The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Streaking ’Canes roll past Islanders
ELMONT, N.Y. — Max Domi scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Carolina Hurricanes got help from a rookie goaltender, boosting their Metropolitan Division lead by beating the New York Islanders 5-2 Sunday.
The Hurricanes won their fourth in a row and extended their edge over the secondplace New York Rangers to four points. Carolina has two games left, including a visit to Madison Square Garden to face the Rangers on Tuesday night. New York has three games remaining.
Carolina tied franchise records for victories (52) and points (112). Both marks were set in the 200506 season, which culminated in the team’s sole Stanley Cup championship.
“From Day One it has been awesome here,” said Domi, acquired by the Hurricanes from the Columbus Blue Jackets last month ahead of the trade deadline. “There’s a winning mentality.”
Seth Jarvis, Derek Stepan, Jesper Fast, and Brendan Smith also scored for the Hurricanes.
Pyotr Kochetkov made seven saves on eight shots to earn his second career win 24 hours after making his NHL debut. He entered the game in relief of Antti Raanta, who made 17 saves on 18 shots before suffering an injury in the second period.
“He came in and played really well,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Kochetkov.
The Hurricanes are now missing their top two goaltenders after Frederik Andersen suffered an injury on April 16.
“What can you do, just have to keep moving forward,” Brind’Amour added.
Ross Johnston and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders, who lost their fifth straight game. Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves on 32 shots.
“They are definitely one of the top teams in the league,” Islanders forward Matt Martin. “We just went toe-to-toe with them.”
Domi gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead 5:40 into the third period, beating Varlamov after Teuvo Teravainen’s pass from behind the net found him open in the slot.
“The third period we played our game, creating turnovers and playing our style,” Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal said.
Fast and Smith added empty-net goals in the final 2:07 of the game to push the score to 5-2.
“In the third period I thought they raised their game,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “Our game didn’t have the pop it did in the first two periods.”