Hurricanes shut out Canadiens on the road to near Stanley Cup finals

[p]Having won the last two games, the Canes were looking to go one step closer to the Stanley Cup finals, their first since 2006.[/p][p]The game's first goal came with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/carolina-hurricanes-Sx0gl0tm/montreal-canadiens-nu2G7VWc/?mid=CMLJLYVG"]five minutes left in the first period[/a]. After [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bolduc-zachary/Y5g6sTSL/"]Zachary Bolduc[/a]'s penalty, the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/carolina-hurricanes/Sx0gl0tm/"]Hurricanes[/a] made the most of the man advantage. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ehlers-nikolaj/YJ2gELK1/"]Nikolaj Ehlers[/a] found [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/aho-sebastian/dvL9PWjc/"]Sebastian Aho[/a], who hit first-time into the net.[/p][embed guid="9d4b44a8-1eb8-4b69-a488-f9b753464457" url="https://x.com/NHL/status/2059800105977356438?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]It was the 11th time that the Canes scored on the power play in the NHL playoffs, the most of any team.[/p][embed guid="c92345fb-134f-40c0-a38e-9295e7c42c96" url="https://x.com/NHL/status/2059833679019487331?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Just 68 seconds later, Carolina doubled their lead. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/miller-k-andre/fBnCdIsh/"]K'Andre Miller[/a] was afforded too much space as he skated near the goal before finding [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/staal-jordan/nybJM7z7/"]Jordan Staal[/a]. The latter's shot found its way past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dobes-jakub/0W5FnU82/"]Jakub Dobes[/a], silencing the home crowd.[/p][p]The damage was not done. With 2:14 left before the first intermission, it became 3-0. The Habs gave away the puck, which the visitors went the other way. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/blake-jackson/8KcAGWiG/"]Jackson Blake[/a] passed it to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/stankoven-logan/Mqmoc3L5/"]Logan Stankhoven[/a], who converted from close range.[/p][embed guid="370628a2-ae27-43ab-8711-c2ec51854fad" url="https://x.com/NHL/status/2059801848526118919?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Overall, the Hurricanes outshot the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/montreal-canadiens/nu2G7VWc/"]Canadiens[/a] 43-18 in the game, but the latter had more than half of their shots in the second period. Yet, they still could not find the back of the net and keep themselves in the game.[/p][p]The hosts brought on a sixth skater in the final frame, trying to get a goal and have some hope. However, they failed to deny [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/andersen-frederik/OhFcnMIJ/"]Frederik Andersen[/a], who posted the shutout. In the final two minutes, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/svechnikov-andrei/6DbeHrlr/"]Andrei Svechnikov[/a] added a fourth via an empty net to complete scoring.[/p][embed guid="505bbb50-df15-45e6-a60a-2c01e3925986" url="https://x.com/NHL/status/2059831017720942998?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Carolina will have the chance to close out the series at home on Friday night, leading 3-1 in the series.[/p]