Fast, Hurricanes rally late in 3rd, defeat Canadiens in shootout

MONTREAL --Jesper Fast tied the game with 3:38 remaining in the third period, and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Fast tied it 3-3, scoring on the rebound of a point shot by Brett Pesce after he stopped a clearing attempt by Mike Matheson.
His goal came after Paul Stastny thought he tied it at 2:39 of the third when he found a loose puck during a scramble in front. But a video review determined Derek Stepan impaired Jake Allen's ability to play his position in the crease prior to the goal.
"We were struggling clearly for two periods," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "And then we just put a period together that looked kind of like we need to play, and how we usually play, and at least got us back in the game and able to find a way to squeeze it out."

Jaccob Slavin and Brady Skjei also scored for Carolina (42-12-8), which has won three straight and 15 of its past 18.
The Hurricanes moved four points ahead of the New Jersey Devils for first in the Metropolitan Division. The Devils lost 4-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
"I don't know what is wrong with us, but we somehow always have a little sloppy start against the lower-ranked teams," said Carolina forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who won it in the sixth round of the shootout. "We have to get rid of that if we want to be the best in the League."
Antti Raanta allowed two goals on 10 shots before he sustained an undisclosed injury. He was replaced at the start of the second period by Frederik Andersen, who made 13 saves.
Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield left the game after the second after sustaining an upper-body injury.
"Precautionary really on both guys, so I don't think it will be serious for either one," Brind'Amour said.
Alex Belzile and Michael Pezzetta each had a goal and an assist, Chris Tierney had two assists, and Allen made 36 saves for Montreal (26-33-5) which had lost three in a row to conclude a four-game road trip.
"You've got to give a lot of credit to all these guys in this room. It's not an easy team to play to begin with," Allen said. "But the situation we're in, after coming off almost two weeks on the road, to come back from a West Coast trip, the first game's always really difficult [and] you don't have your legs.
"I was really impressed and proud of that group, the way they battled against a [heck] of a hockey team in a tough circumstance."

Belzile gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 10:17 of the first period when he kicked a rebound to his stick before scoring on a backhand.
Mike Hoffman made it 2-0 at 16:16. Jonathan Drouin drove across the crease with the puck but had it poke-checked away by Shayne Gostisbehere to Hoffman crashing the net.
Slavin responded 15 seconds later at 16:31 to cut it to 2-1, scoring from the left face-off circle before Skjei tied it at 2-2 at 1:00 of the second period when he cut to the net, received a pass from Pesce, and scored past a diving Allen.
Pezzetta restored Montreal's lead at 2:49, tipping in a centering pass by Tierney to make it 3-2.
"Chris is super-skilled and slows the game down," Pezzetta said. "So, for me and [Belzile], we like to play hard, we like to play fast. With Chris, he can really settle pucks down and make soft little plays. It's nice knowing that I'm going to take off and he's going to feather one in or make soft little chip plays to beat one of their defenders and open up space for us. It's really good playing with him."

NOTES: Forward Jesse Puljujarvi, who was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 28, joined the Hurricanes in Montreal after resolving a visa issue. He did not play. … Carolina forward Sebastian Aho played his 500th NHL game. … Slavin has 228 points (41 goals, 187 assists) in 564 NHL games, surpassing Glen Wesley for the third-most points by a defenseman in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history. Only Justin Faulk (258) and Dave Babych (240) have more.