In Raleigh, the Hurricanes built a 3-0 lead into the second period on Thursday, and then had to hold off the Seattle Kraken for a 3-2 win.
Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves in the Canes win.
Carolina has a nine-game active point streak.
“I thought we were pretty good the whole game,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We were sharp all over all night. Overall, I thought it was a solid game.”
Carolina improved to 17-6-6.
Ryan Donato scored for Seattle in the second period to get the Kraken on the board and make the score 3-1 to the Canes.
Daniel Sprong scored in the third period to make it 3-2, but that was as close as they would get.
“We’re coming through a tough road trip (1-3-0). We knew what this stretch looked like,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We’re disappointed. We’re going home with two out of the eight points, so that says that we all have to get back to Seattle and have a good day of practice and get ready to turn that around as we go into the Christmas break.”
Seattle dropped to 16-10-3.
“I knew if I put it far side, even if it doesn’t go in, [Brandon Tanev‘s] going to beat his guy to the net,” Sprong said. “I think as a line we deserved that one. We had some really good looks in the second and third.
“I think we didn’t get to the O-zone much in the first 10 (minutes), but we started playing with more speed and we started playing our game, and I think as the game went on we took more control. We just have to get rid of those grade-A chances that we gave up.”
Carolina took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Andrei Svechnikov,
“Their sustained five-man pressure in the first period was relentless,” Hakstol said. “We got caught with a couple of soft plays, a little bit slow in a couple of decisions, and that’s what that pressure can do to you.”
Derek Stepan pushed the lead to 2-0 late in the frame.
“It’s a confidence thing. It’s always nice to score,” Stepan said. “It definitely builds that momentum a little bit. I liked the way our line played tonight, that’s for sure.”
Carolina extended the lead to 3-0 at 10:10 on a marker from Stefan Noesen .
“Their sustained five-man pressure in the first period was relentless,” Hakstol said. “We got caught with a couple of soft plays, a little bit slow in a couple of decisions, and that’s what that pressure can do to you.”
Philipp Grubauer made 36 saves in the loss.
“We found our game eventually, but you can’t start that late against a good team like that,” Donato said. “I say it all the time, but if we get pucks low, we have a lot of guys who can forecheck real hard and get turnovers.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.