Habs v. Canes: Carolina takes decisive 3-1 series lead with 4-0 shutout in Montreal

Montreal Canadiens Lane Hutson and Nick Suzuki speak after a 4-0 Carolina Hurricanes win in Game 4.

The Carolina Hurricanes left little to chance on Wednesday night in Montreal, blanking the Canadiens 4-0 to take a 3-1 series lead heading back to North Carolina.

Road warriors v. Home strugglers

Since Game 3 against Buffalo on May 10, Montreal’s skaters have not been able to take advantage of the raucous home crowd or torch-bearing legends who open the game to spur them on.

Despite the at times earthquake-inducing levels of sound at the Bell Centre, Montreal has only won two of the seven playoff games in the Habs’ barn.

On Wednesday, it was 2010 Habs playoff hero Slovak Jaroslav Halák’s turn to hold the torch, while holding a Dobes stop sign in his other hand, hoping to inspire his European neighbour: Canadiens netminder Jakub Dobeš of the Czech Republic.

In the end, however, the game went to script.

Carolina won its sixth straight on the road in the playoffs, and it was the fourth home loss in a row for Montreal.

Carolina is now a sizzling 11-1 heading back to Raleigh with a chance to close the series and meet the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Early Cane-ing

Any hopes that the stifling Canes defence and forechecking may lose intensity were forgotten by the end of a first period that most Habs fans would like to forget.

Noted Game of Thrones fan and birthday boy Dobeš did his best to keep the Carolina snipers at bay, but a power play goal by Sebastian Aho 15 minutes into the period opened the gate that would soon be crashed.

Jordan Staal scored a minute and change later, and Logan Stankoven added another about a minute and a half after that to make it 3-0, undoubtedly ruining Dobeš’s 25th.

At the end of the period, Montreal was outshot 12-5.

The Canadiens improved slightly in the second period, but were unable to score or get any meaningful momentum going.

After 40 minutes, the Bell Centre was very quiet, aside from an occasional chorus of boos.

Seventeen minutes and five seconds into the third period, captain Nick Suzuki snapped the first shot of the frame on Canes netminder Frederik Anderson.

Unfortunately for the home side, Andrei Svechnikov made it four for the Hurricanes with an empty-net goal, as fans began filing for the exits.

“It’s over,” said Dobeš after the game. “Tomorrow is a new day. We’ll get on a plane, prepare and show up with our best hockey for Game 5.”

Continued defensive masterclass

Carolina proved again why the team finished first in the East and has lost just one game all playoffs.

After holding the Canadiens to 12 shots in Game 2 and 13 in Game 3, Andersen saw just 18 shots in Game 4.

On the other end of the ice, Dobeš saw 43, including an incredible glove save in the final minute.

“It seemed like the only guy who showed up was Doby,” said defenceman Lane Hutson. “We just were not good enough. Didn’t answer the bell. The good news is we have another chance to answer the bell.”

Montreal now has a steep uphill battle.

Teams that take a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 series own a series record of 329-32 (.911), including 213-17 (.926) when starting the series at home, which the Hurricanes did.

Hutson responded to the team’s less-than-great home record.

“This was probably our worst game at home, but I feel like some of those games, we played good hockey and didn’t win,” he said.

“Obviously, it sucks to come in and lose two at home,” said Suzuki. “[Coach] Marty [St-Louis] said we’ve got to focus on Game 5. We can go in there and win and give us a chance to come back in the series.”