review determined that Montreal center Tomas Plekanec was onside when he carried the puck over the blue line on the play that led to the goal. ... Canadiens defenseman Nathan Beaulieu did not play and will not travel when Montreal begins a five-game road trip Saturday. Beaulieu was hit by a puck in the throat area during the loss to Ottawa. He was released from hospital on Wednesday, but Canadiens coach Michel Therrien had no update on his condition.

What's next

Hurricanes: At the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CITY, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: At the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, FS-D, NHL.TV)