Carolina Hurricanes troll the winless Montreal Canadiens, increasing rivalry – Montreal

The Montreal Canadiens remain without a win after five games in a row – and the Carolina Hurricanes certainly know how to rub salt into the wound.

Not only did the American team beat the Habs 4-1 at the Bell Center, but they also teased their rivals and fans on social media all Thursday night.

“Les Hurricanes triomphent”, the Canes tweeted in French after the last summer, which translated means “the Hurricanes won”.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the 21-year-old who quit the tricolor for Carolina that summer after signing a $ 6.1 million offer, was booed every time he was on the ice.

And of course, he scored his first goal for Canes that night.

“It happened. It actually happened,” Carolina wrote in a cheeky tweet just after Kotkaniemi fired Brady Skjei’s shot to restore the team’s two-goal lead.

Kotkaniemi, who was No. 3 in the 2018 NHL draft in Montreal, was selected by the Canes on a one-year contract with limited freedom of representation. The Canadiens decided not to honor the offer and decided to let him go, which also turned a lot of heads at the time.

Carolina wasted no time on Wednesday night when she pulled up a photo of a smiling Kotkaniemi wearing a blue, white, and red leotard when he was drafted.

After the game, the young center told reporters he wasn’t sure what to expect when he returned to the Bell Center. But he took the relentless booing calmly.

“It gets you going a little,” said Kotkaniemi. “It was a little fun. I laughed when I stepped on the ice. “

Not only did Kotkaniemi score one goal, but Sebastian Aho also shone in the game. The center-forward also scored his first goal of the season and sealed the 4-1 win with an empty goal.

Montreal presented a bid sheet to Aho when the independent NHL agency opened in 2019. But Carolina decided to keep her star player and adjusted the offer, which put an end to the Habs plan.

In fact, the bold snapshot of Kotkaniemi’s canes two years later was treated as another form of trolling by the team.

The next time Montreal will face Carolina will be during the holiday season. The game is scheduled for December 30th at 7pm in the PNC Arena.

–with files from The Canadian Press