A rock-solid penalty kill has been a boon for the Carolina Hurricanes of late.
The ‘Canes entered the night having killed 46 of 53 penalties (86.8%) dating back to Jan. 1, making them one of the top teams in that department this year.
It was more of the same Tuesday as the host team killed all four Winnipeg Jets power plays, while their own struck twice in a 2-1 win at PNC Arena.
Blake Wheeler pulled the Jets within one at 6:52 of the third as Jacob Trouba delivered a missile from the far point, filtering it through traffic until it got a piece of him in front, pointing it down under the blocker of Eddie Lack. But it wasn’t enough, their 13-7 shot advantage proving to be too little, too late, after mustering just eight shots in the first 40 minutes.
The Hurricanes opened the scoring with the first of two power-play goals on the night, 10-and-a-half minutes into the first period. Taking the backdoor feed from Elias Lindholm, Jordan Staal then flicked the puck back into the blue paint, where it took a fortuitous hop off Ondrej Pavelec’s right heel, giving the Carolina pivot his 13th of the year. Riley Nash put the Hurricanes up by two with a PPG midway through the second. Pavelec had the answer for Noah Hanifin’s 35-foot point blast, but he was unable to smother the rebound, as Nash came in from behind and shovelled it under the body of the sprawled netminder.
Pavelec was under siege for much of the middle frame as the Jets recorded just four shots of their own. His best of the night came with five to play in the period as he robbed Andrej Nestrasil with a beautiful diving effort, reaching back and getting his paddle on what should have been a sure goal. Pavelec finished with 27 saves, including eight after one, when the Jets went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
Jets Quotes
Mathieu Perreault: “We just weren’t moving quick enough. They were quicker than us, they got their stick on every puck, we couldn’t win a battle. That’s usually what happens when you get outworked. You don’t get any looks, any chances. We had a little urgency in the third but it was too late. … That’s our fault. We need to come out harder.”
Paul Maurice: “We just worked a little harder [in the third period]. A lot of good things will happen once you start sweating more.”
Drew Stafford: “We were just losing battles. We had plenty of chances on the power play that we didn’t execute. The goal that Blake scored, that was somewhat of a power play setup. We got a shot, we went to the net, we just couldn’t execute that when we had the power play. The penalty killers aren’t just going to give it to you. You have to earn every opportunity that you get. It’s back to the drawing board, but it starts with our compete on pucks, our battles. We were losing battles tonight and that cost us.”
Perreault agreed, adding that he has “to start making plays” as one of the Jets’ figureheads on the power play. I’ve got to be better. It’s on me, too. We had some power plays but we couldn’t generate anything on it. We’ve got to clean it up. We’ve got to be stronger on the power play. They were putting pressure on us and we weren’t battling hard enough.”
Other Games
Philadelphia @ New Jersey 6-3 - Coming off a bad weekend, the Philadelphia Flyers got back on track with a big game from its special teams and a huge third period against the usually stingy New Jersey Devils. Wayne Simmonds and Nick Cousins scored 50 seconds apart in a four-goal third period and the Flyers won for only the second time in seven games with a 6-3 victory over New Jersey, snapping the Devils' three-game winning streak. With less than two months left in the season, the Flyers, who lost games to the Devils and Rangers this past weekend, are four points out of a playoff spot and five behind the Devils.
Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere extended his point scoring streak to 13 games with a goal and Claude Giroux added three assists. Jakub Voracek and Ryan White also scored in the third period. Special teams were the difference. The Flyers killed 6 of 7 power plays and converted on 2 of 4 extra-man chances.
Tyler Kennedy, Jordin Tootoo and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Devils. Simmonds snapped a 2-all tie at 12:22 of the third period with a power-play goal. Schenn set it up with a cross-ice pass from the left circle that Simmonds redirected into an open net for his 21st goal. Cousins got his second goal of the season on a scramble in front less than a minute later and Voracek beat Cory Schneider on a 2-on-1 break to push the lead to 5-2. Palmieri got the Devils within two goals with his 21st of the season, but White scored into an empty net to close out the scoring. The Devils tied the game 2-all midway through the third period, shortly after Neuvirth made four outstanding saves on New Jersey's seventh power play. Rookie defenseman Seth Helgeson kept the puck in the zone and Tootoo beat Neuvirth with a shot from the top of the right circle.
Gostisehere's rookie point scoring streak is the longest by a defenseman and it is tied for fifth overall with Nathan MacKinnon of Colorado in 2014. The league record for a rookie at any position is 20 games by Paul Stastny of Colorado in 2007. The Devils had come into the game with one of the NHL's hottest power plays. They were 12 for 28 over the past 10 games. In Saturday's 2-1 win over Philadelphia, the Devils got both of their goals with the extra skater. The Flyers were fortunate to leave the ice after the first period tied 1-all. They spent most of the period on the penalty kill as Radko Gudas picked up a match penalty for an elbow to the head of Bobby Farnham. They also took three other minors, including an interference call on Nick Schultz that resulted in Stephen Gionta leaving the game with what appeared to be a shoulder injury. Two days after beating the Kings 1-0, the Devils' game-winning goal was credited to Joseph Blandisi. David Schlemko originally got credit for it. ... Blandisi got an embellishment penalty on a play he was slashed by Andrew MacDonald and had to be helped off the ice.
Los Angeles @ Washington 1-3
Boston @ Columbus 2-1 OT
Buffalo @ Ottawa 1-2 SO
Anaheim @ Edmonton 5-3
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