Canes spear Kraken, push home point streak to 11 games

The Carolina Hurricanes took care of business Sunday night in PNC Arena, beating the Seattle Kraken 3-2 in the expansion franchise’s first-ever visit to Raleigh.

The Kraken held a 1-0 and 2-1 lead in the game, but a late second-period goal from Teuvo Teravainen and game-winner in the third period from the recently snake-bitten Martin Necas helped pave the way to a win for the home team.

Nino Niederreiter scored the other goal for the Hurricanes, while Alex Wennberg and Calle Jarnkrok netted for Seattle. Antti Raanta was very good in the Canes’ net, stopping 28 of 30 shots, while Philipp Grubauer took the loss on the other end of the ice.

Not a ton happened in the first period as the Kraken held the edge in shots while the Canes dominated the scoring chances. Both goalies made some nice saves, and neither team really produced too much of danger.

That changed in the second period, though, as goals started finding the back of the net. The first came on the power play for Seattle, as the league’s 29th-best PP put one past the league’s best PK. Seattle created a rebound opportunity, and Wennberg fluttered one in past Raanta.

Carolina answered on the power play itself, though, as a patient man advantage paid off in the final seconds. Seth Jarvis unleashed a heavy shot that got a big rebound of Grubauer, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi was there to push a little touch pass to Niederreiter for the goal.

The tie didn’t last though, as Seattle scored on the break and an ugly defensive sequence for the Canes just 1:06 later, as Jarnkrok got in behind the defense and lifted one past Raanta.

The Canes were able to tie it up late in the second though, again on the power play. Sebastian Aho won an offensive-zone draw, and Teravainen was there to blast home a goal in his 500th NHL game.

Right after killing off a penalty midway through the third period, the Hurricanes took the lead as Necas got the monkey off his back and scored a goal. The goal, which Necas blasted in off another heavy rebound, was the Czech winger’s first in 19 games.

The Canes held on for the win after that, surviving a late empty net surge from Seattle to put the Kraken to rest and extend their home point streak to 11 games.

Carolina will now get a few days of rest, as the Canes won’t be back in action again until Thursday night against Colorado.