Hurricanes hold off Coyotes, take over first place in Metropolitan

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Nino Niederreiter and Max Domi each had a goal and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Monday.

Vincent Trocheck, Jesper Fast and Sebastian Aho also scored, and Antti Raanta made 23 saves for the Hurricanes (49-20-8), who had lost their previous two games.
Carolina leads the New York Rangers by two points for first place in the Metropolitan Division. New York has one game in hand.
"We needed that for sure," Niederreiter said. "Overall, it's good we got that win and got some juice from it."

Nick Ritchie, Loui Eriksson and Alex Galchenyuk scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 46 saves for the Coyotes (22-49-5), who have lost seven straight while being outscored 43-10.
"It's tough for sure, you're always trying to find a solution," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. "The NHL is not an easy league … but we'll keep pushing."
Trocheck made it 1-0 at 4:01 of the first period, redirecting Brady Skjei's centering pass off the rush, and Fast extended the lead to 2-0 at 1:47 of the second period.
Domi made it 3-0 at 4:43, scoring off a rebound of Niederreiter's shot for his 100th NHL goal, and his first in 14 games since being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 21.
"It's special to play a game in this League and score one goal, so [when] you get 100 it's a special feeling for sure, and to do it back here was great," said Domi, who was selected in the first round (No. 12) by the Coyotes in the 2013 NHL Draft and played his first three NHL seasons with Arizona from 2015-18.
With forward Jordan Staal out day to day with an upper-body injury sustained against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, Domi played on a line with Niederreiter and Fast.
"He was moving his feet pretty well, that's definitely a big key for his game," Niederreiter said. "It's easy to play with him. We talked a lot with him on the ice and off the ice and tried to get him going that way a little."
Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said he liked how all four lines were active and productive, but especially the reconfigured line with Domi in the middle.
"Obviously with 'Jordo' out, that's a big, big hole there and I thought Max, [and] it's asking a lot of him to play in that spot, did a nice job," he said.

Ritchie cut it to 3-1 at 6:32 with a one-timer in the slot off a Nathan Smith drop pass, giving Smith his first NHL point in his fourth career game.
"It's obviously nice to get on the score sheet and produce a little bit, but that wasn't my main focus," said Smith, who signed a two-year, entry-level contract April 11 after playing for Minnesota State in the NCAA Division I championship game. "I'm going out there to put my best foot forward and try to play the right way, try and learn and adapt."
Niederreiter made it to 4-1 at 11:52 before Eriksson cut the lead to 4-2 at 16:15 off an outlet pass from Kyle Capobianco.
Galchenyuk made it 4-3 at 18:42 with his first goal in 17 games.
"We made some adjustments between the second and third, and we shut down the third and kind of shoved them back down," Domi said.
Aho put in his own rebound at 8:10 of the third period for the 5-3 final.

NOTES:Carolina didn't score on its only power-play opportunity and is 1-for-21 with the man-advantage in its past nine games. … … Ritchie has 10 goals in 24 games with the Coyotes since being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 19. He scored two goals in 33 games with the Maple Leafs. … Hurricanes forward Derek Stepan had two shots on goal in 11:09 of ice time after not playing the past four games. … Carolina forward Steven Lorentz had three shots on goal, two hits and one blocked shot in 9:19 of ice time after not playing the past two games. … Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov backed up Raanta after being recalled on an emergency basis Sunday. Goalie Frederik Andersen sustained a lower-body injury against Colorado on Saturday and will be reevaluated in a week. … Carolina forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi did not play after sustaining an undisclosed injury. … Carolina won its 22nd game on the road, matching the Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers record set in 2018-19.