MONTREAL — Niclas Wallin scored on slap shot through a screen 3:14 into overtime Thursday night to give the Carolina Hurricanes a stunning 4-3 comeback victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
The Hurricanes scored four unanswered goals to even the series 2-2.
Rookie Erik Cole sent the game into overtime, getting control of a rebound in the crease and flipping it past Montreal goalie Jose Theodore with 40.8 seconds left. It was his fourth goal of the playoffs.
Game 5 is Sunday afternoon at Carolina with Game 6 in Montreal Monday night.
Early on, it seemed like the Canadiens' night. Andreas Dackell, Yanic Perreault and Sergei Berezin staked Montreal to a 3-0 lead by the midpoint of the second period. The Habs had even forced Carolina goalie Kevin Weekes to the bench after one period in favor of Arturs Irbe.
But the Hurricanes, desperate not to fall behind by two games in the series, gamely fought back, outshooting Montreal 14-4 in the third period and scoring three times against Theodore in regulation, who made 36 saves.
Sean Hill ended Theodore's bid for his first playoff shutout, scoring on a hard slap shot from the slot at 3:57 of the third while the Hurricanes held a two-man advantage.
Bates Battaglia narrowed the lead to 3-2 with his second goal in two games, scoring past Theodore's stick on a shot from the slot that appeared to be slightly screened.
RED WINGS 4, BLUES 3: At St. Louis, Dominik Hasek rebounded from a lopsided loss as Detroit took command of its second-round Western Conference playoff series with a victory over St. Louis.
The Red Wings, who have a 3-1 series lead, can wrap the series up Saturday in Detroit.
The Blues' chances for the game — and now, the series — took a devastating hit when defenseman and captain Chris Pronger suffered a torn right knee ligament and left the game midway through the first period after a collision with Detroit's Steve Yzerman.
Pronger, who has been averaging more than 30 minutes a game, is out for the remainder of the postseason.
The Blues outshot the Red Wings 10-0 in the first five minutes and went up 1-0 on a power-play goal by Scott Young.
But after that — until a frantic finish — it was all Red Wings.
Brendan Shanahan, Jiri Fischer and Tomas Holmstrom scored for Detroit, which led 2-1 after the first period and 3-1 after two while the Blues managed only seven shots in a 35-minute span. Yzerman added a third-period power-play goal for a 4-1 lead off a giveaway by goalie Brent Johnson, who cleared the puck right to him at 3:03.
The Blues threw in a late scare with goals by Scott Mellanby and Keith Tkachuk in the final 2:54, both with the goalie pulled.