Svechnikov’s hat trick, Aho’s 4 assists spark Hurricanes past Canadiens

Andrei Svechnikov scored a hat trick, and Sebastian Aho had four assists in the Carolina Hurricanes' 5-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday.

It was Aho’s second straight four-point game. He had a goal and three assists in a 5-2 win against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday.

“I don’t even know my stats, where they’re at, but tonight they felt good,” Aho said.

Jesper Fast scored twice, Brent Burns had three assists, and Antti Raanta made 18 saves in his return from the American Hockey League for Carolina (19-13-4), which is 3-1-1 in its past five games.

“[Raanta] didn’t have a ton of work, but it was good to get him back in here and get him hopefully feeling good about the way things went,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

Raanta, who won for the first time since Nov. 22 (0-3-1), was recalled from Chicago of the AHL on Tuesday. He went 1-0-1 with a 2.90 goals-against average and .875 save percentage in two games after clearing waivers and being assigned there Dec. 17.

Cayden Primeau made 29 saves in his second straight start for Montreal (15-14-5), which tied it twice before having its five-game point streak end (3-0-2).

The Canadiens were playing their first game in six days.

“I think it’s pretty clear we didn’t have our game the first 10 minutes,” Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson said. “That’s normal after a break. I think we found it the rest of the first period, the second, too, and in the third we were there. So there was a lot of time left.”

Svechnikov put the Hurricanes ahead 4-3 at 13:51 of the third period with a one-timer from the top of the right face-off circle, then completed the hat trick by scoring into an empty net on the power play with 19 seconds left for the 5-3 final.

Svechnikov entered the game with three goals in 20 games this season.

“We talk about it all the time, he’s got to get on the score sheet for us to be the team we need to be,” Brind’Amour said. “And he’s a dominant player, and to do that, you’ve got to score. He does other things, obviously, but tonight was the big difference.”

Svechnikov put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0 at 1:35 of the first period when he tipped Burns’ one-timer past Primeau’s glove.

Fast made it 2-0 at 12:40, tapping in the puck from the right edge of the crease for his first goal in 18 games.

“I’ve been waiting for those a little bit this year,” Fast said. “They haven’t come easy so far, so of course it was a good feeling to get two goals today and hopefully I can ride the wave a little bit here.”

Mitchell Stephens cut it to 2-1 at 13:51 with a backhand over Raanta from the left circle. It was his second goal in as many games.

Carolina forward Jack Drury had a goal disallowed at 15:50 after Montreal challenged for goaltender interference.

Matheson then tied it 2-2 on a wraparound with four seconds left in the period. Sean Monahan got an assist on the goal for his 500th NHL point.

The Hurricanes went back in front 3-2 at 1:29 of the second period on Fast’s second goal of the game. He one-timed Stefan Noesen’s centering pass stick side on Primeau after Drury stripped the puck from Kaiden Guhle behind the net.

Josh Anderson tied it 3-3 on a breakaway 25 seconds into the third, scoring on a backhand that slipped between Raanta’s legs and trickled over the goal line.

“We found a way to get back in the game early enough to give us a chance to win,” Anderson said. “I thought our team played well. Everybody was engaged tonight. It’s a good hockey team over there, you’ve got to give them credit, but I thought we were right there with them too.”

NOTES: Aho is the first player in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history to have four-point games on consecutive days and the first NHL player to do it since Jeremy Roenick of the Phoenix Coyotes on Nov. 25-26, 1999. … Monahan has 227 goals and 273 assists in 715 games with the Canadiens and Calgary Flames. … Montreal is 2-1-1 in the first four games a stretch of seven straight on the road.