RALEIGH, N.C. — For a long time Sunday, there were as many groans as cheers at PNC Arena as the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Arizona Coyotes.
The undefeated Hurricanes were struggling to crack the winless Coyotes. The offensive chances were there, but not the goals.
That changed.
Brett Pesce’s power-play goal with 2:27 left in regulation was the winner as the Canes won 2-1 to push their record to 8-0. Pesce ‘s big shot from the point made a winner of goalie Frederik Andersen, who allowed an early goal but nothing else in earning his seventh win of the season.
Martin Necas had Canes fans roaring late in the second period, scoring on an outside bomb of a shot that clipped the Coyotes’ Christian Fischer. It was Necas’ first goal of the season and tied the score 1-1 as the Canes finally solved rookie goalie Karel Vejmelka, who once played with Necas in the Czech Republic.
Forward Seth Jarvis made his NHL debut for the Canes and the former first-round draft pick likely will play more games with forward Nino Niederreiter sidelined with a lower-body injury. Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said before the game that Niederreiter, injured Friday against Chicago, would be out a few weeks.
Brind’Amour said he wanted Jarvis to “get his feet wet.” Coyotes veteran Jay Beagle sent him tumbling to the ice in front of the Canes bench early in the game — a welcome-to-the-NHL moment — but appeared to handle the moment well and saw time on the power play, getting an assist on the Pesce goal for his first NHL point.
Andersen, who started and won the first six games, was back in the net Sunday. He allowed an early goal to Fischer, who skated out of the corner with the puck and scored, but then matched Vejmelka into the third.
Andersen’s best save might have been in the third, when Antoine Roussel had a shorthanded breakaway.
The Canes were first in the NHL in goals scored per game and allowing the least. The Coyotes were last in both categories in addition to being last in penalty killing.
Would it be a repeat of the Canes’ 6-3 beating of the Blackhawks? No, it would not. The Canes were playing their third game in four days and it showed at times.
For the first 37 minutes, the Canes couldn’t score at even strength. They couldn’t score on the power play. The game’s only goal was a first-period score by the Coyotes’ Fischer.
“Come on, Canes, figure it out!” one fan screamed, frustrated.
Necas did. After Vincent Trocheck won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Tony DeAngelo passed to Necas, who unloaded from just inside the blue line.
The Coyotes’ first-period goal came after the Coyotes were outnumbered along the boards in a puck battle in the Carolina zone. Fischer pried it loose, walked out of the corner and beat Andersen at 5:44 of the first.
Vejmelka did his part to keep it 1-0. A big goalie at 6-3 and 224 pounds, he moved quickly to rob Andrei Svechnikov on a power-play shot at the post and denied Jordan Staal in tight.
In the second, Teuvo Teravainen chipped the puck into the offensive zone and got off a shot that Vejmelka got a pad on. The puck skidded inches outside the post.
Jarvis, with his parents watching, made the obligatory solo skate before the pregame warmups. His first shift in the NHL came on a line with Derek Stepan and Steven Lorentz.
