The Hurricanes extended their win streak to five games thanks to five third-period goals to beat Washington 6-2 on Friday.
Carolina (22-13-4) overcame a slow start to rattle off all six of its goals unanswered between the second and third periods. Brent Burns broke the seal on the Washington (18-13-6) net the second, cuing the floodgates to open in the final 20 minutes.
In classic Canes fashioned, defensemen scored half the game’s goals. Burns doubled his total with a power play goal to make it 4-2, then Dmitry Orlov capitalized on an empty Washington net for the dagger, making the score 5-2 with 1:49 to play.
The Hurricanes saved perhaps the biggest highlight of the night for last, however, as Vasily Ponomarev netted a goal in the final minute of his NHL debut. The 21-year-old Russian center ripped a one-timer past Darcy Kuemper with 59 seconds left, marking a momentous two-point night for the long-hyped prospect.
It was a thoroughly impressive showing by Ponomarev, who started his morning in Chicago before getting the call-up at 10 a.m. Ten hours later, he took the ice for his first career NHL game. Ponomarev made good on the chance by also showcasing his trademark puck vision, assisting Seth Jarvis’ game-tying goal at the start of the period.
Not bad for a guy that started the day in a different time zone.
On the other end of the ice, fellow Russian youngster Pyotr Kochetkov put together a solid night in net despite allowing two first-period goals. Rather than let the game go to waste, Kochetkov did well to make his saves in the latter two periods to give his team a chance to win, a chance the Canes ultimately capitalized on. Kochetkov finished the night with 15 saves on 17 shots, boosting his goals against average to 2.50 in his third NHL season.
Carolina will hope to ride this momentum on short rest when the team returns to Raleigh tomorrow to host the St. Louis Blues. Puck drops at 8 p.m. in PNC Arena.