If Thursday was Cam Ward’s final home game at PNC Arena, it probably wasn’t how he envisioned his Raleigh sendoff.
Montreal captain Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist and goaltender Charlie Lindberg — making his NHL debut — led the Canadiens, a team that started the season looking like a Stanley Cup-favorite and finished out of the playoffs, in the 4-2 win over Carolina (35-30-16, 85 points).
Ward, playing his 605th career regular season or playoff game with the team, struggled with both his rebound control and spotty coverage in front of him in Carolina’s 2015-16 home finale.
“We looked hesitant, we looked a little bit slow and indecisive with the puck,” Carolina head coach Bill Peters said. “So we want make sure we’re able to play the game properly on Saturday [in Florida].”
Ward (23-17-10) won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2006 as playoff MVP in Carolina’s Stanley Cup season. But like Eric Staal, whom Ward replaced as the longest-tenured Hurricanes player when Staal was traded to the Rangers ahead of this season’s trade deadline, he had difficulty matching the magic of that season.
Ward, who stopped 27 of 31 shots, is in the final season of a six-year, $37.8 million contract and could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 if he and the team do not agree on a new deal.
Peters remained focused on the loss rather than it potentially being Ward’s final home game in Raleigh.
“Any time you lose it’s tough to swallow, right?” Peters said. “I’m not going to speculate on whether it’s his last game or it’s not his last game at home here.”
The Hurricanes opened the scoring just 94 seconds into the game when Riley Nash got his ninth goal of the season off a Jeff Skinner feed. Skinner found Nash alone in the slot, and the Carolina forward beat Lindgren, who allowed the goal on the first shot he faced in his pro career.
But Montreal defenseman Darren Dietz, playing in his 12th career game, tied the score with just 9.9 seconds remaining in the first, firing a slapshot over Ward’s right shoulder to make it 1-1. It was Dietz’s first career NHL goal.
Rookie defenseman Noah Hanifin, who had the shootout winner Tuesday in Boston, found the back of the net again, ripping a slapshot past Lindgren at 5:11 of the second to recapture the lead for Carolina. The goal, Hanifin’s fourth of the season, was assisted by Jordan Staal and Joakim Nordstrom.
But that was all the Hurricanes would get by Lindgren, who just finished his junior season at St. Cloud State in late March and signed a two-year contract last week with Montreal as an undrafted free agent.
“This is what sport is all about,” Montreal head coach Michel Therrien said of Lindgren’s debut. “You got a kid that two weeks ago was in college and his first game in the NHL, family was there tonight and he got the win so this is a good moment.”
Pacioretty got his second point of the night when he knotted the game up again for Montreal, ripping a wrist shot from the slot that hit Ward’s right shoulder, fluttered into the air, and fell behind the Carolina goaltender and into the net at 13:12 of the second.
Then Montreal took the lead for the first time — and for good — when Daniel Carr tapped in a rebound off a Tomas Plekanec shot with just more than three minutes remaining in the period.
The Canadiens closed out the scoring with 4:01 left when Dietz took another slapshot that Ward oddly blockered right to Lars Eller, who quickly knocked it in for his 13th goal of the season.
Thirteen seconds later the officials finally called their first penalty of the night, sending Montreal defenseman Andrei Markov to the box for high sticking at 16:12 of the third. The Hurricanes opted to pull Ward 39 seconds into the power play, leaving their net empty for the game’s final three minutes and 48 seconds, but they were unable to mount a comeback.
Notes
• Derek Ryan, who was called up from Charlotte for the game, left during the first period with an upper body injury and did not return. Peters did not have an update on Ryan, who leads the Checkers in scoring with 55 points in 70 games and figures to be a big part of Charlotte’s playoff push if his injury is not significant.
• Elias Lindholm started at center, as promised by Peters before the game, but he wound up back on the wing with Carolina playing just three centers due to Ryan’s injury.
• The Hurricanes end their season Saturday in Florida at 7 p.m. against the Panthers. The team will have their end-of-season meia availability Tuesday at 10 a.m.
• The announced attendance was 15,210.