Hurricanes’ Pyotr Kochetkov Shuts Out Islanders 4-0

The Carolina Hurricanes wrapped up their four-game homestand on Tuesday, Dec. 17 against the New York Islanders in a Metropolitan Division showdown. Their last meeting back on Dec. 7 on Long Island saw the home team defeat the Hurricanes 4-3. In the second of four meetings this season, the home side won their 20th game of the season with a 4-0 shutout.

Game Recap

Right off the bat, have yourself a game, Pyotr Kochetkov. The 25-year-old Russian “Nyetminder” got his first shutout of the season after a 32-save performance to earn his 13th win of the season. It was all Hurricanes in this game, especially early on in the first period where the home time tallied two goals in less than four minutes. Andrei Svechnikov in his last two games against the Islanders has scored three goals, all on the power play, as he made it 1-0 with the power-play goal. It was his 12th of the season and eighth on the man advantage. After a multi-point performance against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, Jordan Martinook and the third line were still buzzing as he made it 2-0 for the Hurricanes with his eighth of the season. In a blink, it went from scoreless to Rod Brind’Amour’s side being up by two goals.

For the Islanders, despite outshooting the Hurricanes 13-11 in the first period, they saw themselves playing from behind in a tough environment that is Lenovo Center. When it came to the second period, it did not get any easier for the visitors. While they held off Carolina from a shot on goal for 16 minutes between the end of the first period and the early parts of the second, they could not figure out Kochetkov. He was making save after save, stopping the Islanders cold.

In the end, it was the Hurricanes who doubled their lead again. Tyson Jost made it 3-0 after taking a baseball swing to puck the puck past Ilya Sorokin and into the net. With under a minute left into the middle frame, a great pass by Jaccob Slavin from the defensive zone sprung Sebastian Aho and Eric Robinson for a two-on-one opportunity. After some nifty give-and-go passes, Aho ripped a one-timer home to make it 4-0.