Jackson Blake powers Hurricanes past Canadiens

Jackson Blake snapped a scoring drought with a goal and two assists as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 on Friday night at Raleigh, N.C.

Carolina's Taylor Hall and Sebastian Aho scored in a 2 1/2-minute span of the second period. Andrei Svechnikov, who was back after missing a couple of weeks, scored into an entry net.

Blake scored early for the Hurricanes, while Seth Jarvis and Blake each recorded assists on both of the team's second-period goals.

Frederik Andersen made 14 saves to secure a victory in his sixth consecutive outing.

The Hurricanes (44-24-4, 92 points) won for the second time in their last four games. They've won 10 of their last 12 outings overall.

Josh Anderson had the game's first goal, but Montreal managed only seven shots on goal through the first two periods. The Canadiens (33-30-9, 75 points) dropped their fifth consecutive game.

Sam Montembeault made 21 saves, including 10 in the first period.

Hall's go-ahead power-play goal came at 13:46 of the second period. It marked his seventh goal in a 10-game stretch. Five of those goals have come in the last three games.

Aho converted at 16:10 on a fast-moving sequence. Jarvis sent a pass from the left circle to the right circle, where Aho was there to convert.

The teams traded goals in the game's first minute.

Anderson scored 23 seconds into the game when he was alone in front of the net.

Blake's goal came at 41 seconds and snapped a 22-game stretch without a goal for the 21-year-old forward. He sent a shot toward the crease from the perimeter, and it was knocked in off a Montreal player's skate. It counted as Blake's first goal since Jan. 23.

Montembeault shut out Carolina last month, so that possibility was dashed in the opening minute before the scoring settled down.

Each team was called for three penalties in the first period.

--Field Level Media