By Canadian Press

Teuvo Teravainen has two goals, assist as Hurricanes edge Canadiens

Jan 25, 2018 | 8:51 PM

Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien said it was “hard to digest” his team’s performance against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

In a poor defensive showing by both teams, the Hurricanes beat the Canadiens 6-5 to snap their two-game losing skid and keep their playoff aspirations alive.

“I haven’t seen that many mistakes in a while,” said Julien. “We didn’t make good decisions individually. It’s not about pointing the finger because you win as a team and you lose as a team. But I would expect our players to be ready to play a game and be focused. Some of them were, but a lot of them weren’t.

“Pros have to be pros. We don’t babysit; we prepare guys.”

Down 2-0 after a lethargic first period by the home side, the Canadiens showed signs of life in the second. Back-to-back goals by Charles Hudon and Brendan Gallagher 39 seconds apart tied things up.

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But every time Montreal clawed its way back in the game, Carolina answered almost instantly.

The game was all square for just 23 seconds when Jeff Skinner, left all alone at the side of the net by Jordie Benn and Jakub Jerabek, made it 3-2 at 7:06.

“We battled hard and tied it up but we gave them too much momentum,” said Habs forward Paul Byron, who extended his point streak to six games. “After the second period, tying the game up like that, we should have kept rolling, should have kept going. But a couple of mental mistakes put us back in the hole again. It’s tough to come back from those.”

Thirty seconds after Skinner’s marker, Teuvo Teravainen jumped on a turnover by Habs defenceman Victor Mete in his own zone to score on a breakaway for his second of the game.

After Hudon, with his second, and Jeff Petry made it 4-4 late in the middle frame, the Hurricanes regained the lead through Derek Ryan just over one minute later on poor rebound control by Carey Price.

When Max Pacioretty tied the game at 5-5 in the third, Carolina’s Justin Williams needed just 10 seconds to break the tie with a deflection past Price for the eventual game-winner.

Price stopped 23-of-29 shots in defeat.

“Those shifts after goals, that’s when you have to really bear down and be good,” said Gallagher. “Those were huge momentum shifts and that’s why we lost. That’s when we need to be better and smarter with the puck, be smarter in your decision-making.

“That was a huge problem early on for us (in the season). We were better for the last little bit but it seeped back in and it hurt us tonight.”

Montreal (20-23-6) and Carolina (22-19-8) combined for seven goals in the second period, including five goals in a frantic 2:51 span.

Montreal started the game on the wrong foot, conceding a goal to Teravainen just 1:34 into the first. Carolina made it 2-0 through Jordan Staal’s power-play goal later in the frame.

“Look at the character of our team,” said Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward, who made 26 saves. “Being able to bounce back every time we got scored on, we responded within minutes to regain the lead. That’s a compliment to the players.

“We gave up four goals in the second period and still walked away with the lead. That doesn’t happen very often.”

It was the final game for both teams before the NHL all-star break.

Notes: The Hurricanes have won three straight against the Canadiens. … ‘Canes defenceman Noah Hanifin had three assists. … Sebastian Aho, Carolina’s leading scorer, was out with a concussion.

Kelsey Patterson, The Canadian Press