This edition of the Hidden Game is dedicated to Carolina defenceman Brent Burns.
Not only does the 6-foot-5, 228-pounder continue playing at the age of 39, Tuesday night’s game against the Canadiens at the Bell Centre was his 901st consecutive match. Now in his 21st season, Burns was selected 20th overall by Minnesota back in 2003. We believe every pro athlete should play as long as humanly possible, because retirement lasts a long time.
Random thought of the night (Part I): Anyone else think Burns and Los Angeles defenceman Drew Doughty were separated at birth? Please take a moment, if time permits, and explore.
Great moments in NHL scheduling: How is it that this was Montreal’s 58th game of the season, but its first against the Hurricanes?
Strange, but true: The Hurricanes went undefeated against the Canadiens last season, winning all three encounters, and were 16-1-1 against Montreal in their last 18. That is until Tuesday night’s 4-0 defeat. This marked the first time since Dec. 13, 2018 — a string of 14 games — Montreal defeated Carolina in regulation time.
Random thought of the night (Part II): They relocated to Raleigh, N.C., but this might as well have been another Tuesday night involving the Hartford Whalers. The Canes, by the way, have lost five of their last six.
News you need (Part I): Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen had gone 14-4-2 against the Canadiens, with two shutouts and a .928 save percentage. Starting for the first time since Feb. 6, he allowed four goals on 18 shots for a save percentage of .778. This also was his third consecutive defeat. Maybe Andersen thinks he’s still in Toronto? And it’s late April?
News you need (Part II): Cole Caufield’s assist on Nick Suzuki’s second-period goal was his 200th career point.
News you need (Part III): Canadiens goalie Samuel Montembeault, who stopped 20 shots for his fourth shutout this season, was a baseball catcher in his youth. We asked him post-game, since he’s virtually unbeatable to his glove side. On the other hand, not once did he call for a spitball. Or a little chin music while behind the plate. Yeah, we asked him.
What else is there to do on a Tuesday night?: The Alouettes still are more than two months away from the start of training camp, but their coaches are in Montreal for winter meetings and made their annual pilgrimage to the Bell Centre for a game. But these guys know hockey. Several left with 13 minutes remaining in the third period; the remainder with slightly less than 10 minutes still to be played. Even they had seen enough of the boring Hurricanes.
Quickly removing himself from Cy Young consideration: With a goal and two assists, Patrik Laine better be careful. He’s now sitting at 14-8 — his differential between goals and assists. After going 10 games without scoring, Laine now has goals in consecutive contests.
And you thought he only was productive on the power play: Laine’s goal was his third even-strength tally this season.
Go figure: After going 14 consecutive games without a point, Canadiens defenceman Jayden Struble, who drew an assist on the opening goal — a deflection by Juraj Slafkovsky — is suddenly on a two-game point streak.
Strong like bull: Dmitry Orlov, who’s 5-foot-11 and 214 pounds, delivered a good hit on Emil Heineman, 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, in the first period. The Swede barely blinked. The Canadiens are a better team with Heineman in the lineup.
Like watching paint dry: Through the first 13:40 of the game, the teams had combined for eight shots.
Dumb penalty (Part I): Arber Xhekaj, in the offensive zone, hooked Seth Jarvis in the first period.
Thanks for showing up: The Canadiens scored twice in the first period — and Carolina centre Jack Roslovic was on the ice for both.
Dumb penalty (Part II): If you’re going to trip a Canadiens player to prevent him from a scoring opportunity, don’t make it the offensively challenged Christian Dvorak. Nonetheless, that’s exactly what Shayne Gostisbehere did early in the second period.
Dumb penalty (Part III): Burns high-sticked Caufield 44 seconds later, leaving the visitors two-men short for 1:17. Incredibly, the Canadiens failed to generate a shot.
Johnny Bower would have been dead: There was a time when goalies didn’t wear masks. And dinosaurs roamed the Earth. In the eighth minute of the second period, Slafkovsky’s shot from a sharp angle ricocheted off Andersen’s head. Fortunately, his head gear prevented any injury.
Dumb penalty (Part IV): Andrei Svechnikov, in the offensive zone, cross-checked Mike Matheson in the second period. He could have, and should have, received a double minor for holding the defenceman’s stick.
Pass of the night: Laine’s cross-ice gem to Suzuki, midway through the second period, providing the Canadiens with a 3-0 lead.
Game of inches: Both Carolina’s Sebastian Aho and Heineman hit the post in the third period.
Next time, decline the penalty: Carolina went 0-for-3 on the power play.
Quick stats: Slafkovsky and Xhekaj both had four hits. Laine had a team-high three shots. David Savard blocked three shots. The Canadiens won only 40.9 per cent of their faceoffs, but had a 27-21 edge in hits.
They said it: “I think we’ve played some pretty solid hockey,” Laine said. “Two wins right away is huge for us. Every game’s a big night. I’ve gotten lucky a couple of times now. I don’t really care about the goals. They’ll come eventually when you work hard. It’s good to get a couple of goals every now and then. Get some confidence.”
“We took the opportunity to dive back into the way we were playing before the break,” Matheson said. “Fix things that we needed to do. It’s not like we’re a finished product either. As much as people have probably written us off, I feel like the East is such a contest now. You can be five points out of the playoffs and three points from the bottom, too, at the same time. There’s a lot of parity. It’s going to take a team that really takes control.”
“It wasn’t the most exciting game of the year, but we played a solid and simple game,” Montembeault said. “When everybody’s on board, everybody plays the way we want to play, we can compete with every team.”