For the third consecutive game on their Western Conference road trip, the Hurricanes secured a win, defeating the Kraken 4-1. Center Seth Jarvis was the only Canes player to record a multi-point night with a goal and an assist.
Over the course of the game, Carolina (5-2-0) outshot Seattle (4-4-1) 39-19. Possession of the puck was completely one-sided as the Kraken was defending nearly the entire game. The occasional times the Kraken did get the puck, it often shot it back into the Carolina zone as it looked to change its tired lines.
Goaltender Frederik Andersen continued to play well above his $3.4 million AAV, recording 18 saves on 19 shots. Although not tested with a high volume, near the end of the game when Seattle was down multiple goals, it had many high-danger opportunities from cherry-picking near the Canes’ blue line.
In his last 17 regular-season contests, Andersen has posted a 14-3 record, 0.944 save percentage and an average of 1.46 goals against. When healthy, the Dane is one of the best netminders in the league. For goalies who have played three or more games so far this season, Andersen leads the league in both save percentage and goals against average.
Although only going one-for-six on the night, the Hurricanes’ power play remained hot, scoring the game’s opening goal. On a re-entry into the zone, right wing Andrei Svechnikov slipped past the Seattle defense and center Martin Necas found him alone at the back post as the Russian slotted it in the back of the net.
Necas has recorded nine points through the team’s first seven games — he’s been instrumental to the team’s power play and even-strength success.
After Svechnikov scored less than five minutes into the game, both teams had to wait for the next tally. The Hurricanes out-chanced Seattle heavily but weren’t rewarded on the scoresheet. Eventually, center Jack Drury broke the scoring drought on a pass from right wing Jackson Blake.
With less than four minutes to go in the middle frame, defenseman Brent Burns sprung Blake in transition, catching the Kraken off guard. The rookie fired a pass to Drury who tipped it, doubling the Canes’ lead.
Blake started the season scoring two goals in the first three games but hit a predictable wall, failing to score a point in the three games before Seattle. On limited minutes with the fourth line, Blake has still been productive offensively.
The rookie from North Dakota has largely worked as a facilitator whenever he has been on the ice, but penalties have worked against the young forward.
The Kraken’s lone goal came from left wing Jared McCann halfway through the third period. Failing to score on a breakaway earlier in the game, McCann made no mistake this time around and went forehand-backhand-forehand to beat Andersen.
It only took five minutes for the Hurricanes to respond with their third goal, courtesy of Jarvis on a breakaway of his own. Jarvis went forehand-backhand to send Kraken netminder Joey Daccord the wrong way and put the Canes back up by two.
Seconds removed from Seattle pulling Daccord for the extra attacker, defenseman Dmitry Orlov air-mailed the puck into the net from practically the full length of the ice to make it 4-1, marking his first goal of the season.
The Hurricanes have a chance to finish the State Fair road trip with just one loss if they can beat the Vancouver Canucks on Monday. Puck drop is scheduled for 10 p.m.
