RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Defenseman Brett Pesce scored a power-play goal with 2:27 left in regulation and and Carolina Hurricanes remained undefeated with a 2-1 victory over the winless Arizona Coyotes on Sunday.
The Hurricanes are 8-0-0, extending the best start to a season in franchise history.
Martin Necas scored the other goal and set up Pesce’s game winner. Frederik Andersen stopped 22 shots for his seventh win.
Rookie Karel Vejmelka made 37 saves for the Coyotes, 0-8-1. Christian Fischer gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.
Pesce’s first goal of the season allowed him to become the 14th different Carolina player with at least one goal
It was the first game in NHL history between an undefeated team having played seven or more games against a winless team with at least seven games, according to NHL Stats.
Necas scored five seconds after a faceoff on Carolina’s 26th shot of the game to tie the game with 3:03 left in the second period. It was also his first goal of the season.
Fischer opened the scoring with a first-period goal. It was the third time in Carolina’s four-game homestand that the opponent scored first.
TAKE A LOOK
The Hurricanes had their first lineup change other than goalie after using the same skaters for the first seven games.
With right winger Nino Niederreiter out with a lower-body injury suffered Friday night, it marked the NHL debut for 19-year-old Seth Jarvis. He assisted on Pesce’s goal.
Jarvis, who was a first-round draft pick in 2020, is one of only two players with less than 100 career games to play for the Hurricanes so far this season.
FLIP THE CALENDAR
In their last seven October games, the Coyotes faced four undefeated teams and another without a regulation loss.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: at Philadelphia on Tuesday for the fifth stop on a six-game road trip.
Hurricanes: At Chicago on Wednesday to begin a three-game road stretch.
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