Hurricanes Finish Weekend Sweep With 4-1 Win Over Blues – Hockey Writers – NHL News

The Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 17) hosted the St. Louis Blues for the second game in a row after defeating the Ottawa Senators the night before. It will be interesting to see how the team will play with less than 24 hours between puck drops. And, with Pyotr Kochetkov returning to the lineup, how would he fare after missing only one game? All those worries were put to rest as the Hurricanes beat the Blues 4-1 for their 13th win of the season.

The win gave the Canes a weekend many fans will remember, especially at home. How was the big star of the game? It was also number 88 for this red and black team.

Recap of the game

First time

Although the Hurricanes eventually won the game, they trailed for most of the first half after Jake Neighbors put the Blues ahead six minutes into the first half. In addition, the Blues outshot the Hurricanes 11-7 in that period, but the game went into the break tied.

On their first power play of the night, it was Andrei Svechnikov who scored with less than 30 seconds left in the period. It was the Canes’ only power play goal in three chances, but it was the one that mattered. It gave Svechnikov his sixth goal of the season. More importantly, with Martin Necas getting the first assist, his streak extended to 13 games.

Related: Martin Necas Resurgence Fuels Carolina Hurricanes

It ended up being an uphill battle for the Blues because, after that game-tying goal, it was all the Hurricanes after that.

Second Time

Seventeen seconds into the second half, it was the second line of Eric Robinson, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Necas that took out the middle frame in style. Robinson being Johnny on the field was in the right place at the right time as he collected the rebound from a Dmitry Orlov shot to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead. Guess who got the second helping? You guessed it, Necas. The funny thing is that it wasn’t the last we heard about the Czechoslovakian player in this game.

Just 12 minutes later, Robinson finally returned the favor to his teammate making it 3-1 to the Hurricanes as Necas scored his third point of the night after a wrist shot past Blues netminder Joel Hofer. Despite being outshot 11-5 midway through the middle frame, the Canes scored twice to turn the game from 1-1 to a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Third Time

Surprisingly in the third quarter, the Canes outscored the legendary Blues 12-8 to finish the night 30-24 overall. The Hurricanes’ Kochetkov made big save after save to keep the game up by two goals. At the 16:47 mark of the period, the game was put on ice as Necas scored his second goal of the game, his fourth point of the night, and his 30th point in 17 games for the Canes. That was great as the Hurricanes scored four unanswered goals to rally from 1-0 down to win 4-1 for their 13th win of the season and give them a 13-4-0 record.

Necas was the first star of the night after a four-point game, followed by Robinson who had two goals and two assists. Finally, in his first game back, Kochetkov earned a third star by allowing just one goal on 29 saves and having a .967 save percentage.

Necas’ four-point night puts him at 30 on the season and is the fastest to reach that mark in 17 games since Eric Staal did it in 18 games back in 2005.

The storms moved out for the next two days before turning back again on Wednesday, Nov. 20 in Philadelphia, and Thursday, Nov. 21 in New Jersey. St. Louis Blues return to the ice on Tuesday, Nov. 19 when it hosts the Minnesota Wild.