Injury-plagued Carolina responds with a victory
HURRICANES 5, JETS 3
Jesperi Kotkaniemi had two goals and an assist, Jack Drury scored his first goal of the season and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3, on Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Jaccob Slavin and Brady Skjei also scored for the Hurricanes, who have endured sudden offensive woes and the loss of a star player during the past week. Kotkaniemi’s second goal of the game was an empty-netter with four seconds left.
“That’s the whole key to everything — how you respond,” Carolina Coach Rod Brind’amour said. “That’s life.”
Frederik Andersen made 21 saves just hours after the Hurricanes announced that all-star forward Andrei Svechnikov will have surgery for a torn knee ligament and miss the rest of the season.
Dylan Demelo, Nikolaj Ehlers and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Jets, whose two-game winning streak ended. David Rittich made 20 saves.
About five minutes after the Jets closed within a goal, Drury put the Hurricanes back up by two with 10:26 remaining in his first game back from the American Hockey League.
Svechnikov, the team’s lone allstar this season, was injured Saturday night against Vegas and went to New Jersey for a game the next day. He was scratched from that game as the severity of the injury became more apparent. He’ll have reconstructive surgery Thursday on his right ACL.
A 22-year-old top-line forward, he’s tied for second the team with 55 points and third with 23 goals. He has been a key part of Carolina’s four consecutive playoff berths.
● LIGHTNING 4, DEVILS 1: Brandon Hagel had a goal and two assists, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves, and Tampa Bay scored the last four goals and beat New Jersey in Newark.
Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov also scored for Tampa Bay in the opener of a two-game set.
● BLACKHAWKS 6, BRUINS 3: Taylor Raddysh scored three goals as host Chicago beat Boston, handing the Nhl-leading Bruins a second straight regulation loss for the first time this season.
Raddysh’s first career hat trick gave him 20 goals this season and six in his past four games. Chicago, which entered the game last in the Western Conference, ended a three-game slide.
Boris Katchouk scored a tiebreaking goal at 6:59 of the third period and added two assists for his first three-point game.
● CANADIENS 6, PENGUINS 4: Anthony Richard scored the winning goal in the third period, and Montreal won in Pittsburgh.
Richard scored at 3:05 of the period. He took a stretch pass from Justin Barron and beat Casey Desmith to the glove side. Montreal rebounded from an 8-4 home loss against Colorado on Monday and snapped a sevengame losing streak.
Montreal, which earned its first win in March, has lost eight of its past 10 games overall.
● OILERS 6, SENATORS 3: Leon Draisaitl scored twice to reach 100 points for the season, NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist, and Edmonton beat visiting Ottawa.
Draisaitl pushed his season goal total to 44. He’s second in the league in scoring, 29 points behind Mcdavid. Mcdavid had his 73rd assist on Draisaitl’s second goal and scored into an empty net with 2:13 left for his 56th goal.
● GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, FLYERS 3: Ivan Barbashev scored two goals and Pavel Dorofeyev, Teddy Blueger and Jonathan Marchessault also scored to lead Vegas in Philadelphia.
The Golden Knights have won four straight and finished 4-1 on a trip that boosted their road record to 21-7-5 this season. LLPREDATORS 2, RED WINGS 1: Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist, Juuse Saros made 28 saves, and Nashville beat visiting Detroit for its third straight win.