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Montreal 4, Carolina 1

Posted: Monday May 06, 2002 12:39 AM

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RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Comebacks are nothing new for Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu.

Koivu scored a goal and set up another in the first period as the Canadiens tied their Eastern Conference semifinal series at one win apiece with a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Montreal dropped the opener Friday and trailed in a series for the first time in this year's playoffs. But Koivu helped the Canadiens build a three-goal lead and claim home-ice advantage from the third-seeded Hurricanes.

"We knew that we had to come out stronger than we did in the first game," he said. "For some reason, we were waiting for something to happen in that game. In the first period, we were able to get the forecheck going and get the first goal."

Koivu, who returned for the final three games of the season after battling stomach cancer, sparked the quick start. He delivered a solid hit on Josef Vasicek in the first period, scored at 7:25 to put Montreal ahead for good, then got the primary assist on defenseman Andrei Markov's first career postseason goal at 16:51.

"Saku set the tone right at the beginning with his big hit behind the net," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "He's such an inspiration for everyone. He's a true leader. Tonight he gave us an outstanding job with his performance."

Doug Gilmour added a power-play tally 63 seconds into the second period and the rest was up to Jose Theodore, who made 45 saves and has given up just five goals in the last four games.

"He played the last two games against Boston well, so he's really on his game right now," Koivu said of his goaltender. "I think that our defense is doing a good job of clearing the rebounds well on the shots that are coming from the outside. Hopefully, he'll keep doing what he's doing right now."

Rod Brind'Amour scored Carolina's lone goal on a two-man advantage with seven seconds left in the second.

The Hurricanes were without Jeff O'Neill, who was suspended one game by the NHL for hitting defenseman Sheldon Souray from behind early in the opener.

"If we get 46 shots every night, sooner or later we're going to get some of them to go in," Carolina captain Ron Francis said. "We had some opportunities tonight, especially early, that we didn't capitalize on. They scored a couple early and it was all uphill from there."

With just over 16 minutes to go in the first period, Theodore extended his right arm to deny Brind'Amour, who cut in from the right side. Less than four minutes later, Carolina's Kevin Weekes stopped Sergei Berezin's blast from the top of the right circle. But the puck dropped between his pads, Koivu dug it out and whipped a shot into the net for his third playoff goal.

It ended Weekes' shutout streak at 143 minutes, 55 seconds and was the first goal he allowed since the third period of Game Five of the conference quarterfinals.

"We needed that goal and we needed a good first period," Koivu said. "(Weekes has) been hot. He shut Jersey down in the last game and shut us down in the first game."

With 3:09 to go in the first period, Koivu flipped a cross-ice pass from the top of the right circle. Markov controlled the bouncing puck in the left circle, deked around Weekes, then slid a backhander past the goalie.

"The first goal was a bad break. (Weekes) thought he had it, but he didn't," Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. "The next one was a real good pass. Our defenseman missed his guy. (Weekes) had no chance."

With Carolina defenseman Bret Hedican in the penalty box, Gilmour made it 3-0 early in the second period. He got the blade of his stick on Donald Audette's blast from the top of the left circle, tipping it past Weekes for his fourth playoff goal.

Montreal had been 1-for-16 on the power play on the road in the postseason.

The Canadiens were in total control before defenseman Stephane Quintal and Andreas Dackell received penalties 75 seconds apart late in the period. The Hurricanes cashed in on the two-man advantage as Brind'Amour took a shot that was caught in Theodore's midsection and rolled into the net when the goalie turned onto his side.

But Theodore helped Montreal kill four power plays in the third period and Bill Lindsay scored into an empty net with 71 seconds remaining.

"We know that he's going to make big saves," Brind'Amour said of Theodore, who has faced at least 40 shots four times in the playoffs. "Going into the series, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why they are here. He's a great goaltender, but I'm proud of our team because we played hard.

"We didn't get the bounces tonight. So what, it's a seven-game series. There's not point in getting down about it. Even though he is great, we've just got to keep firing rubber at him. Eventually, they will go in."

It was the first career playoff loss for Weekes, who made just 12 saves.

"It's very difficult to get a feel in a game like tonight on goaltending because there was a lot of sustained pressure there," said Maurice, who refused to speculate on Weekes' status for Game Three on Tuesday in Montreal.

"I have no expectations," Weekes said. "Coach makes all those decisions and that's why he's the coach and I'm the player. I don't get into all that stuff."