Carolina Hurricanes

Hurricanes' Chad LaRose scores on Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak Thursday night. Ellen Ozier, Reuters

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AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Brian Gionta | Mike Cammalleri | Josh Gorges

• At a Glance: For the second time in less than 10 days, the Canadiens failed to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes, a team eliminated from playoff contention that has given Montreal fits. On Thursday night, the Hurricanes posted a 5-2 win, dominating the game in just about every respect. Two Carolina players did all the damage. Eric Staal scored a hat trick and Chad LaRose added a pair of goals. The Canadiens got goals from Brian Gionta and Marc-André Bergeron. Gionta's goal gives him 27 on the season to lead the team. Staal finished with five points on the night, while LaRose had four.

• Key Moments: The Canadiens went 0-for-2 on the power play, a facet of the game that has been dreadful of late for Montreal. The Canadiens also missed several good scoring chances, with pucks bouncing over sticks or missing empty nets.

• What It Means: With the loss, the Canadiens see their record drop to 39-33-9 and the remain at 87 points, still shy of a berth in the postseason. Montreal will be watching the scoreboard on Friday night because if the New York Rangers lose to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Canadiens will back their way into the playoffs.

• What's Next: The Canadiens finish the regular season on Saturday night when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.

Mayberry's Aunt Bea, along with Andy, Opie, Barney, the sizzling Thelma Lou, perhaps even Floyd the barber will be cheering on the Hurricanes tonight.

In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine
Can't you just feel the moonshine
Ain't it just like a friend of mine
It hit me from behind
Yes I'm gone to Carolina in my mind
– Carolina In My Mind, by James Taylor, 1968

How big is tonight's Canadiens game against the Carolina Hurricanes? So big that all of Mayberry is bypassing the big social up in Mount Pilot to go tailgating in Raleigh. So big... well, you make up your own scenarios.

But it's all terribly simple: if the Canadiens take the summer-bound 'Canes into overtime, the Habs are in the playoffs. If they don't, their fate could come down to Saturday's season finale at home against the nothing-to-lose Toronto Maple Leafs (though a whole lot of implausible stuff must also happen between now and Sunday to make another final-weekend Habs playoff elimination nightmare complete).

More to come today at Habs Inside/Out as we set this one up.

Canadiens' Brian Gionta fails to get the puck past Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward Wednesday night. Allen McInnis, The Gazette

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AUDIO: Tomas Plekanec | Mike Cammalleri | Brian Gionta | Carey Price | Jacques Martin

• At a Glance: The Canadiens came out flying on Wednesday night, outshooting the Carolina Hurricanes 25-10 after two periods, but they still came out on the short end of a 2-1 decision. Montreal took a 1-0 lead early when Marc-André Bergeron scored a power-play goal 8:04 into the first period, but Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward stopped the other 24 shots he faced in the first two periods. Carey Price had an easy night through two periods, but was the victim of an unlucky bounce thanks to defenceman Roman Hamrlik. Brandon Sutter blew by Hamrlik and was in on Price before being hooked down by Hamrlik, whose momentum carried him and the puck passed Price and into the net to tie the game 1-1 3:44 into the second period. Early in the third, a period the Hurricanes dominated by outshooting the Canadiens 17-10, Eric Staal gave Carolina a 2-1 lead when he was left all alone at the lip of Price's crease. Stall grabbed a rebound of an Erik Cole shot and popped it past Price only seconds after the Canadiens had killed off a Carolina power play.

• Key Moments: The entire third period can be classified as a key moment, one the Canadiens failed to show up for. Their power play in the third period was awful and they were dominated in every aspect of the game by Carolina.

• What It Means: Montreal drops to 37-31-8 and remains at 82 points, missing a chance to move up to sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

• What's Next: The Canadiens have five games remaining in their regular season, starting Friday night in Philadelphia. They are back home Saturday to take on the Sabres and end the season with matchups against the Islanders and Hurricanes on the road, and the Maple Leafs at home on April 10.

Canadiens' Sergei Kostitsyn slides the puck past Hurricanes' Cam Ward for Montreal's third goal on Wednesday night. The goal ended Ward's night, replaced by Manny Legace in nets. Ellen Ozier, Reuters

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AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Jaro Halak | Tomas Plekanec | Glen Metropolit | Scott Gomez

• At a Glance: It took 64 years, but the Canadiens finally won a road game on Dec. 23, pasting the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 Wednesday night. Andrei Markov scored his third goal in his third game back from injury to open the scoring 1:29 into the game. Andrei Kostitsyn scored his 11th of the season 3:42 into the period and Sergei Kostitsyn makes it 3-1 9:32 into the frame, ending the night for Cam Ward. Glen Metropolit scored his ninth and tenth goals of the season, beating Manny Legace both times. Brandon Sutter scored the only Hurricanes goal, the only one to beat Jaroslav Halak on 47 shots. The Canadiens had 25 shots, but made the most of them. Montreal went 3-for-5 on the power play, while killing off 4 of 5 Carolina power plays. Tomas Plekanec and Scott Gomez each had three assists. For Plekanec, he now has 43 points on the season and in in sixth spot among NHL scoring leaders.

• Key Moments: After the Canadiens took a 2-0 lead, Sutter scored during the first half of a Scott Gomez double minor. But the Habs killed off the second penalty and never looked back.

• What It Means: The Canadiens are 3-0 on their seven-game road trip after losing five straight games before that. Montreal is now 18-18-3 with 39 points.

• What's Next: The Canadiens, like every other NHL team, will enjoy a few days rest for Christmas. They are back in action on Dec. 26 against the Maple Leafs, the take on the Senators Dec. 28 and head to Florida for games against the Lightning on Dec. 30 and the Panthers on Dec. 31 to wrap up a 17-game month.

Pat Hickey checks in from Raleigh to report that the Canadiens will not hold a morning skate Wednesday in advance of their game against the Carolina Hurricanes. We'll update the roster for the game as we have the information.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price makes save as teammate Josh Gorges holds off Hurricanes' Erik Cole during first period Tuesday night. John Mahoney, The Gazette

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• POSTGAME AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Carey Price | Josh Gorges | Tomas Plekanec | Mike Cammalleri

• PREGAME AUDIO CANADIENS: Glen Metropolit | Mike Cammalleri | Coach Jacques Martin
• PREGAME AUDIO HURRICANES: Erik Cole | Rod Brind'Amour | Coach Paul Maurice 1 and 2

• At a Glance: Carey Price was perfect in the shootout, stopping all six Carolina Hurricanes shooters in a 3-2 Canadiens win on Tuesday night. And several of those stops were of the spectacular variety and gave his team a chance to win, and Maxim Lapierre finally beat Manny Legace before Price stopped Matt Cullen for the win. Price also made 30 saves in regulation in overtime, his second straight solid outing between the pipes. But for a while on this night, it did not look good for the Canadiens, who trailed 2-1 for most of the game before Andrei Kostitsyn tied the game with a little less than three minutes to play, getting his own rebound and slipping it by Legace, who replaced Michael Leighton midway through the second period when Leighton suffered a lower-body injury. Max Pacioretty opened the scoring in the first period, beating Leighton after a nice pass from Tomas Plekanec. Brandon Sutter and Jussi Jokinen scored for the Hurricanes, who have now lost 15 of their last 16 games.

• Key Moments: Jaroslav Spacek took a penalty with two minutes to go in overtime and Price and the trio in front of him were spectacular in preventing the Hurricanes from scoring the winner in overtime.

• What It Means: The Canadiens remain perfect in overtime and shootouts, improving to 8-0 in the extra format, with four wins in overtime and four in the shootout. This was only the second time the Hurricanes have lost at the Bell Centre since the lockout, both times in a shootout.

• What's Next: The next few games do not get any easier for the Canadiens, who take on the Capitals on Friday in Washington before returning home to host the Detroit Red Wings. After the Columbus Blue Jackets come to town, the Canadiens wrap up November with games against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Capitals again.

And so do we, almost, at Inside/Out. The Canadiens are off until tomorrow morning, when they'll skate in Brossard to prepare for tomorrow night's home game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

So in the morning we hope to learn more on the health of Brian Gionta and Max Pacioretty, who both didn't take part in Sunday's practice – Gionta missed Saturday's game in Nashville with a lower-body injury – as well as whether defenceman Ryan O'Byrne has been cleared to play after having missed 18 games with a sprained knee.

At the very least, this post will provide fresh space for your comments to resume.

From today's Gazette:

• Canadiens goalies caught in line of fire
• O'Byrne chomping at the bit for game action

Canadiens' Steve Bégin and Carolina's Patrick Eaves have a chat during tonight's game.
Richard Wolowicz, Getty Images Sport

AUDIO: Guy Carbonneau   Mike Komisarek on playing sick  Carey Price  Tom Kostopoulos

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The Grinch wore red and white at the Bell Centre tonight.

Tuomo Ruutu scored at 1:43 of overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 extra-time victory over the Canadiens, snapping Montreal’s winning streak at a modest two games and sending the Habs into their Christmas break with a single point instead of two.

If it seemed that the Canadiens had just played the Hurricanes, it’s because they had. Montreal fell 3-2 to Carolina in Raleigh just five days earlier, taking 11 consecutive penalties in one of the stranger games you’ll see. But the Canadiens had rallied since that loss, beating Philadelphia and Buffalo back at the Bell Centre.

The Canadiens' penalty summary through the first two periods. Amazing. The invisible Hurricanes' summary appears just below it.

AUDIO – Alex Kovalev  Guillaume Latendresse

Pat Hickey sends audio from morning skate (which Paul Maurice has reinstituted in Carolina):

Maurice  Cam Ward  Justin Williams

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The Canadiens' losing streak hit three games tonight, falling 3-2 in Raleigh to the Carolina Hurricanes. But then, it's not going to be easy to win a hockey game when you're sentenced to more than a full period in the penalty box.

In one of the more bizarre games in memory, the Canadiens were called for 11 minor penalties before the Hurricanes served a single second, Carolina scoring all three of their goals on the power play.

A couple of them, at least, were questionable, but still...

The home team built a 2-0 lead before the Canadiens scrapped back with two of their own – a penalty shot by Guillaume Latendresse and one by Alex Kovalev (!) – but the Hurricanes fired one more past Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak to make it 3-2 with a 5-on-3 advantage.

Former Canadien Sergei Samsonov celebrates his first goal in 19 games – against the Habs, of course – in front of Montreal's Sergei Kostitsyn.
Jon Gardiner, Reuters

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AUDIO:  • Price   • Kovalev   • Carbonneau

Without Carey Price in goal, making a career high 46 saves, the Carolina Hurricanes might have beaten the Canadiens 10-1 tonight.

But if the 2-1 loss in Raleigh, N.C., wasn't embarrassing on the scoreboard, it certainly was in the unkept statistic of being badly outplayed. The unravelling of the Canadiens continues...

Former Canadien Sergei Samsonov scored his first goal of the season – in fact, his first goal in 19 games – at 3:06 of the third period. Ray Whitney then bagged his fifth three and a half minutes later, giving the Hurricanes a come-from-behind victory.

From Pat Hickey in Raleigh, N.C., where he reports they had a few snowflakes this morning. (So it's not just us.)

Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges, still looking for his first goal as a Canadiens after 97 games in the CH, had one of his sticks chopped up and sacrificed, scattered by goalie Carey Price around the RBC Center this morning. The ritual was aimed at breaking the curse that has stricken the still-looking rearguard.

Also: Carolina coach Peter Laviolette on the head shots to Brandon Sutter and others, and his thoughts on tonight's game (low volume).