Regular Season, Game 38: Hurricanes at New Jersey Devils

Just 24 hours removed from an emotional win over the New York Rangers, the Canes are back on the road against another division opponent for the first time this season, the New Jersey Devils. Last night's 6-3 win over the Rangers gave the Canes control of the Metro Division, but it came at a cost and left us with some questions. The team got a little banged up last night, most notably Teuvo Teravainen, who took a nasty hit, went to the locker room, and came back for a shift in the second period before being ruled out for the third. Teravainen will be out tonight as well, but Martin Necas has cleared protocol and we'll be in the lineup. The Canes got to Georgiev for two periods and did just enough to come out with a three-goal win and push the team's win streak to three games where they've outscored their opponents 17-5. Their opponents tonight are trending the other way. They've lost three straight games to teams outside of the playoff hunt. They last played on Wednesday night 4-1 to the Arizona Coyotes with MacKenzie Blackwood allowing four goals on 17 shots. Their struggles are compounded by the injuries they have, including former Hurricane Dougie Hamilton, Miles Wood, and Jonathan Bernier. This is the first chance Hamilton would've had to play his former team, but he's been out since early January. Despite this, the Devils have an abundance of young talent that includes Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier. They'll look to Jon Gillies in the net tonight. He's split time between St. Louis and New Jersey this season, going 0-2-1 with a 3.02 goals against average and a .895 save percentage in three starts. Jack LaFontaine will get his first career NHL start with Frederik Andersen starting last night and facing a decent workload in the third period. The snow that fell in North Carolina last night forced the Canes to stay in Raleigh last night, so they just touched down in Newark earlier this morning. This has all the makings of a trap game or a letdown game, but I trust this team to give it their all tonight just like they did last night. 

1st Period

Scoring

(CAR) 2:20- Andrei Svechnikov (14) (assisted by Vincent Trocheck (18) & Brendan Smith (2))

(CAR) 5:44- Ian Cole (2) (assisted by Martin Necas (14) & Andrei Svechnikov (20))

(NJD) 17:26- Nathan Bastian (7) (assisted by Ryan Graves (11) & Janne Kuokkanen (4))

(NJD) 19:06- Nathan Bastian (8) (assisted by Ryan Graves (12) & Michael McLeod (8))

Thoughts

This was a Jekyll and Hyde period for the Canes. They looked great before the first television timeout, getting two early goals from Svechnikov and Cole. After that break, the Devils settled into their game and were getting chances on LaFontaine. Nathan Bastian scored two goals late in the period for the Devils to even it up going into the intermission. The story of the period was the endboards behind LaFontaine. Three times when a puck should've been iced it ended up going right to LaFontaine and negating the icing. The first Bastian goal took a weird bounce off the boards and he batted it in out of midair. Regardless, I didn't like the effort in the second half of the period. There isn't a whole lot LaFontaine could've done on either of those goals. He hasn't looked completely comfortable yet, but he hasn't gotten much of a chance to. I'm looking for some major improvement in the second period. 

2nd Period

Scoring

(CAR) 3:27- Josh Leivo (1) (assisted by Jesperi Kotkaniemi (10) & Tony DeAngelo (25))

(NJD) 8:48- Michael McLeod (3) (assisted by Andreas Johnsson (13) & PK Subban (13))

(NJD) 11:16- Andreas Johnsson (10) (assisted by Dawson Mercer (12) & Pavel Zacha (8))

(CAR) 15:34- Brady Skjei (6) (assisted by Derek Stepan (6) & Josh Leivo (2))

(NJD) 18:19- Jesper Bratt (11) (assisted by Yegor Sharangovich (8) & Ryan Graves (13))

Thoughts

This has been an ugly game and neither goalie is playing well. It feels like the puck was finding the net on almost every shot. Jack LaFontaine has not looked great and it's very clear he's not ready for the NHL. That being said, I'll put one of the five Devils' goals squarely on him. He should've had the rebound that McLeod scored on, but the defense hasn't been doing him many favors. It's only a one-goal game, so the Canes still have a chance. Leivo's goal was beautiful and the transition game was great, leading to the Skjei goal to tie the game 4-4. I just don't think the defense is getting the job done. I'm not sure how much of this is being tired from last night and their routine being thrown off with a late flight, but this hasn't been it at all. I think they need to go to Raanta for the third period to get him back into it, but LaFontaine doesn't deserve all the blame for the struggles tonight. 

3rd Period

Scoring

(NJD) 12:51- Jack Hughes (10) PP (assisted by Damon Severson (11) & Nico Hischier (16))

(NJD) 13:55- Pavel Zacha (10) (assisted by Dawson Mercer (13) & Andreas Johnsson (14))

Thoughts

This game comes down to which goalie would have the better third period and the answer was clearly Jon Gillies. He was perfect in the third period and the Devils beat LaFontaine twice. It's not like the Canes didn't have their chances to score because they had plenty of them. The kill couldn't get it done and allowed a goal to Jack Hughes and then Pavel Zacha buries a rebound on a wide-open net to put the nail in the coffin. Full credit to the Devils for their effort in the period. They went all out to make sure the Canes didn't get anything into the net and kept the pressure on even with the lead. It's a tough loss, but it's just one. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Martin Necas (Assist, 16:09 TOI)

It was quite a surprise to see Necas back in the lineup after clearing COVID protocol and I thought he played well. He picked up an assist early in the first period and had some good chances throughout the night. I highlighted his time on ice because he finished with the fourth-highest time among the forward group. He played a lot for his first game back and was effective. 

Second Star- Josh Leivo (Goal, Assist)

Leivo was the only forward to finish with under ten minutes of ice time, but he made the most of his time. He scored a beautiful goal to give the Canes an early lead in the second period and helped to set up the tying goal from Skjei with a great play at the defensive blue line. He's been impressive in his limited action with the team and tonight may have been his best performance. 

First Star- Andrei Svechnikov (Goal, Assist)

He was cooking early in this game. He scored the quick goal in the first period and added a secondary assist on the goal by Ian Cole shortly after. He's continued to play a power forward game and he's played it well during this last stretch of games. It's a shame he couldn't help guide the team to a win tonight, but he came out of the gates strong. 

Final Thoughts

I think it's safe to say that Jack LaFontaine still has a ways to go before he's ready for the NHL. That's not a knock on him as a person, but this wasn't a good showing for him in his first NHL start. While he allowed seven goals, I'd really only put two or three squarely on his shoulders. He should've controlled the rebound that lead to the McLeod goal and probably should've been able to handle the Bratt shot at the end of the second period, but he had to compete with heavy amounts of traffic and little resistance from the Canes' defense. Four goals should be enough to win on most nights, but it wasn't tonight. It's a shame too because they came out playing so well when things started. Nevertheless, a loss is a loss and now the Canes will get a couple days off before they welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to Raleigh. I'd imagine we'll be seeing Frederik Andersen for that game. A lot of interesting lineup decisions will need to be made as the team is starting to get healthy again. Martinook could be out of COVID protocol by then. We'll have to keep an eye out for Teuvo Teravainen to see if he'll be available. I'd imagine Ethan Bear will be back in the lineup at some point soon. Stepan and Leivo are making it hard to take them out of the lineup right now. It's all speculation right now. We'll just have to wait until Tuesday.