Pyotr Kochetkov made 16 saves for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 3-0 win against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Saturday.
It was Kochetkov’s second shutout this season.
Paul Stastny scored his first goal for the Hurricanes (15-6-6), who extended their point streak to seven games (5-0-2) despite playing without forwards Sebastian Aho (lower body) and Jesper Fast (undisclosed).
“Just a great effort. I’m really proud of the group,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, we’re missing a ton of quality players that we count on every night. Everybody just played really well and understood what we had to do to win this game.”
Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves for the Islanders (17-12-0), who were coming off a 6-4 win at the New Jersey Devils on Friday.
“They were on top of us. They had an answer for everything we tried to do,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “Certainly, when you’re coming off a back-to-back, you can’t turn the puck over like we did. We didn’t get to our game at all.”
Video: CAR@NYI: Stastny puts home the puck in front
Stastny gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 7:06 of the second period. He scored from near the right post from a backhand pass Andrei Svechnikovwho got the rebound of Brady Skjei‘s shot from the left point.
“That was probably one of our best games of the year, if not the best,” Skjei said. “Forechecking, not giving them much, then taking the game to them and playing below the goal line. It was textbook how we wanted to play.”
Jesperi Kotkaniemi pushed it to 2-0 at 4:05 of the third period with a redirection Brent Burns‘shot from the right point.
“‘Burnsy’ delivered a good shot, so it’s just a good lane for me to tip that,” Kotkaniemi said. “We needed guys to step up, and a lot of guys did that today.”
Jordan Staal made it 3-0 at 8:49. Shortly after a turnover by Noah Dobson below the goal line, Jordan Martinook circled the net and got the puck out front to Staal, who scored from the edge of the crease.
“I loved the third period,” Brind’Amour said. “We’re up by one, just kind of put the hammer down and just kept playing our game. It was a solid two points for sure.”
Carolina outshot New York 13-6 in the third.
“Guys were working, (but) we weren’t able to break any of their pressure,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “A lot of times they were right up on us. We weren’t able to get it past them enough to sustain any pressure. They kind of won the territorial play tonight.”
Video: CAR@NYI: Kochetkov stops all 16 shots in a 3-0 win
NOTES: Stastny signed a one-year contract with the Hurricanes on Aug. 23. … Carolina, which played with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, is 5-0-4 in its past nine road games. … Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis had his six-game point streak end. … Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier did not play after sustaining an upper-body injury against the Devils on Friday. … New York forward Brock Nelson had his seven-game point streak end.
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