Raanta’s second straight shutout helps Hurricanes beat Panthers
RALEIGH, NC (AP) – Antti Raanta made 19 saves for his second straight shutout and 17th of his career, and the Carolina Hurricanes scored on three power plays for their franchise-record 10th straight win , beating the Florida Panthers 4-0. friday night
Stefan Noesen, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen scored power-play goals and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored the team’s fourth goal just 10 seconds after another man-advantage situation expired.
“It’s nice to have a night like this,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We haven’t really had any of those all year, taking advantage of the power play. Special teams won us the game. You have to have that click, it wins you games.”
Brett Burns and Seth Jarvis each had two assists as the Hurricanes extended their franchise-best point streak to 16 games.
“What I really like about this stretch is that we haven’t had a drop in our game,” Brind’Amour said.
The Panthers, who were eliminated for the first time this season, have lost four of their last five games. Florida was coming off a season-high seven goals the night before against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Hurricanes have recorded a league-high five shutouts.
“They don’t give you a lot of easy ice, so there’s not a lot of inside plays,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “But we tried to find them.”
Raanta, playing in his fourth straight game, faced just three shots in the first period. In the third period, the Panthers did not score for eight minutes. He shut out the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.
“He tries to make the one-on-one save and obviously the guys play well in front of me, so that helps,” Raanta said.
The season-high three power play goals came after the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes had a combined two power play goals in their previous five games. Carolina ranked 27th in the NHL in power plays entering the game.
“We’ve been fighting all year to get it,” Kotkaniemi said.
The Panthers were 0-for-6 on the power play after scoring three times on the power play Thursday night. Florida hasn’t won two games in a row since the first two games in December.
“We must learn to fight,” said Maurice.
Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight made 30 saves.
It was exactly one year ago that the Hurricanes managed to score three power-play goals in a game.
“We know how important it is,” Brind’Amour said. “We had our chances, they went in. It doesn’t always work that way.”
Noesen tapped in a rebound off teammate Sebastian Aho’s shot at 7:05 of the game. Aho’s assist gave him his first point in three games since returning from a seven-game injury absence.
Svechnikov’s team-leading 19th goal came at 4:58 of the second period. About seven minutes later, Teravainen scored his third of the season.
BACK AGAINST BACK
Combined with goalie Pyotr Kochetkov’s shutout in back-to-back games earlier this month, the Hurricanes became the first NHL team in seven seasons to have two goalies with back-to-back shutouts in the same season.
Raanta needed brief medical attention when he was hit in the crease in the first period. That incident didn’t seem to faze him.
“There were a couple of hits on the goalie. One was pretty hard,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s nice to see he got through it.”
ICE MATTER
Of Noesen’s eight goals, five have been the first goal of a game for Carolina. … The four-goal margin matched Florida’s lopsided loss of the season. … In the 2022 calendar year, the Hurricanes finished 56-19-13 in regular season games. Carolina went 12-0-1 in December.
UNTIL THE NEXT
Panthers: Host the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Hurricanes: Sunday at New Jersey.
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