Top line propels Hurricanes past Islanders

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and an assist, and Sebastian Aho had a goal and two assists to help the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-2 win against the New York Islanders at PNC Arena on Sunday.
Cam Ward made 27 saves for Carolina (9-6-4), which has points in seven of its past eight games (5-1-2).

"We are getting a couple lucky bounces, so that's why we are getting those goals]," said Teravainen, who has five goals and seven assists in the past six games. "We just go out and play and not think too much."
***[WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Hurricanes highlights]*
Nick Leddy had a goal and an assist for New York (11-7-2), which had won three straight. Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves.
The Hurricanes got an early jump by scoring twice in a span of 1:50 in the first period.
Aho scored in his fourth straight game and gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead on the power play at 1:50 when he took a cross-ice pass from Teravainen and connected on a one-timer.

Aho returned the favor at 3:39 when he left a drop pass for Teravainen for a short-side goal to make it 2-0.
"The first one, we fell asleep off the faceoff. [Halak] had no chance," Islanders coach Doug Weight said. "The second one is just a bad break, it hits [Adam Pelech's] skate. All of a sudden, it's 2-0."
Leddy made it 2-1 with a nice individual effort. He split two defenders along the right-side boards and beat Ward to the far post at 10:44 of the first period.
Elias Lindholm extended Carolina's lead to 3-1 at 17:13 of the first when Phillip Di Giuseppe faked a shot from the left circle and passed to Lindholm for a wrist shot from the slot.

Teravainen's power-play goal at 17:40 of the second period made it 4-1. He gathered the long rebound of Justin Faulk's shot and scored from a sharp angle.
Carolina has scored a power-play goal in three of its past four games.
"(The power play) has been a struggle, so finally it's paying off a little bit," Teravainen said. "If we don't score, we want [to make sure] we have a couple good chances. Tonight we got one early, so that's good."
John Tavares made it 4-2 at 13:13 of the third period when he redirected Leddy's shot on the power play.
The Hurricanes committed six minor penalties in the first two periods, but they limited the Islanders to six shots.
Ward made 11 saves in the second period.

"It starts with Ward in net, who played a heck of a game," said Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who blocked six shots. "There's a lot of skilled players on their team that can make good plays, whether it's cross-ice or just straight through you. As a unit tonight, we did really well."
New York went 1-for-7 with the man-advantage; Carolina went 2-for-5.

Goal of the game

Aho's goal at 1:50 of the first period.

Save of the game

Ward's glove save against Andrew Ladd with five minutes remaining in the second period.

Highlight of the game

Lindholm's goal at 17:13 of the first period.

They said it

"We just couldn't get that run where we score a goal and follow it up and get another one. Ward was really good; give him credit. But I felt we played a pretty darn good hockey game." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight
"[Teravainen] is dangerous, he's got to shoot it. He's got a really good release. He's got an underrated shot; people don't see it often enough. It's heavy too. Now that he's getting rewarded a little, we should be able to keep him in that mindset." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters

Need to know

Islanders center Mathew Barzal had an assist and leads all NHL rookies with 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in 20 games. … In their past seven games against each other, the Islanders and Hurricanes have combined for 56 goals (Carolina 30, New York 26). ... Tavares has scored 21 goals in 32 career games against the Hurricanes.

What's next

Islanders: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, NBCSP+, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: Host the New York Rangers on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, MSG 2, NHL.TV)