ST. LOUIS (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov celebrated his 22nd birthday with two goals, leading the Carolina Hurricanes past the St. Louis Blues 7-2 on Saturday night.
Antti Raanta won a battle of Finnish goalies with 30 saves. Ville Husso stopped 21 of 26 shots, and the Hurricanes scored two empty-net goals when Husso was pulled with 5:30 to play.
Carolina is the No. 3 team in the league and improved to 44-15-7, good for 93 points and first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Hurricanes had won just one of their past six games (1-3-2) before the victory.
Martin Necas, Seth Jarvis, Brett Pesce, Nino Niederreiter and Ian Cole also scored for Carolina. Pesce, Necas and Cole each also had an assist.
Pavel Buchnevich scored both of St. Louis' goals, giving him 21 this season. The two goals give Buchnevich 100 goals in his career. The Blues are 1-3-2 in their past six games.
Necas gave Carolina a 1-0 lead on a short-handed goal at 2:37. The Blues have surrendered the opening goal in five consecutive games.
Carolina outscored St. Louis 3-1 in the second period for a 4-1 advantage.
Two quick goals gave the Hurricanes a 3-0 early in the period. Jarvis went around Colton Parayko and beat Husso just 1:07 into the period. Pesce buried a wrist shot from the high slot at 3:16.
The Blues cut the lead to 3-1 when Buchnevich scored on a backhand after getting a feed from Nick Leddy at 13:12 in 4-on-4 play. It was Leddy’s first point since he was acquired from Detroit.
Carolina rebounded with a power-play goal. Svechnikov one-timed a pass from Sebastian Aho at 14:38 to give the Hurricanes a three-goal cushion.
St. Louis scored on its fifth power-play opportunity when Buchnevich converted a wrist shot from the top of the slot at 6:30 of the third period.
Svechnikov added an empty-net goal at 15:05 and Niederreiter followed with one at 15:57. The final goal was scored by Cole at 17:55.
This was the final time these teams play this season and Carolina swept the series. The Hurricanes were victorious 3-2 on Nov. 13 in Raleigh, N.C.
ICE CHIPS
D Brady Skjei also celebrated a birthday Saturday. Skeji turned 28. ... Cole, who was selected 18th overall by St. Louis in the 2007 NHL Draft, returned with Carolina. The Hurricanes are the fifth team Cole is with since he was traded away in 2015 for Robert Bortuzzo.
INJURIES
Hurricanes: LW Jordan Martinoor (undisclosed) will be out for at least two weeks.
Blues: F Tyler Bozak (lower-body injury) on the injured reserve. D Torey Krug (upper body injury) is week to week after getting hurt Tuesday at Washington.
UP NEXT
Carolina: At Washington on Monday night.
St. Louis: Host Vancouver on Monday night.
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