Hurricanes beat Blue Jackets
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes did everything they wanted early except find the back of the net.
Once they did, the goals kept coming.
Jordan Staal got Carolina on the board with a determined second-period sequence, then the Hurricanes broke it open with two quick third-period goals to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 on Friday night.
The Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes finished with a season-high 50 shots, leaving netminder Frederik Andersen with a relatively quiet night in earning his third shutout this season on 19 saves.
Teuvo Teravainen scored late in the second, then Nino Niederreiter and Vincent Trocheck scored 36 seconds apart in the opening minutes of the third to blow the game open.
More importantly, the Hurricanes kept their edge after ending the first scoreless despite a 16-3 shot advantage.
“You always watch about getting frustrated in those kind of games,” coach Rod Brind’amour said, adding, “You have to keep doing what we were doing. That’s what I liked about the game, is we didn’t really change anything. We just kept sticking with it and it paid off.”
Both teams entered on winning streaks, with
Columbus at a season-high four wins and Carolina with three straight. And the Blue Jackets had surged to win seven of eight, a stretch that included five road wins — the last coming a day earlier at Atlantic Division-leading Florida.
Blues 5, Sabres 3
ST. LOUIS — Jordan Kyrou had two goals and an assist, Colton Parayko scored the game-winner and the St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres.
Jake Walman and Brayden Schenn also scored, and Ville Husso had 35 saves for St. Louis to improve to 10-1-1 since the start of 2022 — and 9-1-0 at home.
Kyle Okposo, Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson scored for Buffalo, which has lost five straight while getting outscored 24-10.
Parayko gave the Blues the lead for good at 4-3 on a wrist shot with 6:03 left in the third period.
Schenn added an emptynet goal with 33 seconds to go.
Thompson’s power-play goal tied the score 3-3 with 7:26 remaining in the third with his 21st goal of the season. Thompson was drafted in the first round by the Blues and played his rookie season in St. Louis before he was traded to Buffalo in 2018 for Ryan O’reilly.
Cozens gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead 1:25 into the game. A turnover by Robert Thomas allowed Buffalo to keep the puck in its zone. Husso didn’t control a rebound of a shot by Rasmus Asplund and Cozens’ shot trickled through Husso.
The Blues responded with two goals by Kyrou. St. Louis tied it on a power-play
goal as David Perron passed to Kyrou in the left circle and he one-timed the puck by goalie Dustin Tokarski at 7:06. Buffalo had successfully killed off its previous 12 penalties and had not allowed a power-play goal in any of its previous six contests.