By AIDAN JENSEN
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This weekend was just what the Carolina Hurricanes needed.
Entering Saturday’s matchup at the Montréal Canadiens, the Metropolitan Division-leading Canes (49-18-9, 107 points) lost three straight games – a 4-3 home contest against the league-leading Boston Bruins in a March 26 shootout, a 4-0 shutout defeat two days later versus the 3-time Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning, then a 3-2 loss in the closing seconds of a March 30 loss at the Detroit Red Wings.
After the final buzzer sounded on Sunday against the New York Islanders, Carolina had two consecutive wins in its back pockets.
The Canes nabbed their first win of the weekend at Montreal (30-41-6, 66 points), a 3-0 shutout in Antti Raanta’s return to the net.
Raanta fared well, saving 14 shots in his first game since March 7, when he suffered a lower-body injury in a 4-3 shootout victory against – coincidentally – the Canadiens.
Raanta now has four shutouts on the season, tying him for fourth among NHL goaltenders. He is now 14-0-2 in his past 18 games for Carolina.
Shortly after the final horn sounded on Saturday night’s contest, the Canes hopped on a flight to Raleigh.
They just picked up an important win, but would they show signs of jet-lag against an Islanders (39-30-9, 87 points) team fighting for wild-card positioning?
Carolina looked tired in the first period, with the Islanders winning seemingly every 50-50 puck and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scoring his 13th tally.
Yet, it was the Canes who rallied for a 2-1 win, keeping them three points ahead of the New Jersey Devils (48-21-8, 104) for first place in the Metro.
Isles All-Star goalie Ilya Sorokin was a brick wall throughout the game, keeping Carolina scoreless through the first period and turning away several point blank chances.
Canes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi changed that halfway through the second, taking a feed from newly-acquired Jesse Puljujarvi and sending a slowly-dribbling wrister over Sorokin’s right pad for the 1-1 tie.
Not even three minutes into the third period, Carolina took a 2-1 lead when Jordan Martinook (12) took a backhand pass from Jaccob Slavin, skated up the ice and beat Sorokin with a laser-fast wrister to the short side.
The Canes had a couple more chances, including a Stefan Noesen power play shot late in the third period, but Martinook’s tally proved to be the eventual game-winner.
Carolina hosts a vastly-improved Ottawa Senators squad on Tuesday, April 4 at 7 p.m., with each team fighting for different postseason positioning on Bally Sports South.
The Canes have a chance to pad their division lead and gain some playoff momentum, while the Senators (37-34-6, 80 points), similar to the Islanders, are pushing for a playoff spot with five games remaining. Ottawa, losers of its past two, is six points (three wins) behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild-card slot.
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