The Carolina Hurricanes blew out the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. Mark Jankowski moved close to a major milestone in the process.
It took Jankowski 17 games to come within one goal of his 68-game total from a season ago. Jankowski scored his ninth and 10th goals on Saturday afternoon to help Carolina sweep the Kraken in Finland and beat them 5-1.
Jankowski took First Star honors after he put Carolina up 2-0 on a snapshot at the 17:30 mark of the first period. He then closed the scoring on a wrist shot that iced the game for Carolina and sent them back to Raleigh with a ton of momentum.
With 10 goals in 17 games, Jankowski is all but certain to shatter last season’s 11-goal mark. He also scored eight goals in 19 games with Carolina in 2024-25, following a trade from the Nashville Predators.
Jankowski is well on pace to match his career-best of 17 goals that he scored in 2017-18 with the Calgary Flames. With such a high-octane team at his back, his chances of setting a new single-season career-high are fantastic.
Hurricanes Continue Finding Offense From Unlikely Source
Jankowski’s production on Saturday came with assists from Jesperi Kotkaniemi on his first goal and Taylor Hall on his second. Both players logged the least amount of ice time among forwards. Kotkaniemi clocked in with 11:22. Hall wasn’t far ahead, with 13:28.
As for Jankowski? His accolades have given him 14:42 of average total ice time this season. That is up from 11:09 a season ago. The recent uptick shows that head coach Rod Brind’Amour has faith that a fourth-liner’s production will continue.
On Saturday, Jankowski hit the ice for 14:35. That was the seventh-highest among all Hurricanes forwards. With Jankowski continually finding the net, expect even more ice time as the season wears on.
Mark Jankowski Is Viable Insurance For Carolina
In an 84-game season, teams struggle through dry spells and injuries. Carolina has, for the most part, been lucky on both fronts. But if the Hurricanes are having a bad game, or if they need the next man to step up, Jankowski is a viable option.
Should Carolina continue to stay healthy and productive, it doesn’t mean Jankowski’s pace will dramatically slow down. Carolina just played its 21st game of the season and reached its quarter-way mark on Saturday. That means trends have lower odds of reverting to the median throughout the final five full months of the season.
If Jankowski continues on his current goal-scoring pace, he will end the year with 47 goals. That may not be the case come the middle of April. But with the way things are trending? It shouldn’t surprise anyone if Jankowski ends the year with between 20 and 25 goals.
It also shouldn’t surprise fans if Jankowski stepped up if the Hurricanes needed someone on their lower lines to pitch in because they were having a bad game. So, watch Jankowski’s production starting next week when Carolina returns to action on Nov. 19 against the Montreal Canadiens. He may very well pick up where he left off in Finland.
Hurricanes’ Mark Jankowski Has Surprising Milestone Within Striking Distance