DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche got revenge, two points and clinched the top seed in the Western Conference with their 7-4 win over Carolina Saturday.
The Hurricanes got a whole lot of uncertainty about their season going forward.
J.T. Compher and Nathan MacKinnon each scored twice, Ben Meyers added a goal in his NHL debut in Colorado’s win, and Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 shots to help Colorado run its winning streak to nine straight and avenge an earlier loss to the Hurricanes.
Jordan Staal scored twice before leaving the game after a big hit by Avs defenseman Cale Makar while goalie Frederik Andersen had to be helped off the ice in the third period with an injury.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the game that he didn’t have an update on the status of either player following the game.
“It’s a tough night,” he said.
Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho each added goals. Carolina trailed 4-0 early in the second period before cutting it to 5-3 heading into the third period. They could be doing it without two key pieces.
“We have a little adversity right now,” Aho said. “We’ll see what we are about right now. It hasn’t gone our way lately and a couple very big players go down for us tonight. These are the moments that a team has to come together and come back even stronger, and I’m 100% confident that’s exactly what’s going to happen right now. We’ll be a better team than ever.”
The Hurricanes remain in a tight race with the New York Rangers for the Metropolitan Division title. The Rangers beat Detroit earlier in the day. Both the Rangers and Hurricanes now have 104 points with six games remaining, including a matchup against each other at New York on April 26.
