McElhinney steals one for the Canes in win over Canadiens

Curtis McElhinney faced 49 shots Tuesday for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Curtis McElhinney stopped 48. As Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour put it, “The goalie stole the game.” Sometimes, it is that simple, that larcenous.

The game was against the Montreal Canadiens, on the road, and McElhinney did stand tall in a 2-1 victory at the Bell Centre. The Canes were outshot 49-22 but McElhinney got it done.

Victor Rask scored his first goal of the season in the first period for the Canes (12-9-3) and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk produced what proved to be the winning goal at 11:59 of the second period.

Phillip Danualt finally beat McElhinney at 9:29 of the third period but he was the only one to solve McElhinney, named the game’s first star. McElhinney has won four straight starts, allowing five goals.

McElhinney has fast become one of the league’s feel-good stories. Placed on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs before the regular season began, the 35-year-old journeyman has built a 7-2-0 record with the Canes with a 2.12 goals-against average and .930 save percentage.

“He’s a veteran, he’s a pro, you can tell,” Brind’Amour said. “We said that day one that we got him. You could see whatever situation that was thrown at him, it wasn’t ideal, he handles it.

“You could see it tonight. We was real calm in there. We were running around a little bit and he settled it down. Obviously that was the difference in the hockey game.”

The Canadiens, losing a fifth straight game, put 15 shots on net in the first period, 12 in the second and then 22 in the third -- Carolina had two shots in the third.

“It’s probably the first game this year that was like that,” Brind’Amour said. “We’ve had a couple go the other way, against us, and now I know how it feels, where the goalie stole the game.

“I don’t know we can say we’ve had a performance like that in a long, long time, from a goalie.”

Rask was playing his fourth game since returned from a cut hand that required surgery in preseason. His first goal came on the redirection of a Jaccob Slavin shot.

Van Riemsdyk’s score came after a good forechecking shift from the Rask line. Van Riemsdyk attempted to hit Brock McGinn on the backdoor but the puck glanced off the skate of Montreal defenseman Victor Mete and past goalie Carey Price.

McGinn, who assisted on the Rask goal, played perhaps his best game of the season. Van Riemsdyk made one of the best plays of the season, jabbing his stick along the goal line behind McElhinney to prevent a Montreal score.

Canes center Jordan Staal took a knee-on-knee hit from Max Domi in the first and had to leave the game. Staal returned and played 19:48 in all, including two shifts in the final three minutes of regulation, although Brind’Amour said further medical evaluation would be made once back in Raleigh.

Canes defenseman Jake Bean, a former first-round draft pick by Carolina, made his NHL debut and had more than eight minutes of ice time.

“He was fine,” Brind’Amour said. “He came in there and made a couple of nice plays. It was a good first game for him.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2018 at 9:37 AM.