MONTREAL, Ontario, May 7 (UPI) -- The Montreal Canadiens try to capitalize on their newly-gained home-ice advantage Tuesday night when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Three of their NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Montreal evened the best-of-seven games series Sunday with a 4-1 victory at Carolina.
Andrei Markov scored his first playoff game-winning goal in the first period, and Saku Koivu, who returned for the final three games of the regular season after recovering from stomach cancer, had a goal and an assist. Jose Theodore stopped 45 shots and Doug Gilmour tallied his 60th career playoff goal as the Canadiens won despite getting outshot 46-16.
Montreal has won 13 of its last 15 home games against the Carolina-Hartford franchise. However, the Canadiens are just 5-8 in the playoffs at home in the playoffs since 1996.
Rod Brind'Amour scored the lone goal for Carolina, assisted by ageless Ron Francis and Bates Battaglia. Francis has a four-game points streak.
Kevin Weekes stopped 13 shots in his first career playoff loss after three victories. His franchise-record shutout streak ended at 143:55, when Koivu scored 7:25 into the game.
Arturs Irbe, who has not played since being pulled from Game Four of Carolina's quarterfinal series against the New Jersey Devils, could start in goal Tuesday.
In Monday's practice, Irbe was in one net during the entire session while Weeks rotated with third-string goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier in the other.
Defenseman David Tanabe suffered a broken wrist in Game Two and will be out three weeks. But the Hurricanes regain the services of center Jeff O'Neill, who was suspended one game by the NHL for hitting defenseman Sheldon Souray from behind early in Game One.
Carolina was outscored, 7-2, on the road during quarterfinals against the Devils.
Game Four is also in Montreal on Thursday.
Elsewhere, the St. Louis Blues hope to gain a boost from their home crowd when they host the Detroit Red Wings in Game Three of their Western Conference semifinal series.
St. Louis trails the best-of-seven series, two games to none, getting outscored, 5-2. The Blues are 2-1 at home this postseason and 21-7 all time in playoff games at the Savvis Center.
Overall, they have posted an 85-59 mark at home in the playoffs.
The Blues are 0-for-9 on the power play, while Detroit is 2-of-11.
St. Louis has dropped 11 of 12 best-of-seven series when losing the first two games.
Game Four is in St. Louis on Thursday.
