Seth Jarvis scored twice in a span of just over two minutes in the first period on Tuesday night for the Carolina Hurricanes, who damaged the New York Islanders’ playoff hopes again with a 4-1 win in Elmont, N.Y.
Martin Necas scored in the waning seconds of the first and Jake Guentzel added an empty-netter in the third for the Hurricanes (43-20-6, 92 points), who won their fourth straight to move within two points of the first-place New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers lost to the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2, on Tuesday.
Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves for the Hurricanes.
Kyle Palmieri scored in the third for the Islanders (29-24-15, 73 points), who lost their fifth straight (0-4-1) and slipped further behind in the race for the final playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division and the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin recorded 30 saves for New York, which fell five points behind third-place Philadelphia in the Metropolitan following the Flyers’ 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Islanders dropped three points behind the second wild card, the Detroit Red Wings, by virtue of the latter’s 4-3 overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Jarvis collected his first goal after Brady Skjei’s shot from the blue line glanced off him as he jostled for position with the Islanders’ Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The Hurricanes center reached back for the puck, corralled it and turned and tucked a shot between Sorokin’s legs with 7:12 left in the first.
Jarvis collected his second goal just 2:05 later. Guentzel backhanded a pass into the slot to Jarvis, who was surrounded by three Islanders — Noah Dobson, Hudson Fasching and Adam Pelech — but still managed to fire a shot into the gaping left corner of the net as Sorokin was sprawled at the right edge of the crease.
Necas scored a power-play goal with just 1.1 seconds left in the first, when he weaved his way through the Islanders’ Cal Clutterbuck and Casey Cizikas and got between Dobson and Sebastian Aho before sending a shot over Sorokin’s stick arm.
Palmieri backhanded home the rebound of a shot by Brock Nelson to end Kochetkov’s shutout bid 4:30 into the third. Sorokin was pulled with about four minutes left, but Guentzel iced the win by scoring with 3:38 left.
–Field Level Media
