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In Hainsight: What Goes Up Must Come Down |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
The Canadiens were hoping to halt their eight-game losing streak against the Carolina Hurricanes last night, but they couldn’t even score a single goal let alone win. After experiencing some goaltending woes earlier in the season because of injury issues and Antti Raanta’s poor play, Rod Brind’Amour’s team has been getting stellar goaltending since the beginning of March. With Frederik Andersen now available and Pyotr Kochetkov finding his footing again, the Canes can now count on two very good goaltenders.
Even though Andersen had blanked the Red Wings on Thursday, the head coach chose to give the net to Kochetkov against the Canadiens since it was his turn to play. Kochetkov was ready and stood tall against the Habs who couldn’t even beat him once. Montreal took 26 shots on net last night, but he stopped them all to earn his fourth shutout of the season. Meaning of course that Juraj Slafkovsky’s game streak with a point ended at nine and that captain Nick Suzuki couldn’t score in a fourth consecutive game.
Meanwhile, Carolina peppered Samuel Montembeault’s net with 30 shots and capitalized on their opportunities. Veteran Jordan Staal scored the first goal of the game in the second frame as the Canes were down a man, breaking away after a Mike Matheson mishap on the blue line. Then, Hab for a minute, Sebastian Aho scored a power-play goal early in the third frame to give Carolina a two-game lead and Seth Jarvis put the final nail in the Canadiens’ coffin with an empty net goal.
No matter what the Canadiens tried, the Hurricanes had an answer for it. Their forecheck was great, and their goaltending was great, overall, it was just a great game for the visitors and one to forget for the Canadiens.
While the Habs were losing, one of their best prospects, Lane Hutson, was scoring a game-winning goal to book Boston University’s ticket to the Frozen Four which will take place from April 11th to 13th. This participation in the finals of the national championships means Hutson won’t be able to sign with the Habs until April 12th (if BU loses in the semi-final) or April 14th (if they make the final). Another Habs’ prospect, Luke Tuch also plays for BU and the Canadiens only hold his rights until August 15. As for Jacob Fowler, we’ll know later today if he’ll also be headed to the finals as Boston College will take on Quinnipac.
The Canadiens will now be back in action on Tuesday when they’ll host the Florida Panthers at the Bell Center.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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