Canadiens hold off Hurricanes, fourth win in row for Price

MONTREAL-- Carey Price made 27 saves to extend his winning streak to four games when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Brendan Gallagher scored 45 seconds into the third period to give Montreal a 3-2 lead, 22 seconds after Carolina rookie forward Andrei Svechnikov scored his second of the game to tie it 2-2.
"It's huge, obviously the game's all about momentum," Price said. "It seems it shifted both ways throughout the course of that third period."
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Canadiens highlights]
Artturi Lehkonen, Andrew Shaw and Jeff Petry scored in the third for the Canadiens (16-11-5), who are 5-2-0 since a five-game losing streak.
"We knew this is an opportunity and a big homestand with the three games that we needed to kick it off with the game tonight," said Petry, whose second goal of the game, into an empty net, made it 6-4 with 1:59 remaining.

Jaccob Slavin and Sebastian Aho scored in the third period for the Hurricanes (13-13-4), who are 1-4-1 in the past six games. Petr Mrazek made 34 saves.
"This is where I've got to be careful because I'm not happy and we needed much more out of certain guys and didn't have it tonight," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "So that's frustrating, especially after we fight to get back. You know, a terrible game, we're playing terrible, and then we dig and get back and then make just really bad decisions. And that's the frustrating part for me."
Lehkonen gave Montreal a 4-2 lead at 4:22 of the third, and Slavin scored at 10:51 to make it 4-3.
Shaw extended his point streak to six games for a 5-3 lead at 12:24. Aho got Carolina within 5-4 at 15:38.

Svechnikov gave Carolina a 1-0 lead when he cut past Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber and scored on a backhand at 2:53 of the first period. Matthew Peca tied it 1-1 with a wrist shot from the slot at 13:51. Petry gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at 16:59.
Svechnikov tied it 2-2 23 seconds into the third period.
"How we started was really frustrating," Brind'Amour said. "I don't get that one, so I've got to figure that out. But we did have a coming-out party a little bit for [Svechnikov] to me. He did have a mistake on the one goal, but he looked like he was trying to win the game for us and that's what we need more of."

They said it

"We just weren't taking care of the puck. Maybe in the third period we did a little bit better, but the first couple of periods we weren't really taking care of the puck and we weren't getting into our game, which is getting the puck behind their [defensemen] and working them down low. We didn't have a good forecheck going tonight." -- Hurricanes defenseman Jacob Slavin

"He's getting to be dynamic with the puck. He still has a lot of errors away from the puck, which is going to happen. You've got to remember he's 18 and we've got to live with that. But he shouldn't be our leader on the ice. That's something that we've got to address. We've got older guys that need to step up, and unfortunately it didn't happen tonight." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour on forward Andrei Svechnikov
"I think we had a solid effort. I think we played pretty well. We kind of exchanged goals there at the end but we were able to get the win, and that's very important." -- Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry

Need to know

Hurricanes defenseman Haydn Fleury left in the second period with an upper-body injury. .. Svechnikov, the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, has eight goals, the fourth-most by an 18-year-old in Carolina/Hartford Whalers history. Jeff Skinner scored 31 for the Hurricanes, and Sylvain Turgeon had 21 and Ron Francis had 16 for the Whalers. ... Petry has five goals in the past six games. ... Shaw has six points (two goals, four assists) during his streak.

What's next

Hurricanes: Host the Washington Capitals on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, NHL.TV)