Hurricanes have exceptional game in beating Islanders to end homestand

One rule of thumb for the Carolina Hurricanes has been there are no easy games with the New York Islanders.

Regular season, playoffs, it’s going to be hard work and it’s going to be a grind.

“We’ve played ‘em enough over the years that we know what kind of game it’s going to be, usually,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday morning. “A tight game. A one-goal game, one way or another. We’ve got to be ready for that.”

But Tuesday night’s game proved to be an exception. The Canes took charge in the first period, added to the lead in the second and came away with a 4-0 complete-game victory at the Lenovo Center behind a sparkling 32-save shutout by goalie Pyotr Kochetkov.

While Isles goalie Ilya Sorokin was fighting the puck, Kochetkov was rock-solid, moving well, staying focused, making stops any way he needed to make them. It was his first shutout of the season and ninth of his career.

“He was obviously the best player,” Brind’Amour said. “He was great all night. It looked like he was dialed right in.”

Kochetkov said he tried not to think about the shutout in the third period, saying his only thought was: “Just stay in net and relax and do you job.”

Late in the first period, a shot by the Isles’ Ryan Pulock was tipped and redirected in the slot. Kochetkov, always a bit unpredictable, launched his stick in the air toward the puck as if trying to knock down a drone buzzing the net.

“I no see the puck so I try and reaction save,” he said of the play.

Whatever works, Kochetkov is game to give it a try. He also can make the more conventional saves, and did, bringing out the “K-ooooch” cheers from the home crowd.

“You come to expect a little bit of surprise with him,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought tonight he was really good in there, calm.

“Look, he’s got a way he’s got to play. And you can’t take that out of him.”

On a festive night for the sellout crowd, it was the kind of game the Canes wanted to finish out a homestand.

Forward Andrei Svechnikov, always a crowd favorite, punched the puck past Sorokin for a power-play score – his 12th goal of the season. The Isles are ranked last in the NHL on the penalty kill and allowed a power-play goal for the sixth straight game.

The Canes again got a string of heavy shifts from Jordan Staal’s line. After Staal and Jordan Martinook each had two-point games Saturday against Columbus, Martinook scored again for a 2-0 lead as Staal got the puck to the net.

Leading 2-0 after the first, the Canes had Tyson Jost and then Sebastian Aho find the net to push the lead to 4-0 – Aho with an even-strength score with 17 seconds left in the period.

Jost batted in a rebound of a Shayne Gostisbehere shot, and Aho’s came on a well-executed rush into the Isles zone with Eric Robinson. Gostisbehere had two assists for his seventh multi-point game of the season.

That did it for Sorokin, who left after the second period as Marcus Hogberg took over in net.

The Islanders outshot the Canes in the game and had their chances. With Matt Barzal off the injury list and back in the lineup, the Isles pushed the pace at times and built up some possession time in the offensive zone.

The Canes tightened up the gaps as the game moved on and were cleaner getting pucks out of their zone.

Kochetkov was back in net after watching Dustin Tokarski start his first game for the Canes and make 27 saves Saturday in the 4-1 win over the Blue Jackets.

Kochetkov had started five consecutive games before Brind’Amour gave him a game off. He looked both rested and determined; he was the loser to the Isles in the game on the Island, allowing four goals on 25 shots.

The Hurricanes will play the next four games and six of the next seven on the road, beginning Friday in Washington against the Capitals, who led the Metro Division before Tuesday’s games.