After dropping two of three games on a road trip, including a 5-4 shootout loss at Columbus on Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes open a three-game homestand against the Dallas Stars on Monday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Carolina has just lost once in eight home games this season, tied with the Winnipeg Jets for fewest home defeats at the quarter-pole of the NHL season. But that home mark figures to be tested this week with games against the Stars, the New York Rangers on Wednesday and the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Friday.
A big key for the Hurricanes could be the health of goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov.
Kochetkov (10-2-0) is third in the NHL in wins to go along with a solid 2.42 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. He assumed the No. 1 role in place of veteran Frederik Andersen, who underwent knee surgery Friday and is expected to miss at least two months. But Kochetkov had to leave Saturday’s loss in overtime with an upper-body injury after being run into by his own defender, necessitating the services of backup Spencer Martin.
Martin made one save in overtime but gave up the winning score to Sean Monahan in the shootout.
“Obviously, we’re already one goalie down. This is not ideal for sure,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I don’t know where we’re at with that, we’ll see. It didn’t look great.”
Martin, claimed off waivers from Columbus last January, is 1-2-1 in five games (three starts) this season with a 3.21 GAA and an .870 save percentage. He did have a 24-save shutout at Ottawa, his first in the NHL, on Nov. 16.
Monday’s contest with Dallas, which has won five of its last six games, kicks off a stretch that sees the Hurricanes play nine of their next 11 games at home. This week ends with a very challenging home-and-home back-to-back against Florida on Friday and Saturday.
“We’ve got some tough games coming up and we should take it as a challenge,” said Carolina center Martin Necas, third in the league with 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists). “It’s always fun to play against these teams and we’ll show our best.”
Dallas, third in the Central Division with 26 points, opened up a three-game road trip with a 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday.
The contest was tied 2-2 entering the third period when Matt Duchene and Roope Hintz scored 58 seconds apart. Duchene scored his team-leading 11th goal with a tight-angle wrist shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove side at the end of a 3-on-1 rush, while Hintz followed with a power-play goal.
“We got better as the game went on, and the third period was our best,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We talked at the end of the second (period) that we didn’t feel we had played our best yet, but we were in a 2-2 game and had a chance to really find another level there in the third and win an important game to start a road trip against a real good team.”
Jake Oettinger made 27 saves for his 11th win, second only to the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, who has 14 victories.
“We’ve won a lot of games when we’re tied going into the third,” Oettinger said. “Guys needed to step up and make plays, and we had a few of those.”
