South Raleigh News

The Carolina Hurricanes secured a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, marking their return to home ice after a 19-day absence. The team took control early with three quick goals in just over three minutes, following an impromptu fight by Jesperi Kotkaniemi that seemed to energize the squad.

Jordan Staal opened the scoring for Carolina, followed by Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen, who scored a power-play goal. Despite a defensive lapse allowing Buffalo to score late in the first period, Taylor Hall extended Carolina's lead in the second with his first goal as a Hurricane. Seth Jarvis sealed the game with an empty-net goal in the third period.

Pyotr Kochetkov had a relatively easy night in goal, making 14 saves for his 21st win of the season. Jordan Martinook played his 700th career game, contributing an assist on Staal's opening goal.

Reflecting on their performance, Rod Brind'Amour commented on Rantanen and Hall's contributions: "When you're settling in and there's so much expected, the only way you really feel like you're doing stuff is if you're contributing that way."

Kotkaniemi spoke about his decision to start the game with a fight: "Oh I don't know. Just a quick decision I guess... But we got a little energy from that, got a good start for the game and it felt good winning it."

Rantanen praised Kotkaniemi's actions: "Good job by KK to start the game and bury the guy there, so that gave us a lot of energy."

Hall expressed his excitement about playing at home during Whalers Night: "It was great. The energy in this crowd is always there, it's always fun."

The Hurricanes will practice Friday before facing Edmonton and Calgary over the weekend.