Shayne Gostisbehere and Taylor Hall scored for the Carolina Hurricanes as they lead the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 after the first period of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final.
Mike Matheson replied for the Canadiens in the opening frame.
The best-of-seven series is tied 1-1.
Both teams delivered thunderous hits in a very physical opening 20 minutes.
Hurricanes defenceman Jalen Chatfield took the first penalty of the game as he went to the box for interference at the 4:46 mark of the opening period.
The Canadiens got one shot on goal with the man advantage and were not able to get on the board.
Gostisbehere opened the scoring for the Hurricanes at 8:22 as he skated in from the blueline and beat Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes by converting a pass from Mark Jankowski.
The Hurricanes have scored first in all three games so far in this series.
Matheson responded for the Canadiens at 15:28 as he wired a wrist shot past the glove hand of Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen to even the score at 1-1.
Ivan Demidov and Jake Evans picked up helpers on the Matheson marker.
Hall then won a battle in front of the net and converted on his third swipe at the puck to restore the one-goal lead for the Hurricanes.
K’Andre Miller and Jackson Blake were credited with assists on the 2-1 goal at 16:22.
With 59 seconds left in the period, Kaiden Guhle took the Canadiens’ first penalty with an interference infraction.
The Hurricanes will open the second period on the power play.
The series shifted to Bell Centre in Montreal on Monday after the first two games took place at Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
Juraj Slafkovsky had three points as the Canadiens captured Game 1 on the road, while Nikolaj Ehlers scored the overtime winner as the Hurricanes responded with a victory in Game 2.
Game 4 of the series will take place in Montreal on Wednesday night.
