RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Welcome to the NHL, kid.
Charlie Lindgren was in goal for St. Cloud State just two weeks ago. On Thursday night, he made 26 saves in his first NHL appearance and helped lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
''The guys played a fabulous game in front of me,'' said the 22-year-old Lindgren, who signed with the Canadiens as a free agent on March 30. ''I just tried to be as calm as possible. Two weeks ago, I wouldn't have expected to be here right now. It's pretty hard to believe. It's something you dream about when you're a little kid.
''I don't think it's fully sunk in yet.''
Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist, Darren Dietz scored his first NHL goal late in the first period, and Daniel Carr and Lars Eller added the other goals for the Canadiens.
''This is what sport is all about,'' Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. ''You've 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.''
Riley Nash and Noah Hanifin scored for Carolina, and Cam Ward stopped 27 shots.
''I thought we made it hard on ourselves and turned a lot of pucks over,'' Carolina coach Bill Peters said. ''(Montreal was) tight. We couldn't get it through the neutral zone and kind of forced it into their track a little bit and then they took off in transition on odd-numbered rushes.''
No penalties were called against Carolina, with just one against Montreal.
Montreal won the season series 2-1, with the other victory coming in a shootout.
With the score tied at 2, the Canadiens took the lead at 16:51 of the second period when Carr picked up the ricochet of Tomas Plekanec's shot on the right in front of Ward and tapped the puck home.
Eller added an insurance goal for the Canadiens with 4:01 remaining in the game.
Nash got the Hurricanes on the scoreboard quickly, beating Lindgren from the slot off Jeff Skinner's feed from the left corner at 1:34.
Dietz tied it at 19:50 of the period, beating Ward over his stick-side shoulder on a seeing-eye shot through traffic from the right circle. Pacioretty had the primary assist.
''It's a great experience and something as a kid you dream about,'' Dietz said. ''It was a very special moment.''
Hanifin put Carolina ahead again at 5:11 of the second with a rocket from the high slot, with the assist by Jordan Staal.
Pacioretty tied it again at 13:12 on a slap shot that Ward was able to deflect low before it climbed up his chest and over his shoulder. Andrei Markov recorded the assist.
''On the goal, I just tried to shoot through defensemen and get a lucky bounce,'' said Pacioretty, who has 28 goals and 33 assists. ''I thought Lindy played well and had some big saves late. That tells you about the kind of player he is. He was able to play a very strong game to finish it.''
NOTES: Each team has one game remaining before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin - with neither club involved. Carolina ends its season on Saturday at Florida, while Montreal closes against Tampa Bay on the same day at home. ... Carolina LW Phil DiGiuseppe (seventh game, upper body) was out, while D Michal Jordan was a healthy scratch. ... Montreal D Brett Lernout (second game, knee), D Nathan Beaulieu (third game, thumb), LW Lucas Lessio (ninth game, knee) and D Victor Bartley (ninth game, foot) were all out, while C Stefan Matteau was a healthy scratch. ... Staal was named the team MVP by the Carolina chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers. ... Skinner was announced as the winner of the annual Josef Vasicek Award for outstanding cooperation with the local media. ... Jay McClement won Carolina's Steve Chiasson Award for inspirational play, selected by his teammates.
