Game 4: Carolina 3 @ Montreal 2

So apparently in this "new" NHL, high-sticking is a perfectly legal thing to do as long as you're a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. After an awful and unpenalized high stick by Justin Williams in Game 3 which put the career of Canadiens captain Saku Koivu in jeopardy, the Hurricanes were back at it last night with some more of the same. Four Habs players - Richard Zednik, Andrei Markov (by Williams himself), Mike Komisarek, and Craig Rivet - were recipients of "errant" Carolina sticks, and only one of those four dangerous plays, the one on Zednik, was called for a penalty.

The officiating - or, rather, a lack thereof - wasn't the only thing wrong with this game, unfortunately for Habs fans. The Canadiens played an atrocious first period and an only slightly better second one. Alex Kovalev was basically non-existent in the game despite playing over 21 minutes of ice time. Cristobal Huet was just average. Mike Ribeiro, after two solid performances in Carolina, was back to his normal self, dipsy-doodling all over the place with nothing to show for it. In fact, only the line of Alexander Perezhogin, Tomas Plekanec and Richard Zednik had anything to show for themselves, with some exciting shifts and Perezhogin's first NHL playoff goal.

Yet despite the Canadiens' sloppy passing, lazy mistakes, complete lack of offense, and very ordinary goaltending, the Hurricanes, who seemed like the better team last night, were only able to score on some lucky breaks and fluke goals. Yes, these are the same Hurricanes who had scored 294 goals this regular season, and they could only score goals on a mediocre, Saku Koivu-less Canadiens team by crashing the net and interfering with the goaltender.

Speaking of goaltender interference, Jacques Demers and Don Cherry (I know, I can't believe I'm saying this) brought up two very good points about the Hurricanes' disallowed goal and their subsequent game-winner. Firstly, Demers pointed out that if a Hurricanes player interfered with Huet on the disallowed goal, referees Tim Peel and Don Van Massenhoven should have called a penalty on the player who caused the interference. I've seen goals get disallowed without a penalty before, but it doesn't make sense to only go halfway with the call.

Cherry's point is even more intriguing. If you look at the replay for Rod Brind'amour's game-winner at 5:54 of the third period, you will see that Niclas Wallin interfered with Huet just as much as the 'Canes player did on the disallowed goal. I've got my theories as to why the outcomes of these games have gone in Carolina's favour because of the officiating, but I'll keep them to myself for the time being.

If the Canadiens want to get back in this series, which is becoming less and less likely with each of Carolina's unpenalized high-sticks, they will have to come out of the gate strongly on Sunday night and show the Hurricanes why they took that 2-0 series lead to begin with. La Presse is reporting that Steve Begin might be ready for Game 5, and, if he is, he will provide the Habs with a much-needed boost in the absence of Koivu. If they continue to play as they did in Game 4, however, this series will be over faster than a Carolina winter.