2023-24 Regular Season, Game 69: Hurricanes at New York Islanders (Postgame)

The Hurricanes made their final stop on a three-game road trip, meeting the New York Islanders on Long Island for their fourth and final meeting of the regular season. With the road team coming out on top in the previous three meetings, the Canes hoped to keep that trend going to even up the season series. With the Islanders hoping to stick around in the playoff hunt, they needed these two points more than anything. They've proven to be a tough opponent for the Canes this season, so this would be a good test for both teams moving in opposite directions.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR (12:48)- Seth Jarvis (24) (assisted by Brady Skjei (28) & Jake Guentzel (35))

CAR (14:53)- Seth Jarvis (25) (assisted by Jake Guentzel (36) & Jaccob Slavin (24))

CAR (19:58)- Martin Necas (22) PP (assisted by Evgeny Kuznetsov (14) & Brady Skjei (29))

2nd Period

None

3rd Period

NYI (4:30)- Kyle Palmieri (22) (assisted by Brock Nelson (30) & Bo Horvat (33))

CAR (16:22)- Jake Guentzel (24) EN (assisted by Sebastian Aho (48)) 

My Thoughts

While it might sound a little rude to say out loud, that was an overall boring win for the Hurricanes, which is something I think we all needed after the last few games. They poured it on in the first period and made sure New York had no hope of coming back. That's the recipe for success this time of year. The Islanders were desperate for points, but it didn't look like it tonight. I think the moment I realized they were out of it for good was when Bo Horvat decided to pass it to no one on a 2-on-1. His pass went into the corner, killing one of their best chances of the night. They did score in the third period, but it never felt like they were overcoming a two-goal deficit at any point. This didn't have the hype of a big shutout win, a huge comeback, or a seven-goal onslaught. It was a low-stress affair, leading to two more points for the good guys. 

We've focused a lot on the new guys recently, and their play has made that easy to do. We saw them playing well on the same line, but since they were separated in Toronto, we've seen the blossoming of two legitimately terrifying lines. Seth Jarvis, Jake Guentzel, and Sebastian Aho were out of this world tonight. The results on the scoresheet make that evident. Even when they weren't scoring, they were putting together incredible shifts in the offensive zone full of scoring chances. They combined for three goals, six points, and ten shots in the game, with Jarvis scoring twice and Guentzel assisting on both before adding an empty-netter, assisted by Aho. On the second line, Martin Necas, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Andrei Svechnikov have found some magic, too. Kuznetsov and Necas showed it late in the first period on the power play, with Necas picking the corner on Ilya Sorokin to provide the dagger with just over one second left. They didn't have the final results like the Aho line, but they've been crisp on the ice together.

I don't know the exact number, but I would love to know how many All-Star goalies Pyotr Kochetkov has beaten in his short career. It feels like the bigger the matchup, the better Kochetkov plays. Tonight, he had a decided edge over Sorokin, stopping 30 of 31 shots for another impressive victory. Sorokin has not been on his game this season, and tonight was just a microcosm of how badly things have been going for the Islanders. This didn't look like a team hungry for the postseason. They looked like a bunch that was ready for vacation. To his credit, Kochetkov helped make it look that way. He needed to be good in spurts, not seeing many great chances for long stretches. I'll be interested to see how the coaching staff handles the back-to-back with the goalies. It might be worth getting Spencer Martin back into the mix soon, but the current tandem has been hard to beat.

My Three Stars of the Game

3rd Star- Brady Skjei- 2 assists

Lost in how great the top forwards were tonight, you might've forgotten Skjei had two assists in the first period. He earned the primary helper on the opening goal before getting the secondary assist on Necas' power-play goal. Skjei tied his career high in points tonight, sitting with 39 and a very good chance of setting a new high soon.

2nd Star- Jake Guentzel- 1 goals, 2 assists

I'm not sure I've seen new additions integrate into the Hurricanes better than Guentzel and Kuznetsov have. While Kuznetsov has been great in his own right, Guentzel has eight points in five games, including three tonight, to make it three straight multi-point efforts. The Canes went out and made a big splash at the deadline, and it has paid off thus far.

1st Star- Seth Jarvis- 2 goals

There's setting the tone, and then there's squeezing the life out of a building. Jarvis did the latter in the first period, scoring twice in 2:05 to take the fans out of the game early. Necas' goal helped with that, too. This is the type of season we were expecting from Jarvis, showcasing his finishing touch. He now has goals in four straight contests, now just two goals behind Aho for the team lead. 

Postseason Watch- The Hurricanes pulled within two points of the Metropolitan lead after the Rangers fell at home to the Winnipeg Jets behind a hat trick from Mark Scheifele. With 13 games left for both teams, the Hurricanes have a good chance of jumping New York. If they fail to do so, they'll likely be facing the Flyers, who earned some separation from the Islanders by beating the Maple Leafs 4-3. Philly now leads New York by five points, but they still have Washington to worry about, as they sit behind them by three points with two games in hand.

Up Next- The next two will be yet another back-to-back for the Hurricanes, beginning on Thursday night against the Flyers. They'll be in Washington, D.C., on Friday night as Evgeny Kuznetsov plays his first game against the Capitals since being traded. When Dmitry Orlov returned to Washington for the first time earlier in the season, he had a great night. Maybe Kuznetsov is in for the same.