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MONTREAL (CP) - Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet has taken all kinds of abuse in his team's playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

He's had his crease crashed, sticks jammed between his legs, his sightlines consistently blocked by Carolina forwards and even Hurricanes shooting the puck either at him or past him after whistles.

But rather than get rankled by the tactics, Huet is flattered.

"I think they're trying to bother me and that must mean we scare them in some way," Huet said Monday. "I think they're trying little things like that to get us out of our game. When they try to push things to the limit, I think we have to take that as a compliment."

• Sabres first road win would sink Flyers

The Canadiens host the Hurricanes at home Tuesday trailing the best-of-seven series 3-2 and needing a win to extend their season.

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Though the Hurricanes have been a constant, unpenalized presence in Huet's crease over the past three games - all Carolina victories - things began changing in Montreal's 2-1 loss in Game 5 on Sunday.

Hurricanes forwards Matt Cullen and Rod Brind'Amour were each called for goalie interference penalties in the third period, though the Canadiens failed to capitalize on the subsequent power plays.

"The referees did a good job in the last game, so that's encouraging for the next game," Huet said. "If they have to do that to score on me, that's a great challenge for me, too. But if they want to do something stupid, they'll be in the box."

At the other end of the ice, rookie Cam Ward has stopped 80 of 84 shots in the three Carolina wins, but he has had a far easier time doing his job than Huet as the Montreal forwards have been unable to establish any presence in front of his net.

"Ward's playing well for them, but I would say he's seeing a lot more pucks," Canadiens defenceman Francis Bouillon said. "We need to go run some interference if we want to score some goals. We're having trouble getting big goals, so we need to bother him."

Canadiens head coach Bob Gainey concedes that Ward has played well, but he also feels his club has not made his life all that difficult.

"It's less about specific things with him as it is us trying to create more opportunities," Gainey said. "To whatever degree we've tested him, we haven't tested him enough."

Gainey said there won't be any major personnel changes for Tuesday's game, and he was clear that captain Saku Koivu will not be ready to make a return from the left eye injury he suffered in Game 3.

"Saku's situation appears to be improving day by day," Gainey said. "Each day there's a little less blood in his eye and his vision's improving. I spoke with him today and he says he's not in pain, but the discomfort and irritation is still there."

On Sunday, Gainey began the game with Radek Bonk filling Koivu's usual spot between Chris Higgins and Michael Ryder. But Steve Begin - playing for the first time since spraining his left knee April 8 - had a lot of shifts centring that line.

Begin is a faster skater than Bonk and plays a style that seems more compatible with Higgins and Ryder, but the fact remains that he's not Koivu.

"He's been our heart and soul and we know he's always with us," Begin said. "Everybody needs to bring more. It's not one guy who's going to replace him."

With Koivu missing the scoring burden has fallen on the line of Mike Ribeiro between Alex Kovalev and Jan Bulis. Though Kovalev - who had over 23 minutes of ice time Sunday as Gainey double-shifted him - has produced with four goals and three assists in five games, his linemates have combined for only one goal and three assists.

They will have to do more if Montreal is going to force a seventh game with a win Tuesday.

"If I can score in this game, I think what I did in the first five games will be forgotten," said Ribeiro, who has two assists in the series. "That's how I'm looking at it