RALEIGH, N.C. — Martin Necas has the monkey off his back and the Carolina Hurricanes have another victory.
After going 18 games without a goal, Necas scored at 10:22 of the third period Sunday to give the Canes a 3-2 win over the Seattle Kraken at PNC Arena. With Antti Raanta making 28 saves, that was enough.
Pulling the puck out of a crowd of bodies in front of the Seattle net, Necas was falling as he shot and scored. Returning to the bench, the winger patted himself on the back, as if knocking the invisible “monkey” off, then thrust his right arm up high in celebration and likely relief.
Maybe it was predictable the Kraken would be caught up in a tight game Sunday. The Canes have beaten a lot of the NHL’s best teams, those headed to the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, while having a harder time against non-playoff teams — Seattle to name one.
After a grinding, scoreless first period, Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen — playing his 500th career game — had power-play goals in the second period for the Canes. Their even-strength play wasn’t sharp in the first two periods, but Necas produced a five-on-five score.
The Kraken beat the Canes 2-1 in Seattle as Philipp Grubauer had 35 saves. But that was in late November, the day before Thanksgiving. The Kraken came to Raleigh off a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday and were 1-7-1 in their last nine games.
The second had rapid-fire power-play goals by both teams.
The Kraken needed nine seconds for Alex Wennberg to score on the power play after the Canes were called for having too many men on the ice, an avoidable penalty.
The Canes needed later just four seconds. Sebastian Aho won the faceoff to Vincent Trocheck, who got the puck to Teravainen. The winger was stopped on this first shot but not on a second after the puck bounced through bodies in front of the crease, Teravainen picking up his 16th of the season to tie it 2-2.
The Canes’ first goal came late in a second-period power play, Niederreiter scoring. After Seth Jarvis put a shot on net, Jesperi Kotkaniemi got the puck to Niederreiter for a short shot near the post.
The Kraken quickly responded to the Canes’ first goal as Calle Jarnkork took a stretch pass and beat Raanta to the blocker side.
The Canes took time in the first period to recognize a couple of former players — forward Morgan Geekie, who was in the lineup, and defenseman Haydn Fleury, who was not.
The biggest hand was for John Forslund, the Canes’ longtime play-by-play announcer and now the voice of the Kraken in their first season.
