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Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen has won each of his first two starts since returning from a knee injury — and Thursday night's 7-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets is one he won't soon forget.
Andersen recorded his 300th National Hockey League win in his 501st start, in the process becoming the second-fastest goaltender to achieve the feat, per NHL Public Relations. Only Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy (490 games) did it quicker.
“It makes a long season a little bit more memorable,” Andersen said afterwards, per NHL.com's Kurt Dusterberg. “A game like tonight was a little bit back and forth. You wish you could play some things a little different. (But) you don’t win games in this League without goal support.”
Andersen was lights out for the first few weeks of the season, but was forced to undergo surgery at the end of November. Originally given an 8-12 week timetable, the Dane was out for just over two months.
Although the numbers weren't great on Thursday — Andersen allowed four goals on 22 shots — Carolina scored five unanswered goals in the second period to take a 5-2 lead. Columbus would get two of those back late in the period, but a Jesperi Kotkaniemi tally midway through the final frame sealed the victory.
“It’s good to get a couple goals,” Kotkaniemi said, per Dusterberg. “It was a little tougher stretch there for a while. I’m just a big believer in working hard and thinking it’s going to pay off at some point.”
Seth Jarvis was the catalyst for the Hurricanes offensively; the Canadian scored two goals and added two assists in his first career four-point game. It was the team's sixth multi-goal comeback win of 2024-25, tied for first league-wide, per Dusterberg.
And with that, the Hurricanes have won four games in a row and settled into second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Hurricanes starting to surge in Eastern Conference
After playing at nearly a .500 pace from mid-December to early January, Carolina has begun to surge as of late. Rod Brind'Amour's club has scored 16 goals over the current four-game streak, and won eight of 12 this month.
“We struggled for a while, and it always felt like it was coming but it never really did,” Jarvis said of the team's middling stretch, per Dusterberg. “We just take every day as a new day. We don’t look forward or look back on anything. I think that’s what’s been working the last couple games.”
Now 30-16-3 and just eight points back of the Washington Capitals for first place in the division — and in the President's Trophy race — the Hurricanes look to be rounding into top form at the perfect time.
Carolina will look to make it five consecutive triumphs for the second time this season against the Islanders in New York on Saturday night. Puck drops just after 7:30 p.m. ET from UBS Arena between the Metro rivals.
