Teuvo Teravainen scored a short-handed goal and a power-play goal as the Carolina Hurricanes returned to action by defeating the visiting Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C.

Carolina's four goals came on special teams, while goalie Antti Raanta turned in a 26-save shutout.

The Hurricanes hadn't played since Dec. 18, with four games postponed since then among the NHL's COVID issues.

Montreal was in its second game back in action, but the Canadiens were hampered because of 13 players in the COVID protocol. Relative newcomers were spread throughout their lineup.

Nino Niederreiter and Seth Jarvis also scored for the Hurricanes.

Jaccob Slavin had three assists and Sebastian Aho provided two assists as the Hurricanes won for the seventh time in their last eight games.

Montreal has lost nine of its last 10 games, going 1-7-2 during that stretch.

Goalie Sam Montembeault made 34 saves for the Canadiens.

Raanta, normally the backup in his first season with the Hurricanes, secured his first shutout since Feb. 4, 2020. Frederik Andersen was cleared from COVID protocol and served as the backup goalie.

Carolina had all of its players except for defenseman Brendan Smith available after they cleared COVID protocol. Six of the skaters hadn't played in more than two weeks.

Montreal added defensemen Louie Belpedio and Gianni Fairbrother to the COVID list earlier in the day Thursday. Left winger Brandon Baddock made his NHL debut among a lineup used by the Canadiens that was thin on experience at this level.

Niederreiter's power-play goal came almost 11 minutes into the game on what was just Carolina's third shot on goal.

Teravainen converted off a 2-and-1 short-handed breakaway with Aho.

Teravainen notched a power-play goal for the only scoring in the second period. A third-period goal for Jarvis marked the rookie's first tally in his last 12 games.

The Hurricanes are 10-3-0 at home, with Montreal dipping to 2-12-3 in road games.

--Field Level Media