Hurricanes defeat Kraken, extend home point streak to 11 games

RALEIGH, N.C. --Martin Necas scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period for the Carolina Hurricanes, who extended their home point streak to 11 games with a 3-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at PNC Arena on Sunday.

Necas made it 3-2 at 10:22 after corralling a loose puck between the face-off circles for his first goal in 19 games.
"I was trying to not count the games I haven't scored, but of course, it's a little bit in your head," Necas said. "Through my career, I've never really waited that long for a goal, but it happens. The last few games I started feeling a little better, and today it finally went in."

Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen each scored a power-play goal, and Antti Raanta made 28 saves for the Hurricanes (39-12-5), who have not lost at home in regulation since the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated them 6-0 on Jan. 13 (10-0-1).
"I give the guys credit. It's not easy to play hard like we have every night," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Guys keep finding ways to do it. It's a good two points. I'm happy that we're able to win and getting everyone leaving the building feeling good."
Calle Jarnkrok had a goal and an assist, and Philipp Grubauer made 30 saves for the Kraken (17-36-5), who have lost nine of their past 10.
Seattle took a 1-0 lead at 3:12 of the second period with a power-play goal. Alex Wennberg scored on the rebound after Raanta made a right-pad save on Yanni Gourde. The puck came to Wennberg off the skate of Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin.
"I just tried to get it as quick as possible," Wennberg said. "There's a little bit of luck involved in it too, but you need that too to score some goals."
Niederreiter tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 7:10 on a tap-in at the right post.
Jarnkrok gave the Kraken a 2-1 lead at 8:16 with a breakaway goal off a stretch pass from Adam Larsson.
"It shows the confidence in the group too, because maybe early in the year we didn't score that goal," Grubauer said. "It was a great pass up to 'Jarny' and he capitalized on it."

Teravainen tied it 2-2 at 17:22, scoring on a rebound on the power play.
Seattle allowed a goal on each of the first two Carolina power-play opportunities of the game, after the Washington Capitals went 2-for-2 on the power play Saturday in a 5-2 loss.
"We don't like the way it's gone in four of the last five [penalty kills]," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "We've got to push that the other direction. We've just got to make sure we get our heads clear and stay on it, stay confident and go get the next kill."
Raanta won consecutive starts for the first time this season. He made 22 saves in a 3-2 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.
"It's funny how it goes when you get a couple games in a row and you get that rhythm going," he said. "Confidence is growing when you get good games under yourself. I was able to make a couple good saves here and there. It feels good obviously."
NOTES: Grubauer is 0-7-1 in his past eight starts. … Wennberg's power-play goal was the first for the Kraken in seven games (0-for-13). … Teravainen scored and had five shots on goal in 20:52 of ice time in his 500th NHL game. The Hurricanes forward played 115 games with the Chicago Blackhawks and 385 with Carolina. … The Hurricanes are 9-1-2 when tied after the second period. … Carolina leads the NHL in third-period goal differential (plus-29).