The Montreal club worked hard to get back on track, but Andrei Svechnikov completed his hat trick by scoring twice in the third period and the Carolina Hurricanes won 5-3 on Thursday at PNC Arena.

The Habs overcame a 2-0 deficit for the third game in a row. He also erased a 3-2 deficit but ultimately bowed to the Hurricanes, who returned to action with a 5-2 win over the Predators in Nashville on Wednesday.

“It's a team that applies a lot of pressure and plays a second game,” Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis said of the Hurricanes. They were a little more in “match mode.” We sat down again.

“Apart from the start of the game, I would say we played a good game,” he added.

The Canadian thus ended his streak of games with at least one point at five (3−0−2).

Mitchell Stephens, Mike Matheson and Josh Anderson scored for the Canadian (15-14-5). Cayden Primeau stopped 26 shots and suffered his first road loss of the season (4-1-0).

Sean Monahan was credited with an assist, earning his 500th career NHL point.

“It’s always nicer to plateau with a win,” Monahan said. I’m glad it’s behind me.”

Jesper Fast scored two goals for the Hurricanes (19–13–4). Sebastian Aho had four assists and Brent Burns had three. Antti Raanta stopped 18 shots.

The Canadian lost his tenth straight game in Carolina, where he had not won since April 7, 2016.

Defenseman Jordan Harris (lower body) was back in the Canadiens' lineup after a 15-game absence. Johnathan Kovacevic was left out.

Forward Michael Pezzetta was also added to the Habs lineup. Emil Heineman was transferred to the Laval rocket.

Juraj Slafkovsky ended the game under observation after falling victim to a heavy check from Stefan Noesen.

The Canadian will be visiting the Florida Panthers on Saturday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.

By playing with fire

The Hurricanes opened the scoring after just 1:35 minutes. Svechnikov deflected a shot from Burns over Primeau's glove.

Another shot from Burns led to the Hurricanes' second goal at 7:20. Aho deflected the puck the other way and Fast only had to shoot into the open net.

Stephens restarted the Canadian 1:11 later. A shot from Jayden Struble hit Michael Pezzetta in front of the net and Stephens lifted the ball over Raanta's right shoulder.

The Hurricanes briefly extended the lead to 3-1 with 4:10 left. However, coach Martin St-Louis disputed the goal and replays confirmed that Jack Drury had interfered with Primeau's work. The goal was therefore annulled.

The Canadian took advantage of that second wind as Matheson tied the game 2-2 with 3.9 seconds left in the first period. The defenseman scored on the power play and passed Raanta at the net.

Fast put the Hurricanes back in the lead with 1:29 left in the second period. He was forgotten in the slot and hit the mark with a one-timer after a pass from Noesen behind the net.

The rest of the second third was up to the Canadian… and Raanta. The Finnish goalkeeper closed the door with some good saves, including one against Harris and another against Brendan Gallagher.

Raanta also got lucky when Pezzetta missed the target by deflecting a shot from Stephens and when he fell on the puck behind him as Christian Dvorak tried to push it behind the goal line.

However, the Hurricanes goaltender was powerless against Anderson early in the third period when the Canadian forward escaped after 25 seconds and slipped the puck between Raanta's pads.

“Nobody gives up on our team and we managed to come back quick enough to give ourselves a chance to win,” Anderson said.

Drury was frustrated by Primeau on a breakaway with just over six minutes left, but the Hurricanes took a 4-3 lead moments later with 6:09 remaining. Svechnikov defeated Primeau with a powerful one-timer after Aho won a faceoff in Canadian territory.

The Canadian's recent efforts were negated by penalties against Joel Armia and Cole Caufield.

Svechnikov completed his fourth career hat trick by firing into an empty net with 18.9 seconds left.