Hurricanes rally past Islanders, earn valuable two points against potential playoff foe
Jordan Martinook, thinking quickly, decided his best option was to shoot.
The Carolina Hurricanes forward was carrying the puck into the New York Islanders’ zone Sunday and had Sebastian Aho to his right, coming down the slot. Many in PNC Arena had to assume the pass would be made to Aho, the Canes’ leading goal scorer, their best finisher.
But Martinook shot. And scored. His goal early in the third period proved to be the game-winner as the Canes took a hard-earned 2-1 victory to add to their lead in the Metropolitan Division.
The Canes (49-18-9) led the New Jersey Devils by three points after Winnipeg beat the Devils on Sunday. Carolina, which has 107 points, has six games remaining in the regular season and a game in hand on New Jersey.
The Islanders (39-30-9), who lost 5-0 at Tampa Bay on Saturday, still held the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 87 points, but are being pushed by Pittsburgh and Florida.
But back to Martinook. Moved onto Aho’s line with Martin Necas, Martinook has gotten some good offensive looks, and did again Sunday when he tested Ilya Sorokin with a short-side shot in the first period.
But early in the third, Martinook tested Sorokin again, high to the blocker side.
“I thought ‘Fishy’ (Aho) was coming around the other side but kind of picked my head up and saw he was driving on the other side and both (Islanders) kind of went with him,” Martinook said. “I wasn’t going to try and feather one in when he was getting kind of hauled down there.
“I went there earlier in the game and (Sorokin) got me. I tried to go quick and, yeah, it went in.”
Martinook smiled, adding, “Been a while. Holy smokes, it’s not for lack of effort.”
Martinook had not had one go in since Feb. 1 against Buffalo. He had gone 24 games without a goal, but his 12th of the season was his second game-winner of the season.
“He’s been all around it, had some opportunities,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “He’s had some bad luck. He’s been deserving of a goal like that.”
Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored for the Canes in the second period to tie the score 1-1 — winger Jesse Puljujarvi with the primary assist for his first point with the Hurricanes. That came after the Isles’ Jean-Gabriel Pageau sniped a goal from the left circle late in the first.
Canes goalie Frederik Andersen, a hard-luck loser in his last start at Detroit, regrouped and came away with his 20th victory of the season, stopping 21 shots.
There was a lot of work for the Canes to do after Martinook’s goal at 2:31 of the third. Late in the period, Aho was called for cross-checking and the Islanders went on the power play.
With Aho in the penalty box and Teuvo Teravainen out with an illness for the third consecutive game, the Canes were without two of their quickest penalty killers. But Seth Jarvis stepped in and made some plays and Andersen took it from there with a timely save.
The Isles pulled Sorokin for a sixth attacker late in the game and Kotkaniemi nearly picked up his second goal of the game, hitting the post from 100 feet away. The Islanders had two shots miss the net and another blocked by defenseman Jaccob Slavin in the last 10 seconds of regulation.
After the 3-2 loss in Detroit, when the Red Wings scored the winning goal with three seconds left, the Canes bounced back to shut out Montreal 3-0 on Saturday and then grind out a tough win over the Isles.
“After that tough loss in Detroit, it could have easily gone a different way these last couple of games,” Brind’Amour said. “Instead it fueled us to be better. I think that says a lot about the group.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2023 at 8:46 PM.
