Jarvis has 3 points, Hurricanes hold off Islanders

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Seth Jarvis had two goals and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Islanders 4-3 at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

Sebastian Aho scored short-handed, and Brandon Bussi made 13 saves for the Hurricanes (49-21-6), who have won three in a row. K'Andre Miller had two assists.

“Overall, I can’t say enough. That was pretty impressive,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Considering what’s at stake, I thought our guys played the way we want them to. We got what we deserved tonight.”

Carolina is first in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Hurricanes lead the Metropolitan Division, 10 points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Marc Gatcomb and Max Shabonov scored for the Islanders (42-31-5), who have lost a season-high four in a row. Ilya Sorokin made 36 saves. 

Matthew Schaefer had an assist to reach 58 points (22 goals, 36 assists) on the season to pass Phil Housley (57) for the most by an 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history.

New York remained in third place in the Metropolitan, one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets. 

“This is a good forecheck team. They put a lot of pressure (on us),” New York coach Patrick Roy said. “Their defense comes in and they pinch hard, and we had a hard time getting out of the zone.

“It’s not the time of year where you (can) feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to go out there and play and refocus for the next game. It’s not good timing to lose four in a row, I get it. But we’ve been playing against good teams -- four games in six days.”

Gatcomb put the Islanders up 1-0 at 5:17 of the first period. Simon Holmstrom slipped a pass around Carolina defenseman Sean Walker in the left face-off circle, and Gatcomb redirected the puck in the net at the right post.

Jarvis tied it 1-1 at 11:07 when he took a stretch pass from Walker, got a step on New York defenseman Ryan Pulock and scored over Sorokin’s right pad.

The Islanders took a 2-1 lead at 2:17 of the second period. Calum Ritchie passed from behind the net to Shabonov, who scored on the short side on a sharp-angle shot.

Carolina made it 2-2 at 11:15. Jackson Blake drove the net and scored five-hole off Logan Stankoven’s pass from the left-side boards. Stankoven kept possession of the puck after taking a hit from New York defenseman Scott Mayfield. 

“That goal is all credit to him. I had the easy part just to finish it,” Blake said. “He made an unbelievable play. He’s a smaller guy, but he doesn’t play like it.”

The Hurricanes scored short-handed for a 3-2 lead at 16:17. Jarvis took a pass off the boards from Jaccob Slavin near the offensive blue line before slipping a pass to Aho, who scored on a snap shot.

Jarvis extended the lead to 4-2 at 24 seconds of the third period when he took a cross-ice pass from Andrei Svechnikov and scored over Sorokin's left shoulder.

Anders Lee tipped a shot at the net front with the extra attacker to cut with 1:37 remaining to cut the lead to 4-3.

“The pressure they put on us tonight was tough for us to break for most of that game,” Lee said. “But we found a way to hang in there and find some goals and find a timely (penalty) kill. We stuck around, we didn’t give up, we battled until the absolute end. Too bad we couldn’t get one of those last bounces to go.”

NOTES: Aho has six points (one goal, five assists) on a five-game point streak … Carolina is 19-5-1 against the Metropolitan Division. … The Hurricanes lead the NHL with 12 short-handed goals. They have scored short-handed in three straight games for the second time in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history (Dec. 3-7, 1980).