Canadiens Make NHL History With Playoff Appearance

The Montreal Canadiens punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup playoffs in style Wednesday night, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 in a game that had fans on the edge of their seats.

Kaiden Guhle played hero, scoring twice to lead the Habs to their crucial victory that secured the final Eastern Conference wild card spot.

The win sets up an exciting first-round matchup with the Washington Capitals, as Montreal finished their regular season with 91 points (40-31-11).

Team captain Nick Suzuki showed up big when it mattered most, contributing a goal and an assist. Meanwhile, Sam Montembeault stood tall in net, turning away 27 shots.

The Hurricanes, who’ve been struggling lately with just one win in their last seven games, rested several key players. They’ll wrap up their regular season tomorrow in Ottawa.

Guhle got things started early, putting Montreal up 1-0 just 3:50 into the game. He connected on a beautiful play set up by rookie Juraj Slafkovsky, who made a slick backhand pass from the point.

Carolina’s Taylor Hall evened things up about six minutes later, showing off some fancy footwork before beating Montembeault with a quick snap shot.

The second period belonged to Montreal. Despite being outshot 12-2 at one point, they struck twice in less than three minutes. First, it was Suzuki finding the back of the net at 16:22, followed by Guhle’s second goal at 18:48.

The Hurricanes made it interesting late in the third when Tyson Jost cut the lead to 3-2. But Jake Evans sealed the deal with an empty-netter, sending the Bell Centre crowd into celebration mode.

For Montreal, it’s their first playoff appearance in two years, and they’ll be looking to make some noise as underdogs against Washington.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 16 saves for Carolina, who’ll finish their regular season with 99 points – though they’ve got bigger things on their mind with the playoffs around the corner.