2022-23 Regular Season, Game 22: Hurricanes (10-6-5) v. Calgary Flames

The winless streak is now at five games after the Canes lost yesterday afternoon to the Boston Bruins in Beantown. Stefan Noesen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each scored on the power play in the first period, but Boston scored three unanswered, including the game-winner in overtime, to complete the comeback and secure the two points. The Canes picked up a point for the fourth time during this five-game drought, but they really need to get on the right side of things. Pyotr Kochetkov was excellent once again, turning away 38 shots, his new career-high. He didn't get the goal support he deserved, but nothing can be done about it now. They'll now get back to Raleigh and the friendly confines of PNC Arena to complete the second half of a back-to-back as they welcome the Calgary Flames. They've lost two straight at home, the last win coming on November 10 against Buffalo. This feels like when it all changes and they get back in the win column.

Projected Lines/Pairs

Seth Jarvis-Sebastian Aho-Martin Necas

Stefan Noesen-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Andrei Svechnikov

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

Antti Raanta

Pyotr Kochetkov

Healthy Scratches- Dylan Coghlan

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

The starter for today’s game is a game-time decision, but I’d expect to see Antti Raanta in the net for the first time after four starts for Pyotr Kochetkov. Raanta’s numbers overall aren’t great against the Flames, sporting a 5-3-3 record in 12 games. The skaters appear to be the same, though the lines are destined to be a little different today. Dylan Coghlan will remain the healthy extra as the Hurricanes look to get their injured players soon.

Tonight's Opponent: Calgary Flames (9-8-3, 21 Points, 4th in the Pacific Division)

The Flames are trying to stay afloat at the moment after losing seven straight games at the beginning of the month (0-5-2). They've recovered decently with four wins in their last seven, but are on a slight two-game slide after losing to Washington in D.C. yesterday afternoon for the penultimate stop in their long road trip. Three Capitals recorded multi-point games and Darcy Kuemper stopped all 32 shots the Flames threw at him to win 3-0. Calgary has scored just once in their last two games, the only goal coming in a 2-1 shootout loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Four guys continue to pull the heavy load for the Flames through 20 games this season. Former Hurricane Elias Lindholm paces the team with 16 points. New addition Nazem Kadri leads the team with eight goals and is second with 15 points. Rasmus Andersson remains hot with a team-leading 12 assists and leading the team's defensemen with 14 points. Tyler Toffoli sits with 13 points. No one else on the team has more than five goals or ten points. The goaltending has been a sore spot too as Jacob Markstrom hasn't returned to form just yet and Dan Vladar's numbers, while better, aren't jumping off the page. They are a good team, they just haven't found their footing yet. 

Last Meeting v. Carolina- After both teams won their first three games and lost their fourth, they met in Calgary for game five. The Hurricanes jumped out to an early lead as Sebastian Aho and Clavin de Haan scored to take a 2-0 lead just past the halfway point in the period. Nazem Kadri got away with embellishment, then scored on the ensuing power play to cut into the Canes' lead before the end of the first period. Brett Ritchie tied things early in the second period with a soft goal that Antti Raanta would likely want back and after a scoreless third period, overtime was needed. With 30 seconds left in extra time, Tyler Toffoli scored to give the Flames the second point. Markstrom made 25 saves in the win, Toffoli picked up two points, as did Andersson, who also notched the 100th assist of his career. 

Calgary's Starting Goalie: Dan Vladar (1-3-1, .907 SV%, 2.77 GAA)- With Markstrom starting yesterday against Washington, it'll be Vladar's net in Raleigh. He's lost his last four decisions but has looked very good in his last two starts, including a 38-save performance on Wednesday night in the shootout loss to Pittsburgh. Vladar has only faced the Hurricanes once in his career. It was last season in Raleigh when he allowed six goals in a 6-3 loss. 

Calgary Player to Watch: Adam Ruzicka- After being a healthy scratch to start the season, Ruzicka has made the most of his limited opportunities. In nine games this season, he has four goals and four assists, playing at nearly a point-per-game pace. He's spent a lot of time on the top line with Lindholm and Toffoli, helping to get him those great opportunities. He had a career game against Florida last Saturday with two goals and an assist. He's been held off the scoresheet the last three games, so he could be hungry in this late-afternoon tilt. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 6:20- Seth Jarvis (4) (assisted by Brent Burns (11))

(CGY) 18:09- Adam Ruzicka (5) PP (assisted by Michael Stone (4) & Noah Hanifin (7))

2nd Period

(CAR) 3:41- Martin Necas (10) PP (assisted by Stefan Noesen (6) & Andrei Svechnikov (9))

(CGY) 12:57- Tyler Toffoli (7) (assisted by Jonathan Huberdeau (7) & Michael Backlund (5))

3rd Period

(CAR) 8:46- Brett Pesce (1) PP (assisted by Jesperi Kotkaniemi (3) & Paul Stastny (5))

Let's Talk About the Game

I have no doubt that this win means more to the guys in the locker room than it does to me or any fan, but it does feel pretty good to be back in the win column. I did feel like this game followed a lot of the same tropes that we've seen from the Canes in the last two weeks. Every time the Canes built some momentum or started to take control, Calgary was there to tie the game. Seth Jarvis was the latest Hurricane to get the monkey off of his back by scoring on a tap-in after Brent Burns picked up a weak pass. After a dominant effort, Adam Ruzicka scored on a power play at the end of the period to spoil the hot start and send the game to the first intermission tied. In the second period, Martin Necas hit double digits by scoring his tenth of the season on the power play in the first four minutes. Instead of clamping down and adding to it, Tyler Toffoli gets sprung on a breakaway and beats Antti Raanta to tie it once again. In the third period, the power play would strike again as Brett Pesce scored his first of the season from the point to give the Canes their third lead of the afternoon. Calgary had one go off of the crossbar that nearly tied it but the third period would be what we've grown to expect from the Canes as the defense bore down and held on to a 3-2 win. 

While two of the three goals came on the power play, every forward line seemed to impact this game in different ways. The top line, courtesy of Jarvis, scored the first goal of the game and added a power-play goal from Necas. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Andrei Svechnikov, and Stefan Noesen all picked up power-play assists. The Staal line was held off the board, but they had some excellent chances all night and were strong defensively. The fourth line also looked very good, especially Paul Stastny and Jack Drury. Raanta looked strong in his first start in about two weeks. It's crazy that the one aspect of their game that has been lacking for most of the season is now the thing that has helped them break their losing streak. I'm also happy that the high-sticking penalty on Kotkaniemi wasn't a back-breaker in the second period because I think it's very clear that it wasn't a penalty. It's the second game in a row that a call involving a high stick was misdiagnosed. I don't believe in "must-win games" this early in the season, but this game had that feeling. It was especially critical with the long road trip looming. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Paul Stastny (Assist)

For most of the broadcast, the sense was this was Stastny's best game as a Hurricane. He seemed to be buzzing all game and was rewarded on the eventual game-winner with a secondary assist. He was tied on the team with four shots, getting a few great chances to score his first with the team. This great game was all done in just over seven minutes of play. 

Second Star- Brent Burns (Assist, 4 Blocks)

There has been a lot of unfair criticism of Burns' game amongst the fanbase and most of it feels like it has to do with the team's struggles on the power play. I think Burns has been excellent. He did it all on both sides of the ice in this win, setting up Jarvis for the opening goal, and blocking a game-high four blocks.

First Star- Brett Pesce (Goal)

The script for his first goal of the season was eerily similar to his first from last season. While it took him more games to do it, Pesce scored the game-winner on the power play in the third period, just like he did last season against Arizona. He and Skjei was been the unsung heroes of the season thus far with all of the praise that Slavin and Burns get. It's nice to see it rewarded finally. 

What's Next

As has been the case for most of the season thus far, the Canes are about to hit the road for their second long road trip of the season. Their next six games will be on the road and the first stop will be in Pittsburgh to face the Penguins for the first time this season on Tuesday night. This will be their first game against a division opponent since playing Washington on Halloween. The Penguins played tonight also, losing 4-1 to Toronto. The rest of the trip will see stops in St. Louis, Los Angeles, Anaheim, New York, and Detroit before they play their next home game on December 15 to kick off the first homestand of the season. The Canes have some good momentum going on the road with them with a favorable stretch of games incoming.