Hurricanes cap big month
The previous time the Carolina Hurricanes had a month like they did in January, a rare playoff appearance followed.
The host Hurricanes capped their first 10-win month since 2009 Friday night by beating the St. Louis Blues, 3-1. They went 10-4 in January, and Carolina’s previous 10-win month in March 2009 led to its only playoff appearance since 2006, when the Hurricanes won their only Stanley Cup.
Nathan Gerbe scored an early goal, Jeff Skinner notched the go-ahead goal in the second period and Alexander Semin added an empty-netter with 1:04 left.
Opening a four-game homestand that precedes the Olympic break, Carolina earned its fifth win in the past six games.
“We want to have a good feeling going into the break and we want to sort of build off this win,” Skinner said.
David Backes scored on the power play for St. Louis.
“Hard to find a lot of good players in our game today,” St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. “They deserve a lot of credit. They skated. They checked. They played hard. And we looked like we had the body language like we wanted an easier game. Didn’t get it.”
Anton Khudobin stopped 26 shots for the Hurricanes. Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves in his fourth consecutive start for St. Louis, but he had his four-game winning streak snapped.
Khudobin stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period, including a nifty leg save on defenseman Alex Pietrangelo with about 1½ minutes left. He also got help from the goal post as two Blues — Jaden Schwartz and Jay Bouwmeester — rang shots off the pipes in the final 2 minutes.
“You need the post to be a goalie’s best friend,” Carolina coach Kirk Muller said.
Skinner put Carolina in front, 2-1, off a draw 1:51 into the second.
After Jordan Staal won a faceoff, the puck found Skinner’s stick, and he beat Halak with a wrist shot from the slot that clipped the goalie’s glove.
Other games
Rangers 4, Islanders 1: Derick Brassard scored the goahead goal with 7:46 left in the third period and the host New York Rangers surged to a win against the Islanders. The Rangers have won three games in a row.
Red Wings 4, Capitals 3: Patrick Eaves scored the only goal of the shootout as host Detroit beat Washington. The Capitals tied the score at 19:53 of the third period on Alex Ovechkin’s 39th goal.
Predators 3, Devils 2: Defenseman Shea Weber scored his 15th goal this season at 1:29 of overtime to lift host Nashville to a victory against New Jersey. It was Weber’s second goal of the game.
Jets 4, Canucks 3: Devin Setoguchi scored two goals, including the tiebreaker with 2:56 left, and host Winnipeg beat Vancouver.