Scoring droughts haven’t been all that common in recent seasons for many members of the Carolina Hurricanes, so they’re hoping they’ve snapped out of some of those offensive doldrums.
The Hurricanes will conclude a four-game homestand Tuesday night against the New York Islanders in Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes won for the third time in their last eight games by topping the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Sunday.
“We’ve been trying to figure it out a little bit. We’d have a good game and then an off game,” Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook said. “That (Sunday) was more of how it looks and how we play and everybody was pulling on the same rope. Hopefully, we can build off that because we did a lot of good things.”
Both Martinook and teammate William Carrier halted 13-game stretches without a goal in Sunday’s game.
“We had a lot of scoring chances before and they weren’t going in,” Carrier said.
Sebastian Aho, who was the team’s leading scorer last season, had gone eight games without scoring before his short-handed shot provided the game’s first goal.
While some Hurricanes halted droughts, Martin Necas has continued his production. He’s the second player in franchise history with 30 assists in his first 30 games of a season, joining Ron Francis (1982-83 season). Necas has seven points in the last six games.
The Hurricanes might go back to goalie Pyotr Kochetkov even though journeyman Dustin Tokarski was the winner in his Carolina debut Sunday.
The Islanders had won three of four games prior to beginning a three-game road swing with Sunday’s 5-3 loss at Chicago.
“I think we need to be a little bit more consistent,” Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson said. “We have to reset. Obviously a tough game on Tuesday.”
Yet there’s no reason for the Islanders to be discouraged after their most recent performance, captain Anders Lee said.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win a hockey game,” he said.
The Islanders will try to upgrade their power play after going 0-for-4 at Chicago.
It might be a matter of working players back into the New York lineup. Center Mathew Barzal played Sunday for the first time since late October.
Barzal had two shots on goal in nearly 21 minutes of ice time. He said he’ll strive to perform better Tuesday.
“That’s the key, just moving on,” Barzal said. “We just got to find a way to get these games.”
Islanders center Bo Horvat missed Sunday’s game because of a lower-body injury in what was termed a game-time decision, so his status won’t likely be determined until Tuesday for the game in Raleigh.
The Islanders, aided by three points from Jean-Gabriel Pageau, defeated the Hurricanes 4-3 on Dec. 7 at home despite two goals from Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov. Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves for the Isles. Kochetkov was the losing goalie, giving up four goals on 25 shots.
Pageau has been kept off the scoresheet in three of the four games since the first matchup with Carolina.
After Tuesday’s game, the Hurricanes will play their next four on the road.
–Field Level Media
