Regular Season, Game 29: Hurricanes v. Los Angeles Kings

While not completely back to 100%, the Canes will be playing with a full complement of players after recalling Josh Leivo and CJ Smith on an emergency basis. This will be Leivo's second stint with the team, playing in the back to back on 11/12 and 11/13, and CJ Smith will be making his team debut tonight. Smith is second on AHL Chicago in scoring (10-18-28) behind only Andrew Poturalski and has 14 games of NHL experience with Buffalo (2-1-3). This gives the Canes five forwards playing tonight on an emergency basis after playing two men down Thursday night against Detriot. The Canes pulled off a huge 5-3 win over Alex Nedljkovic and the Red Wings with five players having multi-point nights and both Poturalski (1st period assist) and Jack Drury (1st period goal) scoring their first NHL points. Frederik Andersen, while not at his best, earned the win with a strong third period and he'll be getting the start again tonight. The visiting Los Angeles Kings are playing some good hockey right now. They've won three of their last four games, earning seven of a possible eight points, and are coming off a 4-1 win Thursday night over the Florida Panthers. Jonathan Quick stopped 41 of 42 shots in that win over the Panthers and with Cal Petersen joining Drew Doughty in COVID protocol, I'd imagine he'll be getting the start tonight. The Kings and Canes met back on November 20 in Los Angeles during the Canes' first West Coast trip of the season. It was a wild 4 pm start that was very back-and-forth, literally, for two periods with the teams alternating goals before the Canes' defense shut things down in the third period to earn a 5-4 win. 13 different players, including Andersen, recorded a point that afternoon for the Canes. It'll be good to see the Canes roll four forward lines out as if it were a normal game, but the goal is just like the last game. If the Canes can come out of tonight's game healthy, with all the scheduling changes we've seen in the league in the last few days, that'll be a major win for the team. Winning the game, while important, is an added bonus. 

1st Period

Scoring

(CAR) 0:37- Jesperi Kotkaniemi (7) (assisted by Brady Skjei (5) & Jesper Fast (5))

(CAR) 1:36- Jesper Fast (7) PP (assisted by Jaccob Slavin (14) & Andrew Poturalski (2))

Thoughts

This first period had all the action of Thursday night's contest, just with the Canes scoring the only goals. Jesper Fast was the star of the first two minutes, setting up the first goal and then scoring on the ensuing power play. I'll admit that his stick was very close to being too high before the first goal, but the deflection was sweat. The Kings pushed hard right after the second goal, but Frederik Andersen looked amazing. Los Angeles had some high-quality chances, but Andersen was calm and collected as he made the stops. Everyone had their chances to score all through the lineup. Fast now has four points in the last two first periods. Let's hope his play continues in the next two periods as well. 

2nd Period

Scoring

(CAR) 2:38- Brett Pesce (2) (assisted by Josh Leivo (1) & Brady Skjei (6))

(CAR) 9:36- Teuvo Teravainen (7) PP (assisted by Tony DeAngelo (16) & Jesperi Kotkaniemi (6))

(LAK) 15:33- Blake Lizotte (2) (assisted by Tobias Bjornfot (5))

Thoughts

The late push and goal from the Kings aside, the Canes put on a clinic in the first 15 minutes of the period. Jack Drury was originally credited with the third goal, but it was eventually changed to Brett Pesce, and then Turbo snapped one home from the face-off dot on the power play to make it 4-0. The contributions are coming from everywhere and they've made it tough on Quick tonight. Josh Leivo picked up his first point with Carolina and Stefan Noesen laid a booming hit during the period.  Los Angeles mounted some offense and capitalized on a Canes turnover late in the period to break the shutout, but I'm going into the third period feeling pretty good. As long as the Canes don't take their foot off the gas, they should be able to ice this one away. 

3rd Period

Scoring

(CAR) 14:29- Jack Drury (2) (assisted by Derek Stepan (3) & Brendan Smith (1))

Thoughts

Another perfect third period from the Canes and this time Jack Drury is able to actually get his second goal after the second period goal was changed. Drury's goal was really about Derek Stepan's one-touch pass that got into the zone that Drury sniped top corner. Andersen stopped everything in sight for the period and kept the Kings off the board for the final 20 minutes. The power play didn't score in the period, but it looked really good. The penalty kill stopped an early chance from the Kings to keep momentum on their side and deflate the tires of Los Angeles early. It keeps the Canes in the win column despite all the obstacles the team has faced. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Frederik Andersen (32 Saves on 33 Shots)

While I'd have loved for Freddie to get a shutout, he'll have to settle for a near-perfect effort tonight. He started the game on fire after the team got up 2-0 and then held off the Kings' late push in the second period after they got on the board. The defense only allowed one shot on the three power play opportunities for the Kings, so most of his hard work was done while the game was 5-on-5. 

Second Star- Jesperi Kotkaniemi (Goal, Assist)

Back-to-back multi-point night for Kotkaniemi, who got the story going early by picking up a loose puck just 37 seconds into the game. The pivotal moment for me was his assist on Turbo's power play goal in the second. It was a perfect bumper pass to DeAngelo to set up the goal that drew everyone away from the goal scorer. He's stepped up big time in the last two games. 

First Star- Jesper Fast (PP Goal, Assist in the first 1:36 of the game)

It's crazy to think this is the first time that Fast has ever scored two points in back-to-back games, but it couldn't have come at a better time. The scoresheet will make it look like he only worked hard in the first 96 seconds of the game, but he was a force all night. His 16:57 was the third-most among the forwards tonight and he's earned every second of that ice time with all the guys on the COVID list. 

Final Thoughts

Thursday night's win felt like a big deal since they were down two players. Tonight's win felt bigger given how dominant a win it was. Where Thursday's game had eight of the ten forwards record a point, tonight five of the six defensemen scored a point, highlighted by Skjei producing two assists and a goal from Pesce. It was another group effort with 25% of the lineup being players that were in the AHL last week. They also did it without Martin Necas for more than two periods after leaving in the first with an injury. Drury scored another goal, Leivo and Poturalski added assists, and even Noesen made his presence felt with four hits. Speaking of Necas, I'm not sure how serious the injury is, but that will be a development to keep an eye on since the games won't be playing for a few days. This was supposed to be the first game of a back-to-back with Nashville coming in tomorrow, but they've been shut down through Christmas. Even further than that, the game after that was supposed to be in Boston, but they've been shut down as well. This means the Canes are off until Thursday night when they take the ice in Ottawa. Until then, they can try and get healthy and get ready to get a win before taking some time off for Christmas. This was an emphatic win and it was arguably one of the best of the season thus far.