Hurricanes pull away from Utah, end 3-game losing streak

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Seth Jarvis had two goals and two assists, and Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 7-3 win against the Utah Hockey Club at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

Jalen Chatfield had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake each had two assists for the Hurricanes (33-19-4), who had lost three in a row but salvaged their last game before the 4 Nations Face-Off. Pyotr Kochetkov made 36 saves, including 19 in the third period.

“When you have this time off, it’s nice to go out on a positive note,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “What we’ve gone through the past few games, where we’ve played well and had nothing to show for it … they finally got rewarded for the work they put in for the last little while.”

Carolina played without Mikko Rantanen because of a lower-body injury. The forward, who has one goal and one assist in six games since being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 24, took a shot off the knee in the third period of a 2-1 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday but finished the game.

Rantanen is on Finland's roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, which will be held from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.

"I know he was nicked up right at the end of the last game, and I thought he might be able to play today; obviously, he couldn't,” Brind’Amour said. “So, I don't know where that stands. I know it's not serious-serious long term, but I don't know what his thought is about playing or not moving forward."

Clayton Keller scored twice for Utah (23-23-9), which won its previous two games in overtime. Karel Vejmelka made 31 saves.

“I liked our determination on offense, I like the way we competed on offense,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “I think we were too short on detail defensively. All in all, we gave up too much on offense for them.”

Chatfield gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 10:09 of the first period. He forced a turnover in his own zone before joining the rush and finishing a 2-on-1 with Jordan Staal.

Josh Doan tied it 1-1 on a power play at 17:35, avoiding Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov with a toe drag in the right face-off circle before scoring on a short-side snap shot over Kochetkov’s left shoulder.

Jarvis, who will represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, scored a power-play goal at 6:25 on a one-timer from the top of the left circle to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead.

Aho, who will play for Finland at 4 Nations, made it 3-1 at 8:35 when he knocked down Vejmelka’s clearing attempt above the left circle, then cut to hash marks to score on the backhand with the goalie out of position.

“It would have been tough to sit on this stretch we had before this game,” Aho said. “I guess my first goal was a lucky bounce, but you get a couple goals and you build some momentum.”

Keller cut it to 3-2 at 10:19, tucking a backhand five-hole on a breakaway. The play started when Keller jumped on a loose puck at his own blue line after Orlov fanned on a shot.

“The coaches did a good job of showing us how to create against them,” Keller said. “It might not be the most pretty at times, but you have to attack quick and be willing to go to the net when there’s pucks. We definitely did that a good amount of that game.”

Aho’s short-handed goal put Carolina up 4-2 at 14:14. Jarvis chipped the puck ahead and chased it down in the corner before making a backhand pass to Aho, who tucked the puck inside the left post with Vejmelka sprawled on the ice. It was Aho’s 20th goal of the season.

Jarvis scored on a breakaway to make it 5-2 at 19:15. After gathering a loose puck in the neutral zone, he deked to the backhand and roofed a shot over Vejmelka.

“It’s nice to know that what you’re doing is working and that it’s going to come,” Jarvis said. “You go on a (two-game) road trip and you get one goal as a team, it’s tough. So, to come back and put up seven is definitely a good way to end it.”

Keller scored again, this time during a 5-on-3 power play, with a one-timer to cut it to 5-3 at 16:11 of the third.

Jordan Martinook scored an empty-net goal at 17:16 to make it 6-3, and Jack Roslovic scored at 18:34 for the 7-3 final.

NOTES: It was Jarvis’ second four-point game of the season; he also had two goals and two assists against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 23. … Aho has reached 20 goals in each of his nine NHL seasons. … Jarvis and Aho each was plus-4. … Carolina had gone six games without a power-play goal. … The 40 shots against were a season high for the Hurricanes. … Utah forward Michael Carcone was minus-4 in 13:51 of ice time.