RALEIGH — The Hurricanes shook off the Ducks — and an injury to goalie Pyotr Kochetkov — to win 6-3 Thursday and extend their point streak to seven games.
Six different Hurricanes — Brady Skjei, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook, Stefan Noesen, Jack Drury and Seth Jarvis — scored for Carolina, which improved to 23-13-5 with 51 points, just three behind the first-place Rangers in the Metropolitan Division.
Three observations
1. The biggest story of the night was an injury to Kochetkov. With the score tied just past the midway point of regulation, Ducks center Isac Lundestrom drove toward the net for a scoring chance that Kochetkov stopped. But Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov shoved Lundestrom toward the crease, leading to a collision with Kochetkov.
Kochetkov remained on the ice for a while with head trainer Doug Bennett before being helped off the ice by Orlov and Noesen.
“I’ll know more tomorrow,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the game. “They’re still evaluating him a little bit, but it’s an upper-body injury for sure.”
Oh no.
Pyotr Kochetkov is exiting the game for the #Canes.
After being looked at by Head Athletic Trainer Doug Bennett on the ice for a minute, #52 had to be helped off.
Antti Raanta is in. pic.twitter.com/CO9Xk8vPl1
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) January 12, 2024
Losing Kochetkov for an extended period would certainly be a blow to the Hurricanes. The rookie goalie is 7-1-2 in the last month and stabilized things in Carolina’s net.
Antti Raanta, who came in with the game tied 3-3 and faced only three shots in 27:05, earned the win and would have to carry the load if Kochetkov is out for any amount of time. The Hurricanes would also need to decide if they will again recall Yaniv Perets or search for another goalie (again). They don’t play a back-to-back for nearly two weeks, when they play in Boston on Jan. 24 before returning home to face the Devils the next night.
2. The Hurricanes jumped on the overmatched Ducks in the first period and didn’t relent for the opening 20 minutes. Carolina had the first 12 shots on goal of the game, with Anaheim finally getting one on net with 4:28 left in the first.
The score was 0-0 at that point, but it wasn’t for long.
Carolina scored twice in 15 seconds to jump out to a 2-0 lead, with Jarvis feeding Skjei for an open net goal with 4 minutes left in the first. On the following shift, the top line scored a beauty when Teuvo Teravainen spun and passed to Sebastian Aho, who quickly went back across the ice to Svechnikov for the Russian’s 10th goal of the season.
The Ducks stormed back, eventually tying the game 3-3, but Noesen’s goal at 14:30 of the second followed by his setup of Drury on the power play just over two minutes later put away Anaheim.
3. Ducks center Sam Carrick tried to goad Brendan Lemieux into a fight early in the second period with Carolina up 2-0, but Lemieux waved him off. Then when Carrick boarded Drury later in the period, Lemieux stormed in and threw his gloves down. Carrick obliged.
Sam Carrick vs Brendan Lemieux from the Anaheim Ducks at Carolina Hurricanes game on Jan 11, 2024https://t.co/8tBeqQsteI
— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) January 12, 2024
Number to know
600 — Career regular season games for Martinook, who had his second two-point game of the season with a goal and an assist. Martinook has played 353 of those games with the Hurricanes, totaling 43 goals, 69 assists and 112 points since coming to Carolina in 2018.
“I’m just so grateful and happy,” he said. “Happy to play 600. That’s a good accomplishment for me, for sure.”
Plus
Seth Jarvis, Hurricanes forward — Adding Jarvis to the Jordan Staal-Martinook pairing has added offense to the line without sacrificing its shutdown abilities. The line was on the ice for three goals for at 5-on-5 and none against, and Jarvis’ goal epitomizes what the line is all about.
With Carolina making a partial line change, Jarvis won a battle in the corner against both Cam Fowler and Mason McTavish, got to the high slot and got a stick on a Brent Burns point shot for his 15th goal of the season.
“I was a little upset,” Jarvis said of the battle in the corner. “I kept getting hit there. I didn’t like it. To score felt really good. We did a good job just kind of getting the puck to the net anyways, and we had a ton of traffic — it could’ve really hit anything — but I’m just happy I got a stick on it.”
He finished with three points — matching a career high, done previously four times — and is already closing in on the career-best 40 points he had as a rookie two seasons ago with 31 points in 2023-24.
Minus
Jaccob Slavin, Hurricanes defenseman — Slavin was his usual self on Thursday, but with 5:25 left in the game he went to the bench after blocking a shot into the mesh and did not play the rest of the way. That shift was just 11 seconds, which raised alarm bells that the defenseman was perhaps injured. When I asked Brind’Amour about it after the game, he simply said Slavin “didn’t need to.”
They said it
“It’s too late. I’m going to Mexico. I got a nonrefundable trip now. So I’m totally set on warm weather, but I still do appreciate all the all the effort.”
— Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis on the effort by the team and fans to get him voted into the All-Star Game
