Ducks can’t keep pace with Hurricanes on day of dismal news – Orange County Register

By BOB SUTTON The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Ducks had a rough day from start to finish on Thursday.

It started with the news that center Trevor Zegras (broken left ankle) and defenseman Pavel Mintyukov (separated shoulder) could both miss close to two months after suffering injuries Tuesday night at Nashville.

Then they had a game to play, and that went the way so many have gone this season.

Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists, and the Carolina Hurricanes stretched their points streak to seven games by beating the Ducks, 6-3, on Thursday night despite losing their goalie in the second period.

Jordan Martinook and Stefan Noesen each had a goal and an assist, while Brady Skjei, Andrei Svechnikov and Jack Drury also scored. Teuvo Teravainen assisted on two goals.

Isac Lundestrom, Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano scored for the Ducks (14-26-1, 29 points), who began a five-game road trip two nights earlier with the game that produced the two costly injuries. John Gibson made 21 saves on 26 shots through two periods on Thursday before Lukas Dostal came in and stopped eight shots.

Carolina, fresh off a four-day layoff, finished with a 35-16 advantage in shots. It was a season-low shot total for the Ducks.

“We couldn’t get shots on net,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “They were blocking shots. When you’re not generating chances to feed momentum, it’s just going to be a long night.”

With the score 3-all, the Hurricanes (23-13-5, 51 points) made a goalie change with 6:04 left in the second period when Pyotr Kochetkov exited after he was bowled over by Lundestrom during a pileup at the net. Just 34 seconds later, Noesen gave Carolina the lead and Drury’s power-play goal made it 5-3.

Kotchetkov, who departed with what later was described as an upper-body injury, had 10 saves on 13 shots. Antti Raanta made three saves, entering the game on short notice.

The Hurricanes had the game’s first 12 shots on goal, but they didn’t score until their 13th attempt. Skjei scored his seventh of the season.

Carolina had goals on back-to-back shots within 15 seconds. Svechnikov fired in his 10th goal, his eighth in the last seven games.

Lundestrom’s first goal came in his fifth game of the season just 25 seconds into the second period.

“It has been a long while,” Lundestrom said. “It has been four or five games, I’m starting to get into it.”

Carolina responded 1:28 later when Martinook, playing in his 600th NHL game, cut through the slot and knocked in a pass from Jarvis. It was Martinook’s third goal of the season and second in the past four games.

Strome and Vatrano scored during a 45-second stretch of the second period to pull the Ducks even at 3-all. Vatrano has a team-high 20 goals.

“It was a good answer to that push that they had,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

UP NEXT

The Ducks play at Tampa Bay on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT