After an opening 20 minutes that featured three goals, everything remained status quo as the Carolina Hurricanes lead the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 after the second period of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.
The Hurricanes lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
After the teams went back and forth, Mike Matheson took the first penalty of the second period for the Canadiens as he cross-checked Nikolaj Ehlers at 12:24 of the frame.
Phillip Danault then put the Canadiens down two men at 12:40 with another cross-checking penalty, this time on Jordan Staal as the pair tussled off a faceoff.
The penalty kill was successful, wiping both penalties off the board.
The Canadiens went back to the penalty kill after Josh Anderson was assessed a roughing penalty at 18:08, the only player penalized following a scrum.
The Hurricanes will have eight seconds of power play time remaining to start the third period.
Jakub Dobes has made 21 saves for Montreal, while Frederik Andersen has stopped all 15 shots in net for Carolina.
The Hurricanes held a 3-0 lead after the first period thanks to an offensive flurry in under three minutes.
Sebastian Aho opened the scoring on the power play at 14:59 of the frame, Jordan Staal made it 2-0 68 seconds later and Logan Stankoven converted on a two-on-one at 17:46 to round out the offence in the first period.
Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere picked up two assists each.
After Wednesday’s game, the series will return to Lenovo Center in Raleigh for Game 5 on Friday.
The Vegas Golden Knights await the winner of this series in the Stanley Cup Final after completing a four-game sweep of the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final on Tuesday.
