The Carolina Hurricanes returned to the win column on Thursday night, holding off the Colorado Avalanche for a well-earned 5-3 victory. Andrei Svechnikov finished with a career-high four points as the Canes snapped a three-game losing skid. To end the week, the Hurricanes traveled to Long Island to meet for the first time since the Canes eliminated the Islanders in April.
Pyotr Kochetkov made his third straight start on Saturday night after earning his 11th win of the season against Colorado. The troops in front of him remained the same. The Islanders turned to Ilya Sorokin with several of their playmakers out for this game. Most notable were the absences of Mathew Barzal and offseason addition Anthony Duclair.
The Canes' penalty kill got work early after taking back-to-back penalties. Both were killed with relative ease, with the first featuring a golden opportunity short-handed by Jordan Staal that Sorokin got over to stop. After coming up with two stops, the Canes' power play would get a chance to work. Andrei Svechnikov drew the penalty and he would score the first goal. After Sebastian Aho sprung him and Seth Jarvis on a 2-on-1, Svechnikov's pass attempt hit Noah Dobson and crossed the line to get the Canes off and running late in the period.
The Islanders leveled the score early in the second period as Jean-Gabriel Pageau buried a Dobson pass in transition to beat Kochetkov over his glove. The Canes' power play would strike again soon after. Once again, Svechnikov was on the right side of the play, burying a Jarvis kick-pass past Sorokin to restore the Canes' lead before the midway point of the frame.
This was when the game turned on its head and, ultimately, cost the Canes. Casey Cizikas provided excellent pressure, allowing Oliver Wahlstrom to steal the puck and score on a 2-on-1 to tie the game less than a minute later. Right before the goal, Jalen Chatfield had a case to draw a boarding call against Scott Mayfield, which would've put the Canes back on the power play. Instead, Wahlstrom ties it and the Islanders begin their takeover.
Late in the period, the Islanders struck twice more. Rookie Maxim Tsyplakov followed his shot, burying a rebound past Kochetkov with a wide-open net to give the Islanders their first lead of the night. Late in the period, Bo Horvat snapped a 13-game goalless drought, finishing a 3-on-1 past Kochetkov's outstretch glove to give the Islanders all of the momentum moving into the break. The Canes were held without a shot after Svechnikov's second goal, getting outshot 12-2 in a period reminiscent of Tuesday's against Seattle.
The lines were mixed up for the third period in the hopes of stoking the fire. Ultimately, the magic wasn't there. The Hurricanes swarmed Sorokin for 20 minutes, finding little daylight. The good chances they did find were promptly ushered aside. The biggest of them was an incredible stick save on a 2-on-1 one-time blast by Martin Necas. Jesperi Kotkaniemi would make it interesting by scoring with less than a minute left, but it was too late. The Islanders held on to win 4-3, sending the Canes home with their fourth loss in five games.
Let's start with the good notes from this loss. Andrei Svechnikov showed that Thursday's performance was possibly the beginning of a great run. He followed it with two power-play goals, putting him in double digits for the season. Speaking of the power play, they looked excellent, scoring twice on three attempts. The penalty kill also kept rolling, stopping two early chances without getting more work the rest of the night. Shayne Gostisbehere added three helpers, and Martin Necas momentarily returned to a tie with Kirill Kaprizov in the Art Ross race with a late assist.
Pyotr Kochetkov didn't play a bad game. Allowing four goals isn't ideal, but three of the four goals came during odd-man transition chances. The only one that I felt he had a chance to stop was the Wahlstrom goal that made it 2-2. It looked like Kochetkov was caught guessing. For all the good he did, we almost got another scary situation when Kochetkov opted to come out and play the puck late in the game, colliding with Anders Lee and losing his mask. It was an unnecessarily dangerous play for a player not far removed from a potential concussion.
The last eight days have been rough for the Hurricanes after going on an incredible run. The magic at 5-on-5 has gone dry. The defense is allowing way too many quality chances, putting the goalies in tough spots. I'll continue to preach that there isn't a need to panic, but these are troubling trends for the Canes, especially against teams they should be beating. It was about this time last season when they started their scorching run. Maybe we'll see more of the same when they get back out there next week.
Up Next: The Carolina Hurricanes will return home to start a four-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. The homestand will also feature their second meetings with the Senators, Blue Jackets, and the Islanders.