2022-23 Regular Season, Game 23: Hurricanes (11-6-5) at Pittsburgh Penguins

The Hurricanes got back into the win column on Saturday night when they held on to a 3-2 decision against the Calgary Flames. Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas, and Brett Pesce provided the offense for the Canes, with the latter two scoring on the power play. This gives the Canes four goals on the power play in the last two games. Antti Raanta was very strong in his first game in about two weeks. Despite the pushback from Calgary, the Canes' defense held strong to come out on the right side of the game. The win gave the Canes the momentum they need as they embark on their second long road trip. The journey begins in Pittsburgh tonight in the final game of the month. It's the first division game in over a month as the team looks to get back into the race for the Metropolitan Division. 

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

Pyotr Kochetkov

Antti Raanta

Healthy Scratches- Dylan Coghlan

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

The Hurricanes will deploy the same group of skaters for the first game of the trip while turning to Pyotr Kochetkov in the net. The rookie goalie is looking to snap a four-game winless stretch in the first start against Pittsburgh in his career. Jordan Martinook will be suiting up for his 500th NHL game tonight. Among the injuries for the Canes, Teuvo Teravainen is reportedly on the road trip with the team, so it's possible that we could see him at some point in the next two weeks. 

Tonight's Opponent: Pittsburgh Penguins (11-8-3, 25 Points, 4th in the Metropolitan Division)

With Pittsburgh's core coming back in the offseason, it's been a pretty middle-of-the-road start for the Penguins. After picking up points in their first five contests (4-0-1), Pittsburgh lost their next seven games over the next few weeks. The team seems to have turned a corner lately. They won five in a row before losing in their last outing to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Rickard Rakell scored the lone goal for the Penguins in the loss as Casey DeSmith stopped 37 shots. It has been a lot of the same faces pulling the largest portion of the load for the Penguins this season, led by their captain. Sidney Crosby paces the team with 11 goals, 18 assists, and 29 points, nine more than Evgeni Malkin's 20. Jake Guentzel is right behind him in goals, entering the game with ten. It has been a pretty steady attack for Pittsburgh. Nine players have reached double digits in points and seven players have at least five goals. The goaltending hasn't been stellar, but it has been just good enough to put them in a playoff spot at the moment. 

Last Season v. Carolina- All three games took place last season in less than a month with the Hurricanes winning two of three games. The key to the first meeting was scoring early because the Canes opened the second and third periods with goals in the first nine seconds. Ten Hurricanes provided points and Antti Raanta stopped 31 shots in a 4-2 win for the Canes in Pittsburgh. The next meeting took place in Raleigh in early March and it was Pittsburgh getting the hot start. Guentzel and Crosby scored in the first period on Raanta but aided by goals from Jordan Staal in the final two periods, the Canes would force overtime. After drawing a penalty from Kris Letang, Andrei Svechnikov deposited the game-winner for a 3-2 comeback victory. Pittsburgh would get their win nine days later on home ice. Brian Boyle and Danton Heinen scored to give them a 2-0 lead through two periods. Brett Pesce broke the shutout early in the third period, but an empty-net goal from Crosby seemed to be the nail. 14 seconds later, Sebastian Aho pulled the Canes back within one with plenty of time left. Unfortunately, Evan Rodrigues would get another goal with the goalie pulled to put it away for a 4-2 victory for the Penguins.  

Pittsburgh's Starting Goalie: Tristan Jarry (8-3-2, .914 SV%, 2.90 GAA)- Few goalies are playing better than Jarry is right now. He's won his last four starts, allowing two goals in his last three. His last start was on Friday night in a 4-1 victory for Pittsburgh as he made 29 saves against the Flyers. He's been very streaky this season, winning four straight to begin the season, then losing his next five before turning it around for his most recent stretch. Jarry hasn't had the best history against the Hurricanes, losing three of his four career starts. He split his two starts against the Canes last season, earning a 41-save win this past March. 

Pittsburgh Player to Watch: Bryan Rust- After a career-high in points last season, Rust has just five goals and ten points in Pittsburgh's 22 games this season. He's pointless in his last four games and has seen his fair share of troubles on both ends of the ice. Rust has just one goal against the Hurricanes in his career but has largely been looking to set up his teammates with ten assists in 18 meetings, the second-most he has against any opponent. For someone that is struggling, he could be due for a good game. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(PIT) 4:34- Sidney Crosby (12) (assisted by Jake Guentzel (10) & Pierre-Olivier Joseph (6))

2nd Period

(CAR) 5:45- Martin Necas (11) (assisted by Brett Pesce (5) & Sebastian Aho (15))

(CAR) 17:38- Andrei Svechnikov (14) (assisted by Sebastian Aho (16) & Stefan Noesen (7))

3rd Period

(PIT) 19:02- Jake Guentzel (11) (assisted by Jeff Petry (7) & Sidney Crosby (19))

Overtime

(CAR) 2:20- Brett Pesce (2) (assisted by Andrei Svechnikov (10) & Seth Jarvis (6))

Let's Talk About the Game

Before I talk about the game, there was a clear presence missing from this game and that was Kris Letang. I'm writing this review the day after the game and it was been reported that Letang suffered a stroke on Monday. He has a history of this dating back to 2014 and while I've never experienced one myself, I can't help but imagine how scary it would be. He's expected to miss an indefinite amount of time and I wish nothing but the best for him as he recovers from this. 

For a road game against a division opponent, the Canes didn't have a good start. The early goal from Sidney Crosby was the exclamation point on it because it was a very leaky goal for Pyotr Kochetkov to allow, though it wasn't great defensive coverage either. It's not one that he should have allowed. I thought the beginning of the game for Kochetkov especially was shaky. He looked a little indecisive when he came out to play the puck, leading to some good chances for the Penguins. However, by the midway point of the period, the Hurricanes really started to build a game. At the center of this charge was the Staal line. It felt like every time the Canes had the puck in the offensive zone, Jordan Martinook was getting a good chance to score.

All of this momentum for the Hurricanes in the final half of the first period exploded in the second period and it was the big guns getting the job done again. After the Canes were stopped on two 2-on-1 attempts while short-handed, Martin Necas won a battle against Brian Duomolin at the side of the net and he put a rebound into the net with Tristan Jarry way out of position to tie the game at one. The penalty kill came up big again late in the period as they killed their second of the period and it again led to a goal for the Canes. This time it was Andrei Svechnikov collected a rebound after Jarry couldn't handle the initial shot from Sebastian Aho. Jarry looked like he was trying to play the body of Svechnikov, which would ultimately put him out of position as Svechnikov took the puck around the net and buried it past a diving Jarry. It was a much better period from the Canes overall with Kochetkov making some huge saves on chances in tight. 

The third period would be just as tight with both Kochetkov and Jarry making some big stops to keep the game 2-1. There was a close call at one point that required a huge block from Seth Jarvis with Kochetkov unable to control a rebound. The Penguins continued to push the entire period but the tying goal continued to allude them as the time began to wind down. In the dying minutes, Jeff Petry made a huge play defensively on Aho to force an offside with the net empty. Shortly after, Petry would fire a shot on the net from the point that Jake Guentzel would get a stick on to deflect it past Kochetkov with under 60 seconds left. The late goal would force overtime once again for the Canes, which hasn't been too kind to them in November. The overtime period would feature no whistles, some rough passing, and decent defensive plays to take pucks off of sticks. The ending to this game has been discussed all night and you're view of it is likely to be shaped by which team you support. Seth Jarvis pushes Bryan Rust off of the puck, which draws all three Penguins on the ice to him. While all of this was going on, Svechnikov and Brett Pesce got in on a 2-on-0. Though Svechnikov almost messed it up, he gets the pass over to Pesce and he finishes the play to put an end to the game. Did Jarvis get away with boarding? I don't think so, but I'm biased. Should the Penguins have stopped playing? There was no whistle, so no. Does it matter now? No, because the game is over. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Sebastian Aho (2 Assists)

When you are facing a deficit, your big stars need to step up and that's what Aho did. On both goals in the second period, he played a major part. He made a huge play to gather the puck behind the net to get it to the point on the Necas goal and wired a shot that Jarry couldn't handle on the Svechnikov goal. He continues to show why he is truly a superstar in the NHL. 

Second Star- Andrei Svechnikov (Goal, Assist)

After going three games without a goal, Svechnikov picked up a huge goal to give the team the lead at that moment. He also set up the game-winner in overtime on a 2-on-0. He's become known more for his goal-scoring in the NHL, but I think his passing has greatly improved over the last few years. He has points in three straight games now and remains towards the top of the team's points lead. 

First Star- Brett Pesce (Goal, Assist)

Don't look now but Pesce has goals in two straight games and both were game-winners. He was playing a great game before scoring the goal in overtime, picking up the primary assist on the Necas goal and leading the team in TOI with 24:30. The icing on the cake was his second game-winner in as many games to secure two points for the Canes. 

What's Next

The road trip swings to the Midwest for the first of three games against the Western Conference. Next up on the trip will be St. Louis as the Hurricanes face the Blues on Thursday night. St. Louis will have not played since Monday night, a 4-1 losing effort to Dallas. Three goals in the third period sunk St. Louis as Brandon Saad was the lone Blue to find the net. St. Louis features a strong core of young players, they just haven't been able to find much consistency. From there, the Canes will be in California for two, facing Los Angeles and Anaheim on Saturday and Tuesday respectively. The trip is off to a good start with two points in Pittsburgh, so let's hope the momentum keeps going.