RALEIGH, N.C. — The Montreal Canadiens are a better team under new coach Martin St. Louis.
But good enough to beat the Carolina Hurricanes?
Not Thursday.
The Hurricanes, after a successful three-game road trip, returned to PNC Arena to take a rather routine 4-0 win over the Canadiens, who are counting down the days and games to the end of the season.
Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen each had a goal and assist, Andrei Svechnikov scored twice and goalie Frederik Andersen took care of the rest with 32 saves.
The Canes (45-15-8) had the puck a lot and shot the puck a lot — a season-high 26 in the second period alone. They passed crisply and piled up the scoring chances. Andersen’s fourth shutout of the season lowered his goals-against average to 2.00.
Had goalie Jake Allen not played well for Montreal (18-39-11), it would have been 5-0 or worse after two periods rather than 3-0. The Canes had three consecutive power plays in the period but could not get a shot past Allen, who was called for a delay-of-game penalty for taking off his helmet and throwing it down when a snap came loose.
The Habs were 8-30-7 when St. Louis was named interim head coach on Feb. 8, but 10-8-4 in the 22 games under St. Louis before Thursday — a more competitive team, feeding off its coach, despite the talent gap on most nights.
One potential storyline was missing Thursday: Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Thursday the forward would be sidelined two to three weeks with a lower-body injury. That prevented Kotkaniemi from playing another game against the team that let its former first-round pick leave after last season.
Kotkaniemi was obtained from the Canadiens before the season via an offer sheet and has signed an eight-year extension with Carolina since the Canes last played the Habs in December. The third overall pick of the 2018 NHL draft by Montreal, his future will be with the Hurricanes.
Kotkaniemi was injured Monday in the final seconds of the Canes’ 6-1 road win at Washington on a hit by the Caps’ Lars Eller.
Another former Canadiens forward, Max Domi, did play his first game against the Habs in a Canes sweater. Moved to the second line with Svechnikov and Vincent Trocheck, Domi assisted on Svechnikov’s goal for his third point in five games since the trade from Columbus.
The Canes’ two first-period scores were timely — the first goal of the game, then one with 12 seconds left in the period for a 2-0 lead.
Aho’s 31st goal came after he won the faceoff to start the power play, then floated into the slot to redirect a shot by Teravainen and extend his point streak to six games.
Svechnikov scored with defenseman David Savard cross-checking him in front of the net, deflecting Slavin’s backhand feed past Allen. Savard continued to cross-check, as if oblivious to the goal being scored, before Svechnikov finally shrugged at him.
Teravainen’s score came after Aho knocked down a Tony DeAngelo pass in the slot and made a quick, short pass to set up Teravainen.
