Sebastian Aho, Steven Lorentz and Nino Niederreiter scored second-period goals as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Monday night in Raleigh, N.C., to continue a stellar opening stretch of the season.
With a 5-0-0 record, the Hurricanes have matched the best five-game start in franchise history.
Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen, playing against his former team, made 24 saves. Andersen has been the winning goaltender in every Carolina game this season.
Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-net goal to go with an assist on the team’s first goal. Jaccob Slavin had two assists.
Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs.
Toronto goalie Jack Campbell stopped 31 shots, including all 15 that he faced in the first period.
The Maple Leafs have lost four games in a row, going 0-3-1 during that stretch. They’ve been limited to one goal in three of those setbacks.
Matthews scored on a wrap-around just 3:25 into the game. It was the center’s first goal of the season in his fourth game after he led the NHL with 41 regular-season goals last season.
Despite putting 15 shots on goal, Carolina didn’t score in the first period. In their first five games this season, it marked the first time the Hurricanes trailed after one period.
Aho gave the Hurricanes their first goal with his fourth tally of the season. That extended his points streak to all five games this season.
Less than 2 and half minutes later, Lorentz muscled his way to his first goal of the season with a strong effort in front of the net. Niederreiter’s second goal of the season capped the second-period outburst for the Hurricanes.
Svechnikov also has a point in every game this season.
A second-period tripping penalty on Slavin, a defenseman, marked his first penalty in more than 1,074 minutes of ice time. That included the 2021 playoffs and covered parts of 45 games.
This was the start of a four-game homestand for Carolina, which won its past three games on the road.
— Field Level Media