JESPER FAST

The Carolina Hurricanes got goals from Brett Pesce and Seth Jarvis alongside a suffocating defensive performance in the opening period to jump quickly on the New Jersey Devils for a 5-1 win Wednesday night to open their second-round playoff series.

Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour and New York Islanders coach Lane Lambert were both irked by non-calls late in the Hurricanes 4-3 overtime win in Game 2 of that first-round playoff series.

Jesper Fast took a cross-ice pass from Jordan Staal and buried it past Ilya Sorokin at 5:03 of overtime to lilft the Carolina Hurricanes past the New York Islanders 4-3.

Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter each scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes overcame the early loss of goalie Antti Raanta to beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

Seth Jarvis and Jordan Staal scored third-period goals and Frederik Andersen made 28 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 4-2 in a showdown for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Jesper Fast scored 9 seconds into the third period to break a tie, Sebastian Aho followed with his 22nd goal of the season and the Carolina Hurricanes edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Sunday to move into first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Tony DeAngelo had a goal and two assists against his former team as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 6-3.

The Florida Panthers have matched the best 11-game start in NHL history.

Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos each had two goals and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 to open a commanding lead in their second-round playoff series.

Jordan Staal scored off a rebound at 1:44 of overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.

Carolina Hurricanes' Martin Necas (88) shoots the puck past Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) for an overtime goal in an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)RALEIGH, N.C. – Rod Brind’Amour got the tough and determined performance he wanted from his Carolina Hurricanes as they returned from a pause due to COVID-19 concerns. Martin Necas beat Andrei Vasilevskiy at 1:12 of overtime and Petr Mrazek had 32 saves to help the Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 on Thursday night after having four straight games postponed. “That was a goaltending duel tonight,” Tampa Bay forward Brayden Point said. Tampa Bay goaltender Curtis McElhinney remained the only Lightning player on Thursday's list.

(AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The Tennessee Tech men’s basketball team has its first schedule change of the season because of COVID-19 issues. Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 follow the protocol established by the league and the players' association. Club medical staff are in regular communication with individuals who test positive to monitor symptoms. Staal said he was “the first guy to test positive” and said he was “as surprised as anyone else – really in shock” after finding out. He said he was trying to be safe and follow health protocols before testing positive.

The 20-year-old scored three times for the first postseason hat trick in franchise history and the Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Monday, securing a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup qualifier series. Thats I think why Im scoring goals.Svechnikov's first career hat trick is the first in the franchise's 144-game postseason history, including the Hartford Whalers. He became only the eighth player in NHL history age 20 or younger to tally a postseason hat trick, the last being Nashville's Filip Forsberg in April 2015. With no fans to throw hats onto the ice in Toronto for Svechnikov's hat trick, the Hurricanes tweeted a photo that they had put several in his locker at PNC Arena back in Raleigh, North Carolina. Weve got to reset our minds and get focused on winning one hockey game, Rangers defenseman Marc Staal said.