Recap: Canes Dominate Islanders En Route To Kochetkov's Second Shutout

ELMONT, NY. -Despite not having Sebastian Aho or Jesper Fast in their lineup, the Carolina Hurricanes completely controlled the New York Islanders Saturday, earning a 3-0 shutout victory.

Three Big Things

Working With What We've Got

With Aho (lower-body) and Fast (undisclosed) out of the lineup, Rod Brind'Amour and staff were forced to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for tonight's contest.
Always a challenge to manage the bench in those situations and ensure that the proper personnel are on the ice at the correct times, the Canes appeared to have no issue with that from the get-go. Stefan Noesen was an immediate factor when rotating alongside Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook, and Max Lajoie was sprinkled in as a seventh defensemen in several situations.
To make matters even more challenging, Seth Jarvis missed a chunk of time during the second period due to a brief upper-body issue, but the bench made it work with just 10 skaters up front.
What made all of the above even more impressive was the fact that the team's strong suit throughout all 60 minutes was their ability to keep the puck out of New York's hands. The unit held the home team to just 16 shots, the second-fewest in a single game this season.

Koochie Mane

Despite having started the team's two most recent games and it now having been over a week since Antti Raanta made his last start, the Canes elected to go with rookie Pyotr Kochetkov in net for a third consecutive contest.
The 23-year-old wasn't faced with the busiest night of his career en route to his second career NHL shutout, but he did everything needed when tested. His busiest period of the evening was the opening 20 minutes when he faced seven shots.

Stastny's Evening Of Opportunity

With Aho out of the lineup, Paul Stastny was elevated to playing in between Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis on what is commonly referred to as the team's top line.
The veteran made the most of the chance, opening the evening's scoring when putting home a feed from Andrei Svechnikov on the back door.
It was his first goal as a member of the team, a welcomed feature to his nearly 15 minutes of play tonight.

They Said It

Rod Brind'Amourproviding his assessment of the victory...
"It was just a great effort. I'm really proud of the group to be honest. Obviously we're missing some good, quality players that we count on every night to win games. It wasn't that guys stepped up, I think guys just played really well and understood what we had to do to win games."
Brady Skjeigiving his thoughts...
"That was probably one of our best games of the year, if not the best. It was just the way we want to play. We forchecked, didn't give them much, didn't give them any chances and really focused on taking the game to them. We played below their goal line. It was textbook the way that we want to play and it was a great effort by us."
Skjeicontinuing on Kochetkov's performance...
"I think we have confidence in all of our goalies but obviously Koochie has been running hot. He's an athletic goalie and a guy that makes the big saves. He's been great and hopefully he keeps that rolling."

Bonus Notes

• Pre-game Rod Brind'Amour said that he isn't concerned that Jesper Fast's injury will keep him out long-term.
• Teuvo Teravainen and Brady Skjei led the way with five shots each for Carolina.
• Pyotr Kochetkov has now posted more wins at UBS Arena than any other NHL rink, including PNC Arena (1-1-0).
• The netminder now moves to 6-1-4, giving the Canes points in 10 of his 11 games played this season.
• The Canes moved to 15-6-6 with the win.

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What's Next?

The team will fly back to Raleigh immediately post-game. They're scheduled to be off on Sunday and will then return to practice on Monday at Invisalign Arena before departing to Detroit.
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