Hurricanes top Avalanche behind Martin Necas hat trick, despite another goalie injury

With 27 seconds left in the first period Thursday, Martin Necas had a natural hat trick and the Carolina Hurricanes were holding a 3-0 lead over the Colorado Avalanche.

Five seconds later, it was 3-2. At the end of the period, Canes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov was pulled and Antti Raanta went into net.

For the Canes, after all the Necas fireworks, after the sudden turn in fortune, it was more of a hard grind the rest of the way in a 5-2 victory at PNC Arena.

Before the game ended, Raanta was gone — injured — and Kochetkov was back for the third, stopping 10 shots in the final period. Michael Bunting added a power-play goal in the second period, and Teuvo Teravainen tied his career high with three assists.

The Canes (29-16-5) killed off six penalties with some hard work, stopping the Avs’ last power play with six minutes left in regulation. Seth Jarvis was awarded a late empty-net goal after an Avs penalty.

Necas scored twice in the first 6:25 of the game, showing off his speed on his first goal and his one-timer on the second. When Teuvo Teravainen fed Necas for a third goal with 3:09 left in the period, hats flew onto the ice.

The hat trick was the first of Necas’ career, and tied the franchise record for goals in a period. The winger was only the second Hurricanes player to have a natural hat trick in the first period — Cory Stillman had one against Washington in November 2007.

But the Avs (32-16-4), who were winless in their first two road games after the All-Star Game break, quickly came to life.

Veteran Zach Parise, playing his third game for Colorado, scored four-on-four to make it 3-1 with 26.3 seconds remaining in the period. Teams hate to give up late-period goals and the Canes had given up one.

Then, two.

After the Avs’ Andrew Cogliano won the ensuing faceoff, defenseman Samuel Girard winged a shot from 89 feet that hit off Kochetkov’s glove and bounced into the net — a stunning goal.

Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said his team was sloppy at times in the second, although not in goal. Raanta stopped all nine shots he saw.

Then, he was gone with a lower-body injury.

The Canes also converted on the power play as Teravainen skated toward the net and passed to an open Bunting for a shot from the slot. About eight minutes into the third it was 4-2.

The Avs came to Raleigh from New Jersey, where they suffered a 5-3 loss to the Devils. That came after an overtime loss in New York to the Rangers in the first of Colorado’s six-game road swing.

The Canes had a tough-luck 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks in their first game back after the break, the Canucks taking advantage of an advantageous bounce to score the winning goal.

Kochetkov took the loss in that one Tuesday, but was given another chance Thursday.

The Canes played without defenseman Brett Pesce, who was ill, and again were without forward Andrei Svechnikov, who missed his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury.

Brind’Amour believed Svechnikov might play Thursday, but the decision was made to sit him again.