The Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 17) hosted the St. Louis Blues in the second game of a back-to-back after defeating the Ottawa Senators the night before. It was going to be interesting to see how the team would play less than 24 hours between puck drops. Also, with Pyotr Kochetkov coming back into the lineup, how would he be after missing only one game? All of those concerns were put away as the Hurricanes defeated the Blues 4-1 for their 13th win of the season.
The win gave the Canes a weekend sweep that many fans would remember, especially for the home side. How was the main star of the game? It was once again number 88 for the team in red and black.
Game Recap
First Period
While the Hurricanes did end up winning the game, they trailed for most of the first period after Jake Neighbors put the Blues on top six minutes into the first period. Furthermore, the Blues outshot the Hurricanes 11-7 in the period, but the game went into the intermission tied.
On their first power play of the night, it was Andrei Svechnikov who scored with under 30 seconds left in the period. It was the only power-play goal for the Canes out of 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 primary assist, his point streak was extended to 13 games.
Related: Resurgence of Martin Necas Is Fueling the Carolina Hurricanes
It ended up being the backbreaker for the Blues because, after that game-tying goal, it was all Hurricanes after that.
Second Period
Seventeen seconds into the second period, it was the second line of Eric Robinson, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Necas that kicked off the middle frame in style. Robinson being Johnny on the spot was in the right place at the right time as he collected a rebound from a Dmitry Orlov shot to make it a 2-1 Hurricanes lead. Guess who got the secondary assist? You guessed it, Necas. The funny thing is that it wasn’t the last time we heard from the Czech forward in this game.
Just over 12 minutes later, Robinson ended up returning the favor to his linemate who made the game 3-1 for the Hurricanes as Necas claimed his third point of the night after a great wrist shot that got past Blues netminder Joel Hofer. Despite being outshot 11-5 in the middle frame, the Canes scored two goals to turn the game from a 1-1 tie to a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Third Period
Surprisingly in the third period, the Canes outshot the Blues in the last fame 12-8 to finish the night only being outdone 30-24 overall. Hurricanes’ Kochetkov made big save after big save to keep the game to a two-goal lead. At the 16:47 mark of the period, the game was essentially put on ice as Necas tallied his second goal of the game, his fourth point of the night, and his 30th point in 17 games for the Canes. That was pretty much it as the Hurricanes scored four unanswered goals to go from 1-0 down to win 4-1 to claim their 13th win of the season and give them a record of 13-4-0.
Necas was the first star of the night after a four-point game, followed by Robinson who had a goal and two assists. Finally, in his first game back, Kochetkov got the third star by allowing only one goal on 29 saves and having a .967 save percentage.
Necas’ four-point night puts him at 30 on the season and the fastest to that tally in 17 games compared to Eric Staal who did it in 18 games back in 2005.
The Hurricanes are off the next two days before they have another back-to-back on Wednesday, Nov. 20 in Philadelphia, and Thursday, Nov. 21 in New Jersey. The St. Louis Blues get back to the ice on Tuesday, Nov. 19 when they host the Minnesota Wild.
