The Carolina Hurricanes and the host Montreal Canadiens are dealing with different personnel issues coming into their game on Tuesday night.
The Hurricanes — who lost their first game after the 4 Nations Face-Off break 6-3 on the road to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday — reportedly offered star right winger Mikko Rantanen a contract extension worth more than $100 million. His six-year, $55.5 million deal expires at the end of the season.
Carolina acquired Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche in a surprising blockbuster trade on Jan. 24. He has 67 points (26 goals, 41 assists) in 56 games for the season but only three points (one goal, two assists) in seven games with the Hurricanes.
With the March 7 NHL trade deadline approaching, there has been speculation that Carolina may move Rantanen if it can’t sign him to an extension.
The Hurricanes have lost four of their last five including the setback on Saturday, in which Andrei Svechnikov and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere had a goal and an assist and defenseman Jaccob Slavin also scored. Pyotr Kochetkov made 18 saves.
Carolina trailed 4-0 midway through the third period.
“The start was junk,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “They get up four so they don’t really have to do anything so it was good we got three (goals), gave us a chance. But you can’t come out in the first period and just play that light in our own end. We were making really poor decisions and they’re too good — they’re going to score when you do that.”
The Canadiens, who defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on the road Saturday, recalled center Owen Beck from AHL affiliate Laval on Monday because of a rash of injuries.
Kirby Dach won’t play on Tuesday because of a lower-body injury and Josh Anderson, David Savard and Brendan Gallagher also did not practice on Monday.
Dach has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 57 games. Beck does not have a point and is minus-2 in six games with Montreal this season.
Gallagher had a goal and an assist in the win over the Senators and Cole Caufield, Patrik Laine, Anderson and Juraj Slafkovsky also scored. Nick Suzuki had two assists and Sam Montembeault, who will start Tuesday, stopped 25 shots.
“I thought we really played to our strengths,” Gallagher said. “We talked about it before the game — risk management was big for us, especially early on. I thought we trusted our legs, we trusted our forecheck, we got rewarded. It’s not always going to be like that, but it’s important to play to your strengths and give yourself the best chance.”
Montreal jumped out to a 2-0 lead but Ottawa tied it with a little more than four minutes left in the first period. However, Laine’s power-play goal with 3:47 remaining in the opening period gave the Canadiens the lead for good.
“We needed to come out and set the tone and I thought we did a great job of doing that,” Suzuki said. “Everyone was going (Saturday night) and it really showed with the way we were kind of able to control the game. With them being a little bit depleted, we had to come in here and get two points.”
–Field Level Media
