Martin Necas scored with 9:38 left to break a lengthy scoring slump and lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Sunday night.
“It was just the feeling at the moment,” Necas said of his celebratory reaction after scoring.
Necas, who hadn’t scored in 18 games since January 15, found the puck amidst a cluster of players and fired it in for his ninth goal of the season.
“I just saw guys celebrating,” Necas said. “I actually didn’t see the puck go in the net.”
By ending the longest scoring drought of his NHL career, Necas now ties for the team lead with five game-winning goals.
“If you’re going to come out of it, that’s the kind of goal you want to get,” said Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour.
Nino Niederreiter and Tevuo Teravainen added power-play goals in the second period for the Hurricanes, who extended their home-ice points streak to 11 games. Antti Raanta made 28 saves.
Teravainen emphasized the importance of contributions from all players, saying, “We need everybody scoring and feeling good.”
Alex Wennberg and Calle Jarnkrok found the net for Seattle, but the team has now lost back-to-back games to start a five-game road trip. Philipp Grubauer stopped 30 shots but suffered his eighth straight loss (0-7-1).
The Kraken have lost nine of their last ten games (1-8-1).
“There’s a lot of good things, but we don’t get the results we want,” Wennberg said. “I felt like we had momentum in the game and were pushing.”
Wennberg scored the Kraken’s first power-play goal in eight games at 3:12 into the second period. Niederreiter quickly answered for the Hurricanes about four minutes later. Jarnkrok capitalized on a Carolina turnover to regain the lead for Seattle just 66 seconds after Niederreiter’s goal. Teravainen tied it up again with 2:38 left in the second period, scoring just four seconds into a power play.
Seattle has allowed goals in four of its past five penalty-killing situations across two games.
“We’ve got to win the special teams battles,” Wennberg said. “It just came down to that.”
Seattle managed only nine shots in the third period.
“When we got the lead, I think we played pretty smart,” Raanta said.
Milestones and Injuries
Teuvo Teravainen played his 500th NHL game, with the last 385 for Carolina.
“Of course, 500 games, it’s pretty cool,” he said. “Hopefully, get a little more.”
For the Kraken, defenseman Mark Giordano played just a day after reaching his milestone 1,000th game in Washington.
Frederik Andersen’s Status
Carolina’s top goalie, Frederik Andersen, was scratched due to a day-to-day ailment. Alex Lyon was recalled from the AHL to serve as backup. Andersen has played only once in four games, marking his most extended inactive stretch this season. He entered March with an NHL-leading win total and a 29-8-2 record. Raanta appeared in consecutive games for just the third time this season.
Up Next:
- Kraken: At Toronto on Tuesday night.
- Hurricanes: Host Colorado on Thursday night.
