Hurricanes blank Canadiens 4-0 to take 3-1 series lead in Eastern Conference final

Sebastian Aho sparked a three-goal upsurge belatedly in the number one geological period and Frederik hans christian andersen made a comfortable 18 saves for his third shutout of the playoffs as the Carolina Hurricanes cruised past the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Wednesday to grab a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference final.

Jordan Staal, Logan Stankoven and Andrei Svechnikov, into the empty net, also scored for Carolina.

Nikolaj Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere added two assists each for the Hurricanes, who became the seventh team in NHL history to win six or more road playoff games to start a post-season.

Jakub Dobes stopped 39 shots for Montreal.

The best-of-seven series shifts back to the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C., for Game 5 on Friday. Game 6, if necessary, would be back at the Bell Centre on Sunday.

The Canadiens took the series opener 6-2 on the road before Carolina picked up consecutive 3-2 overtime victories to grab a 2-1 lead heading into Wednesday.

This one wasn't nearly as close.

Aho broke a 0-0 tie at 14:59 of a physical first on a power play with a one-timer off a pass from Ehlers.

Staal made it 2-0 at 16:07 when he gained position on Josh Anderson in front of Dobes and tapped a K'Andre Miller feed through the five-hole.

Gostisbehere then made a big block on a Lane Hutson chance, and the Hurricanes raced the other way on a 2-on-1 one, with Jackson Blake finding Stankoven for Carolina's third goal in 2:47.

Dobes, who celebrated his 25th birthday Wednesday, had to be sharp early on a Blake breakaway and a Taylor Hall one-time effort after former Canadiens goaltender and Jaroslav Halak carried the team's ceremonial torch into the pulsating rink before puck drop.

Montreal, which combined to register just 25 shots in Games 2 and 3, finally got going against grinding Carolina on a man advantage that saw Ivan Demidov get a couple of good looks on Andersen before the wheels fell off with five minutes left in the period.

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis put his forward lines into a blender in search of a spark to start the second with his team again failing to create much in the offensive zone.

Cole Caufield had a chance off the rush that Andersen stared down before Svechnikov, who scored the OT winner in Game 3, rang a puck off the crossbar at the other end.

Montreal survived a two-man advantage for 1:44 later in the period with some desperate defending.

Eric Robinson had a chance to make it 4-0 after the penalties expired, but missed an open net from a tight angle.

Anderson got a decent look as Montreal tried to press, but Carolina's Andersen, who set a franchise record with his fifth playoff shutout to pass Cam Ward, blocked that one as well.

The home crowd tried to get behind their team to start the third.

The Hurricanes, however, had other ideas with a carbon-copy of their suffocating, relentless performances from Games 2 and 3 to push the Canadiens to the brink.

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