Theodore Is Too Tough

Jose Theodore will be seeing pucks in his sleep.

The Montreal goaltender stopped 45 shots and Saku Koivu had a goal and an assist, and the Canadiens held off the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-1, Sunday night to even the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals at one game apiece.

“It’ll be a good day [Monday] to relax and rest up,” said Theodore, who has faced 84 shots in two games.

The victory by Montreal ended Carolina’s home playoff winning streak at four and was in sharp contrast to its 2-0 opening loss. In Game 1, the Hurricanes were more scrappy and outhit the Canadiens.

Montreal was still outshot, 46-16, Sunday, but the Canadiens were able to get to goalie Kevin Weekes for two first-period goals--one on a great hustle play by Koivu--to get a jump on Carolina.

The Canadiens then rode Theodore the rest of the way.

“Obviously we needed 56 shots,” a frustrated Sami Kapanen said.

Bill Lindsay sealed it with an empty-net goal with 1 minute 11 seconds left, firing the puck nearly the length of the ice.

“It’s a lot easier to play with the lead,” said Theodore, who faced 38 shots in Game 1. “But the Hurricanes made a statement that they’re going to be ready to play every night. They played even better than the first night.”

Weekes had two consecutive shutouts and a goals-against average of 0.90 in the playoffs before Sunday, but couldn’t come up big for a fourth consecutive game since taking over for Arturs Irbe in the New Jersey series.

Game 3 will be played Tuesday night in the Molson Centre at Montreal.

“Our team feels comfortable, especially on the road, where we’ve had a lot of success,” Carolina captain Ron Francis said. “Nothing is easy this time of year, but we’ll regroup and get ready for our best game in Game 3.”

Doug Gilmour’s 60th career playoff goal on the power play 1:03 into the second period gave the Canadiens a three-goal lead before Rod Brind’Amour’s goal with 6.8 seconds left in the period drew the Hurricanes within 3-1 on a two-man advantage.

Erik Cole poked the puck past Theodore 1:33 into the third, but it clearly came after the whistle and was waved off by referee Mick McGeough.

Carolina had several good scoring chances minutes later, but Kevyn Adams missed an open net short-handed try and Theodore shut down Carolina’s power play.

“We were very well prepared to play seven games in our first series [against New Jersey] and we’re very well prepared to play seven games again,” Carolina Coach Paul Maurice said.

“It’s not a big shock by any means in the room that Montreal won a game.”