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Lindgren earns his 1st NHL win as the Habs defeat the Hurricanes 4-2

April 8, 2016, 3:49 PM ET [10 Comments]
Jennifer B Cutler
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
DIn a game that meant very little, the Canadiens rallied around goaltender Charlie Lindgren and did their best to get the young man his first NHL win in his first start. By the end of the night, they accomplished just that as Lindgren backstopped the Canadiens to a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night in their final road game of the season. It looked like the Canadiens may have been in for a long evening as Riley Nash scored on the Hurricanes first shot of the game in the opening minutes. Lindgren was able to settle his nerves and battle back the rest of the night.

Darren Dietz tied the game in the last 10 seconds of the opening period with a blast for his 1st NHL goal:




The Canadiens young defensemen led by Greg Pateryn as well as Dietz, Joel Hanley and Ryan Johnston have been asked to step up and play big NHL minutes with all of the injuries on the backend. No one could have predicted that the latter trio would all be called upon to play in the NHL this year and don't forget that Morgan Ellis and Brett Lernout also had their debuts as well. The end of the season could have been disastrous and ugly, especially without Subban. These players have played admirably through what could have been a very trying time.

Lindgren came pretty much as advertised. He is a battler and gets himself into position to make the save. He made 26 saves for his first win and none were as big as the ones he made in the last few minutes in the game as the Hurricanes were pressing. This short time with the Canadiens should help his development and get him ready for off-season training. Could he pull a Mike Condon and compete for the backup position in Montreal next year? He would likely be better served playing a season in the AHL and sharing the pipes with Zach Fucale in St. John's.

Max Pacioretty, Daniel Carr and Lars Eller rounded out the rest of the scoring for the Canadiens. Carr did his best Brendan Gallagher impression, driving to the net to pot in the rebound off of Tomas Plekanec's initial shot. The addition of Carr since his return to the lineup has led to consistent second line production, something that has been missing for quite some time. Is he a catalyst in the same vein as Gallagher? He is certainly making his case to be in the Canadiens top 9 come training came 2016-2017.

Cheers & follow along!

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