The Carolina Hurricanes will try to continue their hot start to the longest road trip of the season when they visit the St. Louis Blues on Saturday evening.
The Hurricanes opened the six-game trip with an impressive 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night. They received a goal from Jackson Blake, Martin Necas, Shayne Gostisbehere and Jack Roslovic after the Penguins had taken a 1-0 lead.
Blake, a fourth-round pick by the Hurricanes in the 2021 NHL Draft, has scored in back-to-back contests just four games into his NHL career.
Blake is the son of Jason Blake, who played 871 NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks.
Gostisbehere, a veteran defenseman, also has scored in the past two games.
Gostisbehere was dealt to Carolina at the trade deadline in the 2022-23 season, spent last season with the Detroit Red Wings and re-signed with the Hurricanes last summer.
“Being here before really helps,” Gostisbehere said. “We got a lot of new guys in here just to buy into the system. Do your thing and do anything you can to help the team.”
Pyotr Kochetkov is expected to start in goal after Frederik Andersen made 25 saves in the win against Pittsburgh.
Kochetkov made 24 saves in a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
He’s 1-0-0 in his only career meeting against the Blues (2022) with a .909 save percentage and 3.00 goals-against average.
The Blues have managed just one goal in each of their past two games, but they came away with a 1-0 overtime win on Thursday against the visiting Islanders.
Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on the lone goal against New York, becoming the only goalie in NHL history with a shutout and an assist on the only goal of the game.
“He likes his cookies just as much as players do,” said Jake Neighbours, who scored the game-winning goal. “He’s always looking to send some guys in on odd-man rushes.”
Neighbours also moved up on the list of game-winning goals by a Blues player aged 22 and under with his seventh, trailing only Wayne Babych (10), Robert Thomas (nine), Doug Gilmour (nine) and Perry Turnbull (eight).
Philip Broberg also assisted on the goal to give him a five-game point streak (one goal, four assists), also a Blues record for a defenseman to start a season.
St. Louis played without defenseman Nick Leddy (lowe body) against the Islanders and he’ll likely miss the game versus Carolina after not participating in the optional practice on Friday.
Ryan Suter filled in for Leddy against New York and the 39-year-old played the second-most minutes (25:10).
“It was fun,” Suter said. “Obviously you don’t want anyone to get hurt. (Leddy) will be back soon, hopefully, and just trying to help out.”
Blues coach Drew Bannister was impressed with how well Suter meshed with defense partner Colton Parayko.
“A guy that’s played close to 1,500 games, as long as he has, steps into that position and feels pretty comfortable,” Bannister said. “I thought he looked great up there.”
–Field Level Media
