RALEIGH, N.C. — The grind, 82 games of it, is over. Now, the fun stuff.
The Carolina Hurricanes closed out the regular season Thursday against the New Jersey Devils, rolling to a 6-3 victory on fan appreciation night at PNC Arena that Canes fans appreciated.
Next up: the Stanley Cup playoffs, the best time of the year.
The Canes, who will open the playoffs at home early next week, closed out the regular season 29-8-4 on home ice as goalie Antti Raanta won his 15th game of the season.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, back in the lineup after missing 13 of the past 15 games, had a goal and two assists — in the first period. Defenseman Ethan Bear and forward Martin Necas scored in the first 5:33 of the game — Necas redirecting an Ian Cole shot from the point — before Kotkaniemi made it 3-0 as goalie Andrew Hammond had a rough period.
Teuvo Teravainen made it 4-1 late in the second period, and Steven Lorentz and Jordan Martinook picked up goals in the third. Raanta, who allowed a first-period goal to Fabian Zetterlund and also was beaten by Jesper Bratt and Jimmy Vesey late in the third, took it from there.
With the Metropolitan Division won, Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour decided to give captain Jordan Staal, defenseman Jaccob Slavin and forward Andrei Svechnikov the night off — an extra day of rest.
Brind’Amour switched up the lines and kept rolling them. He had hinted he might play Raanta in the first half of the game, then turn to rookie Pyotr Kochetkov, but stuck with Raanta.
It was Raanta’s first time in net since he left Sunday’s game against the New York Islanders with a lower-body injury. He said Thursday morning that he had a “little tweak” in the Islanders game but that he felt good, and Brind’Amour wanted a good look Thursday night.
One answer came in the second period, when Raanta quickly moved from left to right to stop a backdoor shot by Yegor Sharangovich. It might have been his best.
The status of goalie Frederik Andersen is still in question. Brind’Amour said Andersen has not skated since the April 16 lower-body injury at Colorado but has been getting in some intense off-season workouts.
“He’s doing everything that our medical staff is asking him to do,” Brind’Amour said Thursday morning.
It has been a tough go for Kotkaniemi since taking a big hit from Washington’s Lars Eller in the final seconds of the March 28 road game. He missed eight games with a lower-body injury, returned for two, then needed another five before returning Thursday to the lineup.
Itching to get back and play, Kotkaniemi assisted on the goals by Bear and Necas, then stuffed one home for his first goal since Feb. 20 against Pittsburgh. It was the first three-point game of his NHL career.
It took all season but former Canes defenseman Dougie Hamilton finally was able to return and play at PNC Arena. Hamilton, who left Carolina in free agency after last season, suffered a broken jaw in his first year with the Devils.
Hamilton helped the Canes reach the Stanley Cup playoffs the past three years. He’ll have to watch them this year.
