According to coach Rod Brind'Amour the team was "not at its' best", but the Carolina Hurricanes scored twice in the third period and held on to defeat the New York Islanders, 5-3 on Thursday night at UBS Arena.
The Canes improved their record to 13-3-2 on the season.
Brandon Bussi made 24 saves on the 27 shots he faced to pick up his third win of the season.
Logan Stankoven got things started just 57 seconds into the game when he took a pass from Jackson Blake and ripped it past goalie Semyon Varlamov. Stankoven now has a team leading 11 goals for the season. Blake added to his team-high assist total to 14.
A couple of minutes later, Jesperi Kotkaniemi tipped in a Jordan Martinook pass to make it 2-0 and it looked like Carolina was flying. But they took their feet off the gas and the Islanders got back in the game.
The home team tied the score at two but the Canes would strike again on an Andrei Svechnokov goal in the second.
The Islanders tied it at three before the end of the period and even though the Canes were outshooting NY, they seemed to be reeling a bit. But they came out strong in the third period.
Will Carrier knocked in the game-winner off a Svechnikov shot 15 minutes and change into the third and that would be enough to finish off the Islanders. Jalen Chatfield fought for a loose puck and put in a long shot into an empty net to complete the scoring.
All in all, it was not the team's best effort but they did what they needed to do to get the win.
Next up will be a game at home on Saturday night against the Blackhawks which will be their last game before the trip to Finland.
Notes:
Kotkaniemi had a team low 8 minutes of ice time. He now has 5 goals and 3 assists and has played well recently. Not sure what else he needs to do to see more ice time. He also had 2 hits and was 50% in the faceoff circle.
Taylor Hall returned to action and played just over 10 minutes.
The Canes went 34% in the circle.
The Hurricanes ended up outshooting the home team, 39-27.
Game Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20262027/GS020255.HTM
Event Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20262027/ES020255.HTM
Brind'Amour interview – https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/7onven7ukp6y8q5kvptkh/AGB-i8OcpbEk_BhIlFsaHHo/Postgame?dl=0&preview=BrindAmourPost110526.mp3&rlkey=za56byy92od4kjhkx1w45cm2w&subfolder_nav_tracking=1
