MONTREAL — Sebastian Aho, Jordan Staal and Logan Stankoven scored in a 2:47 span late in the first period and the Carolina Hurricanes moved within a victory of the Stanley Cup Final, beating the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Wednesday night.
Frederik Andersen made 18 saves for his third shutout in 12 postseason games this year to help the Hurricanes take a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Final. Game 5 is Friday night in North Carolina, with the series winner facing the Vegas Golden Knights.
“We have better,” Stankoven said. “It’s great to come out like a team like this and perform like that, but I think at this time of the year you can’t bring your ‘B’ game. You have to bring your ‘A’ game every night.”
Nikolaj Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere each had two assists for the Hurricanes. They are the seventh NHL team to win six or more road games to start a postseason.
“Definitely excited,” Gostisbehere said. “Have to take care of business.”
Anderson and the Hurricanes are 11-1 in the first three rounds. They put it away early in Game 4 after winning the previous two games in overtime.
The Hurricanes scored first for the fourth straight game when Aho beat Jakub Dobes with a one-timer from the right circle on a power play with 5:02 left in the first.
Staal followed with 3:53 to go, tipping in K’Andre Miller’s centering pass. Stankoven then finished off a two-on-one with Jason Blake with 2:14 remaining in the period.
“The game’s going to humble you,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “Whenever you get humbled, you stand tall.”
Andrei Svechnikov had an empty-net goal in the third.
Carolina had a 19-3 shots-on-goal advantage in the third period for a 43-18 overall edge.
“It seemed like the only guy that showed up was Doby,” Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson said. “Wasn’t good enough. Didn’t answer the bell.”
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