RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes continue to deal with early season adversity. And, for now, dealing with it well.
The Canes on Saturday had starting goalie Petr Mrazek leave the game with an apparent hand or wrist injury, clutching his arm in pain. Later, forward Max McCormick, the player who collided in the net with Mrazek, left with a shoulder injury.
But the Canes again showed resilience, staying on the attack and skating past the Dallas Stars, 4-1, at PNC Arena. James Reimer took over for Mrazek in net. Vincent Trocheck had a pair of first-period goals, and Andrei Svechnikov and Ryan Dzingel scored on second-period power plays for the Canes (4-1-0), ending the night for Stars goalie Anton Khudobin.
Trocheck scored at even strength — rookie forward Steven Lorentz earning his first NHL point with an assist — and then on the power play off a Jordan Staal pass. He also earned an assist on the goal by Svechnikov, who beat Khudobin with a patient forehand-to-backhand move after taking a Sebastian Aho pass.
Dzingel benefited from a crisp cross-ice pass from Martin Necas, who scored the overtime winner Thursday against Tampa Bay as the Canes ended their long layoff caused by COVID-19 issues.
For the second straight game, the Canes were without five regulars in the lineup — defenseman Jaccob Slavin and forwards Teuvo Teravainen, Jordan Martinook, Warren Foegele and Jesper Fast. Slavin, Teravainen and Martinook are off the NHL COVID-19 protocol list and skated Saturday before the team practice. Fast remained on the list Saturday.
It was a chippy game at times. Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour fumed on the bench over a few calls and no-calls. The Stars’ John Klingberg put a big hit on defenseman Jake Bean that briefly forced Bean out of the game.
The Canes and Stars will face off again Sunday, with a 5 p.m. start. The Stars (4-1-0) played Saturday without forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, both out with lower-body injuries, but had Roope Hintz and Blake Comeau back in the lineup.
Joe Pavelski had a power-play goal for Dallas in the third period after Aho was called for slashing. Dallas managed just 11 shots in the game, two in the second period,
Aho and Necas each had a pair of assists for the Canes, who had eight players collect points.
