RALEIGH — After winning 12 of his first 14 appearances this season, Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov had lost three of his last five.
The Kochetkov from the first month of the season was back Tuesday as the Russian goalie made 32 saves for his first shutout of the year in a 4-0 win over the visiting Islanders at Lenovo Center.
“I tried to not think about (the shutout),” Kochetkov said. “(With) seven minutes in the last period I think, ‘OK, I have a couple ideas about this.’ I think, just (expletive) stay in net, relax, (expletive) do your job. … I want to just win and not think about (the) shutout.”
It also helped that Carolina made the most of its chances, scoring four times through two periods to chase Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin (19 saves) en route to a second straight convincing win after three weeks of hardly looking like a Stanley Cup contender.
“Overall, the last two games we have looked pretty good overall,” Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho, who had a goal and an assist, said. “I think there’s another level. You’re never satisfied. If you have a great game, you still want to improve.”
The Hurricanes got scoring from up and down their lineup, with three of the team’s four lines getting on the board, and Andrei Svechnikov — skating on the one line that didn’t score at even strength — put Carolina in the early lead on the power play.
Aho passed back and forth with Svechnikov, who was positioned on the goal line to Sorokin’s left, and Svechnikov took the second pass and cut quickly to the net, stuffing a shot through the Islanders goalie’s pads for his 12th goal of the year and a 1-0 lead at 5:47 of the first period.
It was the ninth goal in eight games allowed by New York’s league-worst penalty kill, and 2½ minutes later at even strength, Carolina extended the lead when Jordan Martinook beat defenseman Noah Dobson to a rebound of a Jordan Staal shot to make it 2-0.
“Their impact on the game is always there,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the duo’s line with William Carrier. “So it’s nice to see them get rewarded with one there.”
Then just past the midway point of regulation, Tyson Jost got the second goal of his Hurricanes career, winning a battle behind the net before he got to the front and batted out of the air a rebound from a Shayne Gostisbehere shot for a 3-0 lead at 11:12 of the second.
Jost’s first goal with Carolina came in his debut with the team Nov. 11 when a Jaccob Slavin shot grazed his backside before going in during a win over Vegas. This one involved a little more skill.
“It’s nice to score on your stick instead of your butt,” Jost said.
With 16 seconds left in the second period, Eric Robinson returned a pass on a give-and-go during a 2-on-1 rush, and Aho finished the feed past a sprawling Sorokin for his ninth goal of the season.
“Hopefully that really jump-starts Fishy getting going,” Brind’Amour said of Aho.
Sorokin was relieved at the start of the third period by Marcus Hogberg (6 saves), but all that was left was Kochetkov completing the shutout.
He made nine third-period saves — including facing four chances deemed high danger by NaturalStatTrick.com — to earn his first shutout since March 30 of last season. The 32 saves were second this season only to the 35 he made against Pittsburgh on Nov. 7.
“He was obviously the best player tonight,” Brind’Amour said.
Notes: Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov played 22:08, his second-highest ice time of the season. … Jost matched a career high with three blocked shots. … Sorokin has allowed four goals in three consecutive starts. … Gostisbehere had two assists and has 27 points on the season, fifth most among defensemen in the NHL.
