The Carolina Hurricanes tried to get a winning streak going with the New York Islanders in town to finish their four-game homestand. The Canes handled their business on Sunday night, going wire-to-wire in a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. They turn their attention to the Islanders, who beat them on Long Island ten days ago.
Rod Brind'Amour rolled the same lines as Sunday, with the only change coming in the net. Pyotr Kochetkov got the start against New York after Dustin Tokarski made his Hurricanes debut in Sunday's win. Ilya Sorokin was in the net for the Islanders, who are slowly starting to get some of their injured players back. Mathew Barzal, who missed the first meeting, was in the lineup, while Anthony Duclair remained out.
An early power play would get the Canes rolling. Empty on their last ten chances, Andrei Svechnikov needed 35 seconds to find daylight between Sorokin's pads, powering his shot over the line to start with the lead. Sunday's best line would add to it less than three minutes later. Jordan Staal did an excellent job of sealing the wall after the Canes lost the draw, bringing the puck to the front of the net. Sorokin kicked him out, but Jordan Martinook was there to tap home the rebound to double the lead.
While the Hurricanes were in control on the scoreboard, the end of the first period left much to be desired. The Islanders started stringing together good offensive-zone shifts, putting Kochetkov to work. They also had a power play that the Canes killed. New York held the Canes without a shot for the final 11 minutes of the period, though the 2-0 lead remained.
The start of the second period didn't inspire much confidence, either. The Islanders felt inches away from turning the tides several times. The best chance was from Hudson Fasching, who forced a shot high on a partial breakaway. Seconds later, Tyson Jost made it 3-0. Jack Roslovic and Shayne Gostisbehere had shots denied before Jost swooped through and batted the rebound out of mid-air to score his second goal of the season.
This goal felt like it took the wind out of the Islanders' sails. For good measure, the Canes scored one more to finish the period. Jaccob Slavin sprung Sebastian Aho and Eric Robinson on a 2-on-1 in the final seconds. Robinson and Aho passed it back and forth before Aho finished the sequence with 15 seconds remaining to make it a four-goal lead going into the intermission.
Through little fault of his own, Sorokin's night would be done after the second period as Patrick Roy turned to Marcus Hogberg for the third. The final 20 minutes were relatively low-event as Kochetkov tried to preserve his shutout. The Islanders didn't make it easy, getting plenty of golden opportunities to get on the board. Instead, the Russian netminder kept the puck out, finishing the night with 32 stops as he helped the team complete the homestand with a 4-0 shutout win.
It's hard to envision two efforts quite as strong as the Canes had to finish this homestand. Their first game against San Jose was okay and their shutout loss to Ottawa left some frustrated. They've responded with a pair of resounding wins against division opponents in three days. While both Columbus and New York are near the bottom of the division, the Canes could've become complacent and taken them lightly. Instead, they've looked like the same team from early in the year.
A big reason for their last two wins has been the goaltending. Dustin Tokarski was great against Columbus. Pyotr Kochetkov was perfect against New York. The Islanders had a lot of prime scoring chances. Kochetkov remained cool and collected. He made the tough saves look routine. It's fitting that the final big stop he made was a glove save on Anders Lee. It evoked strong Spencer Martin vibes from when he shut out the Senators in November, making a glove stop on Brady Tkachuk and tossing the puck back at him.
This was the type of balanced game I've been hoping to see from the Hurricanes. Their power play started the scoring, snapping their drought in an impressive fashion. After that, it was all 5-on-5. The Staal line continued to dominate. The fourth line was finally rewarded for their hard work. Sebastian Aho finished his multi-point night by putting the game out of reach. Top-to-bottom, this was a 60-minute effort.
Up Next: The Carolina Hurricanes will hit the road for a three-game road trip before Christmas. They'll start with a battle against the Washington Capitals in the nation's capital on Friday night, the second tilt of the season for two of the division's best. Then, they'll play a back-to-back against the Rangers and the Predators on Sunday and Monday. Both teams have incredible weapons but have underperformed this season.