2022-23 Regular Season, Game 18: Hurricanes (10-5-2) at Minnesota Wild

The Hurricanes played an excellent game against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. They dominated in every aspect of the game, except for the scoreboard. Despite outshooting the Avalanche, 48-15, the Canes played from behind for most of the night and would lose the game in overtime, 3-2. After allowing a power-play goal in the first period, Sebastian Aho scored for the first time since his hat trick against Buffalo to tie the game. In the third period, after Colorado had scored at the end of the second, Martin Necas outwaited Pavel Francouz and put one home to tie it. The Canes were unsuccessful on a power play to end regulation and their urgency to score in overtime would be their undoing as Artturi Lehkonen fired a one-timer past an outstretch Antti Raanta to hand the Canes' goalie his third straight losing decision. The Canes will now hit the road for two more games out west, beginning tonight in The State of Hockey. It'll be a good night to try and rebound from a game that they should've come away with two points. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Stefan Noesen-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Andrei Svechnikov-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Jack Drury-Paul Stastny-Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Calvin de Haan-Jalen Chatfield

Pyotr Kochetkov

Antti Raanta

Healthy Scratches- Dylan Coghlan, 

IR- Ondrej Kase (upper-body injury), Teuvo Teravainen (upper-body injury), Frederik Andersen (lower-body injury)

There are no changes amongst the skaters as the same group from Thursday night will be on the ice tonight for the Canes. The only difference will be between the pipes with Pyotr Kochetkov making his third start of the season. He was perfect in the team's 3-0 victory over Chicago on Monday night, stopping all 27 shots he faced for his first shutout. While it won't affect the game tonight, there was some positive news on the injury front. Both Max Pacioretty and Teuvo Teravainen were on the ice yesterday as they recover from their respective injuries. It doesn't seem like either is close to ready, but it's a good sign as the team looks to get their guys back. 

Tonight's Opponent: Minnesota Wild (7-8-2, 16 points, 6th in the Central Division)

It hasn't been the start to the season that most in Minnesota would've expected. They've been extremely streaky in their first 17 games. They lost their first three games by allowing 20 goals before winning five of their next seven (5-1-1). Minnesota has now lost its last three games, losing their previous game to Pittsburgh on Thursday night, 6-4. After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, Brandon Duhaime and Joel Eriksson Ek scored 12 seconds apart to tie things up early in the second. Kris Letang scored on the power play late in the second period to regain the lead. The third period featured five goals with Pittsburgh gaining the edge to win the game by two goals despite a late push from the Wild. Though they are struggling this season as a team, Kirill Kaprizov is still playing at a high level. He leads the team with ten goals and 19 points. Mats Zuccarello is right behind him with 17 points and a team-high 11 assists. They've been hit hard by the injury bug in the last few weeks with Marc-Andre Fleury joining Ryan Hartman on IR and Jordan Greenway missing their last three games. Fleury's injury has led to a rough situation in the net with Filip Gustavsson and Zane McIntyre comprising the current tandem.  

Last Season v. Carolina- The Wild won both meetings last season with both games being very tight, and defensive struggles. They didn't meet until February for the first time with the Canes visiting Minnesota. Through two periods, Kevin Fiala had the only goal of the night. In the first 2:34 of the third period, Kaprizov and Frederik Gaudreau broke the game open to make it 3-0. Andrei Svechnikov almost single-handily brought the Canes back with two goals in 1:21 to bring the Canes within one. He had two more golden opportunities late in the third, but he went wide twice as the Wild held on to a 3-2 win. In April, the two sides would return to Raleigh and Minnesota spread out their offense a little more. They scored a goal in each period, taking a 3-0 lead once again. Teuvo Teravainen scored late in the third period, but it was not enough as Fleury dominated the game and got Minnesota a 3-1 win to sweep the season series. 

Minnesota's Starting Goalie: Filip Gustavsson- With the injury to Fleury, Gustavsson has been thrown into the fire. The third-year goalie hasn't had the best start to the season after being acquired in the offseason for Cam Talbot. He sports a 1-4-1 record with a 3.20 GAA in six games this season. He was in the net for Minnesota's loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday. This will be his first start against the Canes in his career.  

Minnesota Player to Watch: Matt Boldy- After a strong performance once he was called up, Boldy finished eighth in the Calder voting last season with 15 goals and 39 points in 47 games. In his sophomore campaign, he's fourth on the team in scoring (11) and in a three-way tie for second in goals (6). He's been one of their most reliable performers in the early stages of the season, so I expect him to leave his mark on this game. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 13:47- Sebastian Aho (9) (assisted by Martin Necas (14) & Stefan Noesen (5))

2nd Period

None

3rd Period

(MIN) 17:23- Sam Steel (3) (assisted by Jared Spurgeon (5) & Kirill Kaprizov (10))

Overtime

(MIN) 1:12- Alex Goligoski (1) (assisted by Sam Steel (2) & Frederik Gaudreau (5))

Let's Talk About the Game

I'm not quite sure what to say about this one. This is another one of those games that the Canes deserved to win. It wasn't the same type of game they played against Colorado that didn't go in the Canes' favor. They were by far the better team in the first 30 minutes of the game. Minnesota didn't get their first shot until more than halfway through the first period and they had done a great job of keeping the Wilds' stars from getting going. On the other side of the ice, Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas connected for a goal late in the period with Aho finishing a 2-on-1 to take a 1-0 lead into the intermission. Right after that, Aho rang the post on a shot that could've doubled the lead. They would hold the lead going into the intermission after an excellent effort. They came out in the second period looking good, but the second period served as a momentum changer because while the Wild wouldn't score, they drew the only penalty of the period, and they seemed to control the puck in the offensive zone a lot more. The Canes started to get a little sloppier with the puck and Pyotr Kochetkov was forced to bail them out more often. His biggest save of the first two periods was a stop he made on Mats Zuccarello as he tried to find some empty space moving toward the net. 

Minnesota played a strong game in the third period, holding the Canes to just three shots, and their hard work would pay off. They killed their second penalty of the night and narrowly escaped what I thought should've been an interference penalty on Matt Dumba as Jordan Staal was trying to get back onside. It was initially going to be called, but they deemed it incidental contact and that seemed to light a fire under them from there. The physicality picked up a little bit and in the dying minutes of the period, Sam Steel would spin and fire one past Kochetkov that he didn't see with all of the traffic in front of him. Give all the credit in the world to Steel for fighting off a Hurricane and getting enough on the shot to get it on the net to tie it. Neither side got a great chance in the final few minutes as the Wild forced the Canes to overtime for the sixth time this season and the second straight game. Again, I thought that Staal should've drawn an interference penalty that allowed the Wild to get a 2-on-1, but Kochetkov stopped Kirill Kaprizov. After Necas wasn't able to get enough on a pass from Aho, the Wild went the other way and Steel would set up Alex Goligoski for the game-winner early in overtime. 

While writing my review of the game, it allowed me to calm down a little bit and think about it with a little more of a level head. The Canes should've won this game and there is no way around that. It's the second game in a row that they've been the better team for the majority of the game, taken a point, and not finished the game the right way. Obviously, there is a lack of offense right now with the Aho line doing the only scoring for the second game in a row. The power play still isn't clicking. This loss feels different than the other ones though because I'm not as mad or frustrated with this one. I'm upset that they lost and I'm sure the coaches on social media are going nuts right now. I'm a lot more even-keel compared to the rest of them and sometimes a little too optimistic about this team. I can't help it. I've seen this team truly struggle before and this isn't it. It's a loss to a team that really wanted it more in the final few minutes and they earned the second point. The Canes didn't. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Pyotr Kochetkov (19 Saves on 21 Shots)

The first blemish of his career is of the overtime variety, but this was still an excellent game from Kochetkov. He helped the team withstand the push from the Wild in the second period and most of the third period before Steel's goal broke his shutout streak at over 208 minutes of gameplay. There isn't much he could've done in overtime either, so you can't pin this loss on him. 

Second Star- Martin Necas (Assist)

After a short lull after a great start, Necas has points in back-to-back games with his helper tonight on Aho's goal. Beyond how well he's played offensively, Necas made a few huge defensive plays tonight. The one that stood out to me was the stick play he made to prevent a rebound chance after Kochetkov made a great save. His breakout season continues. 

First Star- Sebastian Aho (Goal)

I think many will more likely remember Aho losing the race to Goligoski on the overtime goal, but I thought he had an excellent game tonight. He scored for the second straight game as he inches closer to double-digits and was inches away from setting up Necas for the winner in overtime. Aho also played physically tonight, tying for the team lead with four hits. 

What's Next

The Canes are about to start a very busy Thanksgiving week with four games in seven days. They'll finish this trip by heading across the border for their first meeting of the season with the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night. They then have three games in four days around the Thanksgiving holiday with a game at home against the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night before a back-to-back with travel on Friday and Saturday. They'll play an afternoon game against the red-hot Boston Bruins in Beantown on Friday, then welcome the Calgary Flames to PNC Arena for a late-afternoon game on Saturday. It's going to be a very busy week and they really need two wins to start this week before meeting the Bruins in a postseason rematch.