Regular Season, Game 10: Hurricanes at Florida Panthers

Two of the hottest teams to start the season are squaring off in Sunrise, Florida tonight. The Canes and the Panthers have combined for 37 of a possible 38 points thus far this season, with the Canes a perfect 9-0-0 and the Panthers 9-0-1. The Canes completed a two-goal comeback Wednesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks, winning 4-3, while the Panthers beat the Capitals in overtime 5-4 Thursday night. The big news coming into the game is the injury to Brett Pesce sustained Wednesday night after he crashed into the board hard. He played a few more shifts in the second period but was absent the entire third period. Pesce joins Nino Niederreiter among the team's injured players, so Brendan Smith will make his team debut tonight as the second and third defensive pairings are going to change. The starts for each of these teams are due in large part to the play of their goalies. Both Frederik Andersen and Sergei Bobrovsky had their problems last season, but are playing lights out for their teams. Andersen has been confirmed as the starter for the Canes tonight but Bobrovsky was listed as day-to-day, so Spencer Knight may make the start for the Panthers. These two squared off eight times last season, with the Canes winning six of the eight meetings and earning at least a point in all eight games (6-0-2). Four of the games went to overtime or a shootout, each team winning twice. There are sure to be some fireworks between these two, with a playoff-like intensity likely to take over when the puck is dropped tonight. 

1st Period

Scoring

(FLA) 2:28- Anthony Duclair (7) PP (assisted by Carter Verhaeghe (5) & Brandon Montour (4))

(FLA) 10:02- Frank Vatrano (2) PP (assisted by Brandon Montour (5) & Anthony Duclair (3))

(FLA) 13:14- Anton Lundell (3) (assisted by Owen Tippett (3) & Radko Gudas (3))

(FLA) 15:28- Patric Hornqvist (1) PP (assisted by Sam Reinhart (7) & Anthony Duclair (4))

Thoughts

I missed the entire period to have dinner with my grandparents but based on the score and what Twitter had to say about the period, I'm happy I did. The pre-game announcement that Barkov wasn't going to be playing gave me a little bit more hope. The loss of Pesce was already going to be a major loss, but three power play goals are not acceptable no matter who the team is missing. I got the impression the calls were very one-sided, but it doesn't make up for how many goals they allowed. The Canes are supposed to be a top-tier team, but this score makes it feel a little disingenuous. The team hasn't allowed four goals in a game yet this season, so for it to happen in one period is shocking to me. Doesn't sound like there were too many positives, so it's time to move on to the second period and wipe the slate clean.

2nd Period

Scoring

(CAR) 7:01- Jesper Fast (5) (assisted by Jaccob Slavin (8) & Vincent Trocheck (7))

(CAR) 15:20- Vincent Trocheck (3) PP (assisted by Andrei Svechnikov (7) & Teuvo Teravainen (7))

Thoughts

I also missed the second period, so I missed all of the fireworks. It makes sense for Andersen to be lifted for Raanta, but I also hate that he's hurt already considering this was just his second appearance with the team. I'll have to go back and watch the Lomberg hit but since he was ejected, it must've been pretty bad. Andersen held down the fort and the offense seemed to show some signs of life. Jesper Fast has come through in some big situations so far this season, so it's not surprising he got the first goal. Trocheck adding the power play goal helped make the deficit at the intermission much more manageable. There is still some hope, but it's going to be a hard road back. 

3rd Period

Scoring

(FLA) 19:01- Anthony Duclair (8) (assisted by Carter Verhaeghe (8))

Thoughts

There were plenty of chances for the team to get back in this game, but Spencer Knight kept the Canes off the board for 20 minutes to keep the Panthers in the lead. I didn't feel the Canes played a great period, even as the team playing from behind. I didn't think the defense looked that good and gave up way too many chances to the Panthers to try and put the game away. Lundell had a wide-open net that the Canes are fortunate went off the post. I didn't love the effort in what I did get to see, which speaks volumes. I'll have to see what DeAngelo got the 10-minute misconduct for after the Duclair empty-netter because it didn't seem like there was a good explanation and I couldn't see what happened. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Since I only watched the third period, I can't evaluate the team well-enough without going back and watching. I'm not going to give out three stars tonight for that reason.

Final Thoughts

People are going to overreact to this loss. I urge you not to look too much into this game. The Canes lost and they lost handily. The Panthers were absolutely the better team all night long which is why they won. There's a reason no one has ever gone 82-0-0. It's quite literally impossible to do. Teams are going to lose games and some of those losses are going to be embarrassing. This was an embarrassing loss. That doesn't mean this team sucks. They've won nine of ten games this season. That's still very good. This doesn't mean the Canes aren't a playoff team and are going to lose the rest of their games this season. One loss doesn't define an entire season. Honestly, I'd rather us lose tonight to a stellar Florida team than have lost to a team like Chicago or Arizona the way we did tonight. A loss just means we have another opportunity to start another win streak beginning with Tampa Bay on Tuesday. I watched the Lomberg hit on Raanta that knocked him out of the game and it was very reminiscent of the hit Mrazek took before David Ayres came in. I didn't think it necessarily warranted an ejection, but I understand the reasoning. Andersen was brought back down to earth tonight, which isn't the worst thing. I'm interested to see how long Raanta will be out and who the next man up will be, whether it's Alex Lyon or Eetu Makiniemi that gets the call-up tomorrow. Tonight was not our night, but it's not the end of the world.