William Carrier came through late Thursday night, and the Carolina Hurricanes left UBS Arena with a 5-3 win over the New York Islanders.
Carrier snapped the tie with 5:08 left in the third period, finishing a backhand chance at 14:52 after setup work from Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho. Jalen Chatfield then closed it out with an empty-net goal at 19:09.
The game had already swung back and forth plenty before Carrier’s winner. Carolina jumped ahead fast, getting goals from Logan Stankoven at 0:57 of the first period and Jesperi Kotkaniemi at 3:20 to build a 2-0 lead before the opening frame was even settled.
New York answered in the second and made it a track meet. Mitchell Chaffee tipped in a goal at 3:40, then Brayden Schenn tied it 2-2 on a wraparound at 5:44. Svechnikov pushed Carolina back in front with a backhand at 6:44, but Victor Eklund answered again for the Islanders at 17:13 on a slap shot, with Schenn and Emil Heineman on the assists.
Svechnikov finished with a goal and an assist, while Aho picked up two assists.
Carolina controlled the shot count, finishing with a 39-27 edge. Brandon Bussi made 24 saves for the Hurricanes, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 34 of 38 shots for the Islanders.
Neither team found the power play. Carolina went 0 for 2, and New York went 0 for 4.
The Islanders had the edge in the faceoff circle, winning 65.6% of draws, and they delivered 26 hits to Carolina’s 16. The Hurricanes, though, got in front of 22 shots compared with New York’s 12.
Carolina moved to 13-3-2 with the win, while New York dropped to 7-6-2.
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