Jonathan Drouin was a late scratch due to a non-COVID related illness. Brendan Gallagher left in the second period and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
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The Montreal Canadiens ended an eventful 2021 with a 4-0 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC Arena on Thursday. The Metropolitan Division leading Canes did all their damage on special teams, scoring three times on the power play and adding another shorthanded.
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Already scraping bottom of the lineup barrel, the injury and COVID depleted Habs scratched Jonathan Drouin from the lineup to due a “non-COVID related illness.” During the second period, Brendan Gallagher left the game and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Forward Brandon Baddock made his NHL debut and wore number 81 for the Habs. Even the two most recent callups, Louie Belpedio and Gianni Fairbrother, couldn’t avoid the COVID list. That’s how Montreal’s season is going.
Meanwhile, the powerhouse Hurricanes got Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Staal back from COVID protocol.
Nino Niederreiter opened scoring at 10:46 of the first period on the power play. Jacob Slavin’s point shot made it through, and Niederreiter was there to pop home the rebound.
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With Brady Skjei in the box, Carolina jumped to a 2-0 lead. Aho and Teravainen raced to a two-on-one, with the former feeding the latter a clean pass for a one-timer that beat Samuel Montembeault.
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In the second, the Habs hung on for as long as they could, but the talented Canes gradually started to gain momentum. Before the period was out, the Hurricanes scored another power play goal to enter the dressing room up 3-0 after 40 minutes. Teravainen scored his second of the night, completing a pinpoint pair of passes with Aho and Martin Necas. Montembeault slid across earlier to stop the Finnish forward, but Teravainen didn’t miss the second time with a short side blast.
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The Hurricanes finished the Habs for good at 10:52 of the third period with Michael Pezzetta in the box. Rookie forward Seth Jarvis was the latest beneficiary of Carolina’s smooth power play passing, and he made no mistake with a top shelf wrister.
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With Gallagher out, the lineup the Habs sent out in the third period cost less than $20 million in cap space. That being said, what remained of the Montreal Canadiens held the contenting Canes scoreless on five-on-five. The effort was there and the Liveblog commenters found individual performances to appreciate. Lukas Vejdemo went to the net and got scoring chances. Ryan Poehling worked hard on the power play. Commenters liked Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Jesse Ylönen, but as one commenter said, the “the bar is pretty low.”
Thanks to everyone who followed the Liveblog during what turned out to be an interesting 2021, full of highs and lows. On to 2022 we go.
3. “‘Last Game of 2021’ Not exactly New Year’s Eve 1975….” -Ballen Munson
2. “Set off the detonators and let’s blow this team up…..” -Jeff Elikins
1. “I had lunch today with a buddy who is a die hard Leaf fan. When the conversation finally got to the Habs, he asked why I was so defensive when I knew they were playing so poorly. I told him I was defensive because he isn’t a Habs fan. Only Habs fans can crap all over the team, coaches and players with other Habs fans, like we do on this blog. He just didn’t get it.” -Bob Taylor
About Last Night: Habs no match for Canes in 4-0 loss - Montreal Gazette
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