MONTREAL — Five different players scored for Montreal as the Canadiens downed the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 on Thursday night to bounce back from their worst defeat of the season.
Jeff Petry, with two, Matthew Peca, Brendan Gallagher, Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw scored for the Canadiens (16-11-5), who have won four of their last five games. Phillip Danault and Kenny Agostino each had two assists.
Carey Price stopped 28 of 32 shots for his fourth consecutive victory.
Andrei Svechnikov, with two, Jaccob Slavin and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes (13-13-4). Petr Mrazek, replacing the injured Curtis McElhinney, made 34 saves.
The Canadiens were coming off a season-worst 7-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday and the team was determined to show their mettle.
The two teams combined for seven goals in a back-and-forth third period.
Down 2-1, Carolina needed just 23 seconds into the third to score the equalizer. Svechnikov, with his second of the game, scooped up his own rebound on the doorstep for the first multi-goal game of his NHL career.
Gallagher restored the one-goal lead 22 seconds later when he cut hard to the net and slid the puck between Mrazek’s pads for his team-leading 14th of the year, tied with Max Domi.
Lehkonen made it 4-2 at 4:22 before Slavin got one back for the visitors at 10:51.
The Canadiens went up 5-3 through Shaw’s ninth of the season, a breakaway goal at 12:24 to extend his point streak to six games.
Carolina cut the deficit again when Aho beat Price with 4:22 remaining in the encounter.
Petry sealed the deal with an empty-net goal with 1:59 on the clock for his fifth goal in his past six games.
This was the second of three meetings between the Canadiens and ‘Canes this season.
The Hurricanes lead the league in shots per game, but they only mustered four in a first period largely dominated by Montreal.
Svechnikov broke a scoreless deadlock with a 4-on-4 goal at 2:53 of the second period. With a burst of speed from centre ice, Svechnikov blew past Shea Weber and evaded his stick check before backhanding the puck into the roof of the net.
Peca, a healthy scratch for the last two games, levelled the score with his second of the season — and first since Nov. 8. Following a bad giveaway by Haydn Fleury in Carolina’s zone, Peca spun around and fired a no-look shot over Mrazek’s left shoulder and into the net at 13:51
The Canadiens took the lead three minutes later when Petry, after a soft clearing attempt by the Hurricanes, walked into the slot and fired a wrist shot past Mrazek.
Kelsey Patterson, The Canadian Press
