Pyotr Kochetkov made 24 saves to lead the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-0 road victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Sean Walker, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Logan Stankoven, and Nikolaj Ehlers all lit the lamp as the Hurricanes closed out their five-game road trip with a victory.
Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis each picked up a pair of assists, while Joel Hofer finished with 35 saves in the losing effort.
Connor McMichael picked off a pass and came down on a breakaway 1:30 into the middle frame, but Kochetkov shut down the opportunity with a glove save.
The Hurricanes stormed down on an odd-man rush, but Hofer shut the door as he stopped Walker’s shot and then Ehlers sent his rebound chance wide of the net just over four minutes into the second.
Walker got his revenge less than a minute later as he took a pass from Jackson Blake and fired it past Hofer to tally the Hurricanes’ first goal of the night on their 20th shot.
Kotkaniemi swiftly doubled up their advantage as 20 seconds later he received a slick pass from Jordan Martinook and found the back of the net.
Moments after the Blues failed to capitalize on their first power play of the contest, Jarvis sprung Stankoven on a breakaway and he fired it short side past Hofer to make it 3-0 with 6:25 left in the second.
Kochetkov was tested early in the third, but once again he had the answer as he denied both Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and Dalibor Dvorsky under two minutes into the period.
Ehlers made it 4-0 with 15:30 remaining in the third with a power-play marker. With the Blues’ defenders scrambling around, Aho spotted Ehlers open and the Danish forward sent it into the empty cage for his fourth goal of the season.
Stankoven had a chance to bury his second of the night off a turnover, but Hofer stoned him with the glove with 12:33 left in the third period.
Each team was assessed only one minor penalty in the game.
–Field Level Media
