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MONTREAL -- Rod Brind'Amour's value to the Carolina Hurricanes is even clearer to see against the backdrop of how much the Montreal Canadiens miss Saku Koivu.

Brind'Amour, Carolina's captain, has led the way as the Hurricanes recovered from a pair of opening home losses to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference series.

Koivu

Brind'Amour

Montreal hasn't won since it lost its captain to an eye injury.

The Canadiens, who scored 13 goals to take the first two games in Carolina, have been held to four goals in over nine periods of play since Game 3, in which Koivu was sidelined after he was accidentally high-sticked by Carolina right wing Justin Williams early in the second period.

Canadiens coach and general manager Bob Gainey confirmed Monday that Koivu will not play Tuesday night.

"Saku's situation seems to be improving day by day," Gainey said. "He's examined every day by the ophthalmologist, and each day there's a little less blood in his eye and his vision is improving. I spoke with him today and he said he's not in a lot of pain, but he has discomfort and irritation still."

Koivu had two assists in the first two games of the series after leading Montreal with 45 this season among his 62 points, second on the team and three points behind Alex Kovalev. He also was Finland's captain for silver medal performances in the Olympics in February and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

"Do we wish we had the player available to us? Undoubtedly we do," Gainey said. "But I think there is certainly some concern for his personal health and his personal situation, the possibility of the vision in your eye, but I haven't taken any message from our players, either body language or verbally -- or in their play -- that there's something missing because we're missing Saku Koivu's presence in our lineup."

Named Montreal's 27th captain before the 1999-00 season, Koivu joined the long line of hockey greats such as Toe Blake, Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer -- not to mention Gainey and assistant coach/head coach-in-waiting Guy Carbonneau -- to have worn the "C" on the chest of the most instantly recognizable jersey in hockey.

He is the longest-serving Canadiens captain since Gainey held the position from 1981-89, and the fourth-longest-serving in team history behind Jean Beliveau and Emile "Butch" Bouchard.

Unlike all of the aforementioned, though, Koivu has never hoisted the Stanley Cup.

Carbonneau, who is supposed to replace Gainey behind the bench next season, was the last Canadiens captain to win the Cup in 1993. The 13 years that have passed since will tie the longest championship drought in the storied franchise's history if this season's team falls short.

Montreal, which has won 23 of its 24 Stanley Cups since the NHL was formed in 1917, failed to win a championship between 1931 and 1944, and few would have picked the Canadiens to win this year.

In contrast, Carolina built up expectations over the course of the season. The second seed in the East, the Hurricanes seemed bound for an early exit from the playoffs after No. 1 goalie Martin Gerber was replaced by rookie Cam Ward as a result of the two stunning home losses to open the series.

Traded to Carolina along with current teammate Kevyn Adams from Florida in January 2002, Bret Hedican swears by Brind'Amour's leadership.

The veteran defenseman remembers the impression Brind'Amour -- who had been acquired from Philadelphia one year earlier -- made on him after he joined the Hurricanes, who went to the Stanley Cup finals that season before losing to Detroit.

"I can't say enough great things about Rod Brind'Amour," Hedican said. "He really sets the tone in our room. Nobody's bigger than the team, and when you add all those ingredients together, it means a great captain."

Brind'Amour, who replaced franchise legend Ron Francis as captain, helped the Hurricanes begin to turn the tide following a 6-1 loss in the opener when he scored in Game 2, which Carolina lost 7-6 in double overtime.

The spotlight shifted more toward him after Koivu went down in the following game. Brind'Amour's persistence and extra effort led to a hard-fought tying goal that paved the way to a season-saving overtime win.

He scored the winner in Game 4, his fourth goal in three games, after being stopped on a short-handed breakaway and having an apparent goal disallowed earlier in the game.

Brind'Amour got his fifth point with an assist on Eric Staal's power-play goal in Sunday's 2-1 win which left Carolina within one win of moving on in its first playoff appearance since the Hurricanes' dramatic run in 2002.

"I knew right way I wasn't going to have to be dramatic because we had good people, good veteran players that lead the way, the right way," Brind'Amour said. "Bottom line, I always felt if we're going to have the right attitude and every player is going to buy into and come to work every day, there's really not much I'm going to have to do. And I haven't had to do anything."