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Third-period surge lifts Hurricanes past Canadiens

Nov 19, 2008 - 3:46 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- For 40 minutes, the Carolina Hurricanes threw everything they had at Carey Price, but were unable to solve the young goaltender.

The third period was a different story as Sergei Samsonov and Ray Whitney scored nearly 3 1/2 minutes apart in decisive session, lifting the Hurricanes to a 2-1 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.

Carolina improved to 9-2-2 in its last 13 meetings with Montreal, overcoming an impressive performance by Price to avenge a 3-2 overtime loss on October 28.

"We came out with the attitude that we were going to shoot some pucks and crash the net a little bit more," Samsonov said. "We really made an effort to try to put the puck on net from any position, and I think that kind of created part of our forecheck."

After peppering the Montreal netminder with 28 shots in the opening two periods, Carolina found itself trailing, 1-0, courtesy of a power-play goal by Robert Lang 67 seconds into the second period.

The Hurricanes, who had 20 shots in the third period, applied pressure from the drop of the puck in the final frame. It paid it off on Samsonov's first goal of the season at 3:06 into the third.

"Definitely in the first, I thought we had our game going on - and in the third as well," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said. "We were down a goal on the scoreboard, but I liked what we were doing.

After Samsonov's wrist shot from inside the right circle beat Price, Whitney scored on the power play at 6:33 to stake the Hurricanes to a 2-1 lead.

"It was an up-and-down game," Price said. "We kind of got off to a slow start and they jumped on us quick. The second period, I thought was our best period. Then they jumped on us again in the third period. They got two goals and we just couldn't bounce back from it."

With Montreal defenseman Ryan O'Byrne serving an interference penalty, defenseman Dennis Seidenberg's slap shot from the point sailed wide of the left post, but bounced out in front. Scott Walker's rebound attempt was stopped by Price, but Whitney was there to slap home the loose puck for his sixth tally of the year.

Montreal, which fell to 2-4-1 in its last seven games, has scored just 16 goals during its recent slide that has seen it surrender the top spot in the Northeast Division to the red-hot Boston Bruins.

"Every loss is frustrating because of the way we played," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "If we lose five games in a row and we work five games in a row, I won't say anything. I won't be happy, but I won't be as mad as I am right now."

Price made a season-high 46 saves.

"A lot of them were point shots or from the side," Price said. "That's a team that shoots everything. Whenever they get the puck in a good shooting position, they're going to be letting it go. Shots can be deceiving sometimes. It's something we're going to have to work on, I guess."

Lang's tally with the man-advantage was the first for Montreal in four games, snapping a 0-for-20 slump.