Regular Season, Game 22: Hurricanes v. Ottawa Senators

While on opposite sides of the spectrum in hindsight, both the Hurricanes and the Senators come into tonight's game in Raleigh in desperate need of a win. The Canes have lost four of their last five games, giving up a hat trick to Roope Hintz in a 4-1 loss in Dallas on Tuesday night. The only notable positive from the game was the goal from Jesperi Kotkaniemi that extended his goal streak to three games. The team will be without Pesce and DeAngelo for the second straight game and while Ethan Bear was on the ice for the team's morning skate this morning after exiting COVID protocol, he is going to be out again tonight with the hopes he'll play on Saturday. This means the same lineup will be on the ice tonight with Antti Raanta likely to be the starter after being in the starter's crease at the morning skate. It will allow Maxime Lajoie to play against his former team for the first time tonight. As rough as it's been for the Canes lately, it's nothing compared to the struggles of the Ottawa Senators. They've lost six straight games, 12 of their last 13, and are playing the back end of a back-to-back after losing 6-2 last night to Vancouver. They've allowed four or more goals in all six of these losses and have allowed six or more goals three times. At 4-15-1, the Senators have the fewest points in the league. Despite this, Ottawa has a ton of young talent, led by Brady Tkachuk, and they are sure to be a thorn in the Canes' side tonight. Anton Forsberg has a 4.44 GAA, but I can't help but feel this is going to be another in a long line of games where goalies happen to play their best game of the season against the Canes. Both teams are fighting their confidence offensively, so I get the feeling that tonight is going to be a breakout game for someone. It's a new month, which means it's time to leave the results of last month behind and get it going again for December. 

1st Period

Scoring

(OTT) 2:43- Alex Formenton (3) (assisted by Tyler Ennis (9))

Thoughts

It's no exaggeration that the Canes are outplaying the Senators. Most of the play took place in the offensive zone and the team is outshooting Ottawa 20-4 after the first period. Yet, the Senators find themselves up 1-0 at the end of the period after scoring on their first shot of the game. It's turning into "same story, different game" for about the fourth or fifth straight game. The Canes dominated play, have looked good on their first one and a half power plays, and haven't allowed too many high danger chances defensively, THEY JUST CAN'T SCORE. It gets frustrating to watch because I know how good this team is and how well they can play, it just sucks to see the puck stay out of the net. Raanta wasn't busy, but he's allowed the only goal. I really hope they score on what's left of the power play to start the second period. 

2nd Period

Scoring

None

Thoughts

The negative is that the Canes weren't able to score on two power plays in the period. The positive is that the Senators didn't score either, so it remains a one-shot game going into the third period. As much as the Canes have been peppering Forsberg in this game, there's got to come a point where one finally gets by him, right? He can't keep this pace up for the third period, can he? The thought Ottawa played a better period than they did in the first, but the Canes remained the better team in the second stanza. The defense has been jumping into the play a lot through 40 minutes, Chatfield and Lajoie especially. I would expect the defense to get the first goal the way they are moving around tonight. It's a lot of the same from the first period and the last few games. There isn't a whole lot that's new that needs to be said. 

3rd Period

Scoring

(OTT) 9:05- Alex Formenton (4) (assisted by Artem Zub (7) & Tyler Ennis (10))

(CAR) 12:02- Teuvo Teravainen (4) PP (assisted by Sebastian Aho (11) & Jaccob Slavin (11))

(CAR) 13:47- Andrei Svechnikov (9) (assisted by Seth Jarvis (4) & Sebastian Aho (12))

(OTT) 14:06- Josh Norris (9) (assisted by Drake Batherson (10) & Brady Tkachuk (8))

Thoughts

That was one of the worst ways to end a game ever. After allowing a goal that seemed to defy all the challenge rules was allowed after being called no goal on the ice for goalie interference, the Canes offense finally decided to wake up by scoring on the power play. Teuvo Teravainen scored his 100th career goal and broke a 20-attempt goalless drought for the power play. Then, shortly after getting on the board, Andrei Svechnikov buries a rebound to tie the game. That good feeling lasts all of 19 seconds before the Senators scored to take the lead and eventually win. Trocheck took a penalty late and then the Canes generated no offense with Raanta on the bench. It was a frustrating end to a frustrating game. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Maxime Lajoie (14:54 TOI, 3 SOG)

Props to Jalen Chatfield too for the way he played tonight, but Lajoie has really impressed me in his first two games of the season. He was jumping into plays from his defensive position and was a major catalyst for the tying goal from Andrei Svechnikov. He kept the puck in the zone and made the entire play possible. He doesn't get credited with a point, but he certainly deserved one. 

Second Star- Teuvo Teravainen (PP Goal- 100th Goal of His Career)

Turbo's goal did a lot of things for the Canes tonight. It finally got the power play back on the board with a goal, it finally got them on the board for the game after Forsberg had shut them down all night, and it helped him hit the century mark for his career. I liked his game tonight as a whole. He shot the puck a lot, finishing with eight shots, so it was good to see him score finally. 

First Star- Sebastian Aho (2 Assists)

His pass to Turbo for his goal was magnificent, even if I could call it from my couch, and then he added the secondary assist on the Svechnikov goal to tie it. He didn't shoot the puck a lot tonight, but he was certainly a distributor. He also led all forwards in ice time for the Canes with 23:00 for the game. He's the teams leading scorer for a reason. He's always able to find the open man. 

Final Thoughts

This felt very similar to the Washington game in how it played out. The major difference is the Canes put 49 shots on Anton Forsberg and they controlled play for almost the entire game. It came down to the small mistakes that allowed Ottawa in tight and they didn't miss. They scored two very grimy goals, though someone still needs to explain to me how the second Formenton goal is allowed to count. Tripp Tracy seemed to think they couldn't challenge it, but then they did and it was awarded to them. I didn't like the way the game was called all night and that's not just because they lost. There were a lot of times I thought there should've been a call against the Senators that went uncalled all night. I didn't love the Trocheck penalty at the end just because it disrupted the flow of the game, but it honestly was a trip. MoneyPuck's "Deserve to Win O'Meter" says the Canes win in 83.9% of 1000 simulations if this game is played the exact same way. The difference was Forsberg stopping 47 shots. It's frustrating to see the same result every night after such a hot start, hoping that the team will snap out of it, and still find ways to not score. Buffalo allowed seven goals tonight against Florida, which means Craig Anderson is going to come in here and not allow a goal on Saturday night. It is what it is, but I'd really love it if it stopped being that way.