ELMONT, N.Y. — Sebastian Aho scored a hat trick for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-2 win against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Saturday.
It was Aho’s second hat trick this season and sixth in the NHL.
Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist for Carolina (29-9-8), which is 4-0-1 during a five-game point streak. Frederik Andersen made 29 saves and is 4-0-0 since returning from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss 29 games.
The Hurricanes were playing their first game since forward Max Pacioretty was placed on injured reserve with a torn Achilles on Friday.
“The group, they do their job,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “They come and they work hard regardless of who’s in the lineup. We’ve had a lot of guys miss [time]big players miss various [games], and they just keep playing the same way. Just proud of that. That’s something to hang your hat on for sure.”
Video: CAR@NYI: Aho zips a shot past Sorokin
Simon Holmstrom and Brock Nelson scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves for New York (23-20-5), which has lost four in a row (0-2-2) and eight of nine (1-5-3).
“It’s not a lack of competing or working,” the Islanders forward Zach Parise said. “It does, it gets frustrating.”
The Islanders went 0-for-2 on the power play and are 3-for-54 (with three short-handed goals against) in their past 20 games.
“There’s a variation of different things you can look at,” New York coach Lane Lambert said when asked why the power play is struggling. “Clearly tonight we had trouble getting into the [offensive] zone, so execution. There isn’t one guy that doesn’t care, there isn’t one guy that isn’t putting in the effort. That’s all there. We just have to find a way to execute. There’s no question that it’s hurting us.”
Video: CAR@NYI: Fast scores off a Staal backhand
Staal scored 44 seconds into the first period to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead, redirecting Jalen Chatfield‘s shot in front.
Jesper Fast made it 2-0 at 3:52 when he finished a backhand pass from Staal near the left post on a 2-on-1.
“We were smart with the puck and made the right plays,” Staal said. “We have confidence in our game.”
Following the goal, Lambert called a timeout, and Holmstrom responded to cut it to 2-1 at 14:02. He skated into the high slot, pulled the puck back, and shot through Andersen’s legs on the blocker side Brett Pesce.
Nelson tied it 2-2 at 15:42 with a wraparound that went into the net off the stick of Teuvo Teravainen.
“It’s a good job of responding,” Nelson said. “A huge goal by Simon, and then the difference is you’d like to follow it up and get the next one to get the lead and keep rolling with the momentum.
“They’re a tough team to play. Their ‘D’ is tight on [you]. There’s not a lot of space. … It’s just a tough game. It didn’t feel like we had a ton of looks to maybe get that one, and that’s the difference.”
Video: CAR@NYI: Staal redirects the puck in for the opening goal
Aho put the Hurricanes back in front 3-2 at 16:40 of the second period when his redirection of Teravainen’s centering pass deflected off the Islanders defenseman. Sebastian Aho.
Aho then pushed it to 4-2 at 7:09 of the third period, scoring blocker side from the bottom of the right circle after intercepting a pass by Aho. He completed the hat trick by shooting into an empty net at 19:38 for the 5-2 final.
NOTES: Aho is one goal shy of 200 in the NHL. … Nelson has scored in consecutive games after going 14 games without a goal.
.