The Carolina Hurricanes and Arizona Coyotes needed extra time Monday night and failed to get the desired outcome, but the clubs will do it again against each other in their first matchup Wednesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes, who reside in second place in the Metropolitan Division behind the red-hot New Jersey Devils, host Winnipeg by netting three goals inside the last five minutes of regulation to erase the Jets’ 3-0 lead.
Jaccob Slavin and Andrei Svechnikov got the visitors within one before Martin Necas’ point shot went in with 39 seconds remaining after the Hurricanes pulled goalie Pyotr Kochetkov for the extra offensive attacker.
However, Carolina lost when defenseman Josh Morrissey received a perfect stretch pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois and beat Kochetkov for the game-winning marker.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour was pleased with the fight of his club near the end of regulation as it salvaged a point.
“It was a crazy game, No. 1,” Brind’Amour said. “We were out of that game in the third and then (we) dug in. I give the guys credit for not giving up. We lost a specialty point at the end, but the fact that we were able to come back says a lot about our group. I’m proud of that.
“You don’t want to get down three, but it was good that we didn’t give up.”
Top goalie Frederik Andersen (lower body) missed his seventh consecutive game. In four starts since being called up from AHL affiliate Chicago on Nov. 8, Kochetkov is 2-0-2 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. He shut out the Chicago Blackhawks on 27 saves last Monday in his second start.
In Nashville on Monday night, the Coyotes took the Predators all the way to the shootout before losing 4-3 in seven rounds of the one-on-one skills session.
Nick Bjugstad, who tied the game on a short-handed goal with 6:44 remaining, netted along with Clayton Keller and Nick Ritchie. However, after Nashville’s Cody Glass beat goalie Connor Ingram in the top of the seventh round, defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was denied by Predators netminder Juuse Saros.
Nashville controlled play throughout the game, holding a 45-27 edge in shots and going 2-for-7 on the power play.
“I think we proved we can be hard to play against when we play to our identity and we’re all on the same page,” said Bjugstad, who has three goals. “That’s important. I think we’ve got a good group here. We continue to make strides each and every day. It’s more fun when you’re in games and most importantly, winning them.”
Clayton Keller’s six-game point streak and 11 consecutive in road games came to an end in Nashville. He has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 17 games thus far.
While defenseman Josh Brown (upper body, day-to-day) left the game in the second period, fellow blueliner Jakob Chychrun returned to the lineup in his season debut after last playing on March 12.
Forward Nick Schmaltz — sidelined 15 games with an upper-body injury — played for the first time since the season-opening match on Oct. 13.
The two clubs will meet for the final time on March 3 in Tempe, Ariz., on the campus of Arizona State University.
–Field Level Media
