Jesperi Kotkaniemi gave himself a reason to smile upon his return to Montreal.
Kotkaniemi scored his first goal in his new uniform halfway through the third period and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 Thursday night at the Bell Center.
The Habs therefore suffered a fifth consecutive setback to start the season, equaling their disastrous streak at the start of the 1995-96 campaign.
Dominique Ducharme’s squad played with more poise than Tuesday in a 5-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks, but it was not enough.
Tyler Toffoli became the Canadiens’ second forward (0-5-0) to move the strings this season, scoring his first power-play goal in 2021-22. Jake Allen repelled 29 shots.
Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist, while Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes (3-0-0). Teuvo Teravainen and Vincent Trocheck each collected two assists. Frederik Andersen made 27 saves.
Kotkaniemi scored the Hurricanes’ third goal, amassing a first point with the team that made him a hostile one-season and US $ 6.1 million offer this summer. The Canadian had decided not to match the offer, while general manager Marc Bergevin described it as “disproportionate”.
Jake Evans was back in the lineup for the Canadiens after missing Tuesday’s duel with an upper body injury. Mathieu Perreault was also in uniform on Thursday, while Cédric Paquette and Adam Brooks were left out.
The Canadiens play their next game on Saturday, when they host the Detroit Red Wings.
The last word in Kotkaniemi
The spectators reserved a hostile reception for Kotkaniemi, booing him copiously on his arrival on the ice and chanting sometimes original, sometimes vulgar slogans.
The Canadian believed he opened the scoring after 5:33 of play on a power play, but Brendan Gallagher’s effort was ultimately called off by officials following a challenge from the Hurricanes head coach , Rod Brind’Amour. Gallagher reportedly interfered with Andersen’s job when he deflected a Chris Wideman shot into the goal.
The Habs lost their momentum after this turnaround and finally landed just five shots on goal in the first period.
Allen had to be vigilant to keep his people in the game. He frustrated Derek Stepan on a breakaway coming off the penalty bench, then Kotkaniemi on a point blank shot with just over three minutes to go on the throw-off. He was also lucky when Svechnikov hit the crossbar moments later.
The sky finally fell on the Canadian’s head after the intermission.
Aho scored on the power play after 23 seconds with a powerful landing shot. Svechnikov returned to the charge 1:49 later, scoring from roughly the same spot as his teammate.
The Canadian quietly managed to win a little more in Hurricanes territory. Christian Dvorak came close to scoring his own, but his throw from a tight angle hit the post.
Toffoli finally revived the Canadian with 2:03 left in the second period, flickering the red light on the power play. He took advantage of a nice discount from Nick Suzuki to outsmart Andersen.
The Canadian tried to keep his momentum going in the third period, but Kotkaniemi played the spoilsport by deflecting a shot from the point of Brady Skjei with 10:37 to go on the clock.
Jonathan Drouin could have made things interesting with just under five minutes to go, but Andersen closed the opening between his legs at the right time to frustrate the Quebecer as he was on a breakaway.
Gallagher was unable to take advantage of an open net moments later.
Aho completed the score in an empty net with 38.1 seconds left.