Bunting has 3 points, Hurricanes cruise past Golden Knights

RALEIGH, N.C. – Michael Bunting had a goal and two assists, and the Carolina Hurricanes scored five consecutive goals in a 6-3 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at PNC Arena on Tuesday.

“It ended up 6-3, [but] it was a tighter game than that,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It was nice to see us get rewarded. All year, the pucks haven’t been going in, and tonight they did. I think it’s good for the guys. I think we’ve been playing really well lately. It’s just tough finding the net.”

Andrei Svechnikov scored in his return from injury, and Brady Skjei had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes (17-12-3), who extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2). Sebastian Aho had three assists, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves.

Kochetkov is 3-0-1 in his past four starts, allowing one goal in each of the previous three games.

“It comes down to your goalie has to be as good or better than the other (goalie),” Brind’Amour said. “His last four games, he’s been lights-out. It allows us to keep playing our game, whether we get goals or not. You can’t say enough about it.”

William Carrier scored twice, and Jack Eichel scored to extend his point streak to 11 games for the Golden Knights (21-7-5), who had won seven of nine (7-1-1). Logan Thompson allowed six goals on 28 shots before being replaced by Jiri Patera at 4:44 of the third period. Patera stopped all 10 shots he faced in relief.

“It’s a good team,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “They were just better than us tonight in pretty much every area. Quicker to pucks, puck battles. Mentally, we were off a little with our processing as well.”

Svechnikov gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 10:27 of the first period on the power play, scoring on a wrist shot through traffic from the left circle. He returned to the lineup for his first game since Dec. 6 after missing six games with an upper-body injury.

“It gave me a little confidence,” Svechnikov said. “The first goal is always important for the team. You kind of feel the game right away. It was important for sure.”

Carrier tied it 1-1 at 13:15 after scoring on the rebound of Brayden McNabb’s shot from the high slot.

Jordan Staal put Carolina back ahead 2-1 at 4:36 of the second period, driving to the net and redirecting Jesper Fast's pass from the right circle.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi made it 3-1 at 10:11 when he gathered the puck after it hit Jalen Chatfield and scored on a wrist shot under the crossbar.

Bunting extended it to 4-1 at 12:39 on the power play, scoring on the rebound of Aho’s shot.

“Our effort was miserable tonight, to be honest,” Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “We needed a big kill on the fourth goal, and they managed to get a greasy rebound there. Good for them. They were harder in front of our net. Their power play came out big and we had no response tonight.”

Seth Jarvis pushed it to 5-1 with a power-play goal 10 seconds into the third period when he tapped in the rebound of Bunting's one-timer from the right circle.

The Hurricanes went 3-for-3 on the power play.

“Obviously we did well, 3-for-3,” Bunting said. “Obviously we know what we need to do to succeed. I thought we did well there. We just have to build off of it.”

Skjei made it 6-1 at 4:44, scoring top shelf from the left face-off dot. Thompson was then replaced by Patera.

Eichel tipped Nicolas Hague’s shot from inside the blue line to cut it to 6-2 at 18:36. He has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) during his streak.

Carrier scored on the backhand at 19:29 for the 6-3 final.

NOTES: Patera, who was recalled from Henderson of the American Hockey League on Monday, made his fourth NHL appearance and his first in relief. … The Golden Knights had not allowed three power-play goals in a game all season. ... Vegas goalie Adin Hill, who left in the first period of a 6-3 win against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, is unlikely to play during the three-game road trip. … Bunting has six multipoint games this season. … Carolina’s point streak is its longest of the season.