The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Islanders 4-1 Tuesday night at UBS Arena in what, surprisingly, turned out to be a fairly low stress contest.
The Hurricanes scored three goals in the first period, the first two by the red-hot Seth Jarvis who now has goals in four straight games and five in total, and that essentially put the game out of reach almost immediately.
Though to be fair, it was a bit stressful to start with the Islanders coming out of the gate flying. However, Carolina and more so Pyotr Kochetkov, weathered the storm early.
"They come out hard and fast every game here, so we knew what to expect but we didn't quite match it quick enough," Jarvis said. "But that's why [Kochetkov] is here to make big saves and let us get settled in."
Jarvis has formed some instant chemistry with newly acquired winger Jake Guentzel as the two were looking like the hockey version of the Harlem Globetrotters out there with their give-and-goes and slick passes.
Guentzel, who now has eight points in five games as the Hurricanes, has looked right at home on the top line with Jarvis and Sebastian Aho. He has now scored in two straight games (kind of three as he scored a shootout winner against the Toronto Maple Leafs) and he looks to be the real deal.
"He's a winner and you can't have enough of those guys around," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Guys who know how to win. We're fortunate to have both him and [Kuznetsov] added at the deadline. Both guys get it and I think they make our team much better.
While those two started up the offense, it was really Martin Necas' goal that put a fork in the Islanders.
With 1.1 seconds remaining on the first period clock and Carolina on the power play, Necas entered the Islanders' zone off the rush and proceeded to dance around all four New York penalty killers before going bardown on Ilya Sorokin to push the lead to three heading into the locker room.
"That was a huge goal," Brind'Amour said. "The end of the first, number one, and then on the power play. It was kind of an individual effort obviously. I think that was a... I don't want to say put the game away, but it certainly gave us a nice cushion. It was a huge goal."
New York then looked flat coming out for the second period despite being a team desperately needing a win, so Carolina just kept going to work, shift after shift.
The Islanders would grab one early into the third after the Canes misplayed the coverage against the New York rush, but that would be the only thing Kochetkov (30 saves on 31 shots) would allow past him.
"He was good early and then made a couple of saves late too," Brind'Amour said. "We had a two-goal lead, but if they got another one, then it gets a little scary. He was good for us."
Guentel would then seal the game away with an empty-netter.
Carolina sweeps their three-game mini road trip and ties the franchise record for consecutive road wins with six.
The Hurricanes will return home for a Thursday night matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers before flying out to Washington the following day.