Raanta Leaves with Injury in Hurricanes’ 5-2 Win Over Islanders

The Carolina Hurricanes looked to extend their winning streak on Sunday afternoon when they took on the New York Islanders.

They closed things out with another important win, but they didn’t get it done without experiencing a good deal of turbulence.

Carolina wasted little time getting on the scoresheet.

After a big-time stop from Antti Raanta in the opening minute, Derek Stepan picked the pocket of an Islander defender and beat Semyon Varlamov to make it 1-0 just 2:25 into the opening period.

New York’s Kyle Palmieri got two minutes for hooking just over seven minutes into the game, and the Hurricanes’ power play made him regret it.

Seth Jarvis got the puck down low, made a gorgeous move to the front of the net, and roofed a tight shot for his 17th goal of the season to make it 2-0.

The game went back and forth through most of the first period, but Raanta made a handful of crucial saves to retain the two-goal lead. Brett Pesce had a golden opportunity to extend the lead, but he missed an open goal.

The Islander struck back in the dying moments of the opening frame. The Hurricanes failed to pick up a loose puck in their own zone, and the puck bounced around in front of the net before Ross Johnston got a piece of it and deflected it by Raanta to cut the Carolina lead in half.

Things went downhill in the second period.

The first 14 minutes of the frame were fairly standard, with both teams getting opportunities, but then a non-contact injury forced Raanta out of the game.

Carolina’s backup was in noticeable pain before eventually leaving the game. Unfortunately, that marked yet another significant goalie injury for the Hurricanes, who recently lost starting goalie Frederik Andersen.

Pyotr Kochetkov entered the game and quickly surrendered the game-tying goal while the Canes killed a Tony DeAngelo penalty.

Ryan Pulock walked in and fired a wrister through a screen in front, and the puck kicked off of Kochetkov’s arm and went in.

Kochetkov and the Hurricanes kept the Islanders off the board for the remainder of the period, sending the clubs into a deadlocked 2-2 tie going into the third period.

The Hurricanes were in desperate need of some offense to turn the momentum in their direction, and that’s what they got.

Just over five minutes into the third period, Teuvo Teravainen hit Max Domi with a gorgeous centering pass to give Carolina the lead again.

The Hurricanes played a masterful road period the rest of the way, giving up just five shots on goal, all of which were saved by Kochetkov. They added two empty-net goals down the stretch, one from Jesper Fast and one from Brendan Smith.

Carolina picked up their fourth consecutive win on Sunday, but the attention will now turn to Raanta’s health moving forward.

The Canes will hit the ice again on Tuesday when they visit the New York Rangers.