2022-23 Regular Season, Game 24: Hurricanes (12-6-5) at St. Louis Blues

The start of a new month has arrived for the Hurricanes, meaning it's time to put the frustrations of November behind them as they prepare for December. 6-4-4 isn't the type of month you'd expect from a team like the Hurricanes, but they were deep in some tight contests. After a five-game losing streak before Thanksgiving, the Hurricanes won their last two games of the month, including their last game in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. The first stop on a six-game road trip, the Hurricanes conceded a last-minute goal in regulation to face overtime once again, the ninth time it has been required in 23 games. The ending will likely be seen as controversial, especially if you're a fan of the Penguins, but it was Brett Pesce squeezing the puck home to win the game 3-2. Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov provided the other scoring in the game for the Canes as Pyotr Kochetkov picked up the victory. Next up on the trip is the beginning of a three-game wing against the Western Conference, starting tonight in St. Louis. 

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 Hurricanes will employ the same lineup as they did in Pittsburgh with the lone exception coming between the pipes. Antti Raanta will get the start tonight. He was good in the win over Calgary on Saturday afternoon, stopping 18 shots in a 3-2 victory. There was some good news on the injury front. Teuvo Teravainen skated in a normal practice jersey, which could indicate that he's close to returning. Look for him to skate during the California trip. 

Tonight's Opponent: St. Louis Blues (11-11-0, 22 points, 6th in the Central Division)

It's very early in the season, but St. Louis has already seen the good and the bad in just 22 games. After starting the season 3-0-0, the Blues lost their next eight games, allowing five or more goals in six of them and scoring two or fewer seven times. Just when we thought they'd hit their lowest, they found their scoring touch. They rattled off seven-straight wins and outscored their opponents 30-16. It hasn't been the smoothest sailing as of late as they've dropped three of their last four games. Their last game was on Monday night against Dallas, a 4-1 loss for the Blues. Dallas scored the only goal of the first two periods before scoring three times in the third period to put the game away. Brandon Saad scored the lone goal for St. Louis with former Hurricane Josh Leivo securing the lone assist. Jordan Binnington stopped 20 shots in the loss. The Blues are getting tons of scoring from their high-end guys. Robert Thomas leads the team with 15 assists and 19 points, while Jordan Kyrou (team-high nine goals), Brayden Schenn, and Pavel Buchnevich are right behind him with 18, 17, and 16 points, respectively. The problem is that they haven't been able to get tons of scoring from their depth players and most of their defense. It has been their over-reliance on their stars that has hurt them a little. 

Last Season v. Carolina- Both meetings went in the Canes' favor last season. The trip to St. Louis was a close one for the Canes. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Brady Skjei and Sebastian Aho, the Blues cut into the lead in the second period thanks to Pavel Buchnevich, then Vladimir Tarasenko scored 48 seconds into the third period to tie it. Brendan Smith would score the winner for the Canes late in the period to win 3-2 in a spot start for Alex Lyon. The game in Raleigh was a slaughter. Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov scored twice and joined a group of seven Canes that recorded multi-point games in a 7-2 victory. Antti Raanta made 30 saves in the win for the Canes. 

St. Louis' Starting Goalie: Jordan Binnington (9-8-0, 3.05 GAA, .905 SV%)- Binnington's story is well-documented after he came in to help the Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019. Since then, it's been an interesting ride. He's grown a reputation for being a bit unhinged at times, especially when he's losing. He's still a solid starting goalie and his numbers this season aren't terrible. He's faced the Canes twice in his career, coming off the bench to make his NHL debut in 2016 and winning his only start against them in 2020. He made 25 saves in a 6-3 win for the Blues. 

St. Louis Player to Watch: Justin Faulk- To this day, Faulk is still one of the best defensemen to put on a Hurricanes uniform. Since being traded to the Blues in 2019, he's really hit his stride with the team in the last few seasons. He leads the St. Louis defense with 15 points and is tied for second on the team with 11 assists. He and Torey Krug have been their best defensive pair for the Blues and he could look to do some damage against his former mates. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(STL) 12:00- Pavel Buchnevich (7) PP (assisted by Robert Thomas (16) & Vladimir Tarasenko (11))

2nd Period

(STL) 2:31- Noel Acciari (6) (assisted by Nick Leddy (6) & Colton Parayko (4))

(CAR) 5:24- Brent Burns (4) PP (unassisted) 

(CAR) 5:45- Jordan Martinook (5) (unassisted)

(CAR) 6:28- Seth Jarvis (5) (assisted by Martin Necas (15))

(STL) 15:55- Torey Krug (5) PP (assisted by Pavel Buchnevick (11) & Vladimir Tarasenko (12))

3rd Period

(CAR) 15:25- Jordan Martinook (6) (assisted by Jaccob Slavin (5))

(CAR) 18:02- Jordan Staal EN (unassisted)

(STL) 19:18- Ryan O'Reilly (7) (assisted by Jordan Kyrou (10))

(CAR) 19:51- Jordan Martinook (7) EN (assisted by Brent Burns (12))

Let's Talk About the Game

This game was very close to taking a very bad turn just about 25 minutes into the game. St. Louis scored an excellent goal on the power play early in the first period that I'm not sure anyone was going to get to and then Noel Acciari scored early in the second period after the Canes were caught in a line change to make it 2-0. Antti Raanta wasn't looking strong, while Jordan Binnington already had four or five excellent saves in the game, including a few on Jordan Staal. Then, the power play got a chance. Brent Burns kept a puck in the zone and whips one toward the net and while there was contact between Binnington and Andrei Svechnikov, it was outside of the crease and initiated by the goalie, so it counted and got the Canes into the game. 21 seconds later, Jordan Martinook picked up the puck after Brady Skjei's initial shot was stopped and beat Binnington to tie it. 43 seconds after that, Martin Necas brought the puck into the zone with speed, found Seth Jarvis, and Jarvis wired a puck over the glove of Binnington with some help of the stick of Colton Parayko to give the Canes the lead with three goals in 64 seconds. Unfortunately, bad habits started to sneak through and while a hooking penalty on Jesperi Kotkaniemi didn't bite the team, a soft slashing call on Martinook would lead to a soft goal from Torey Krug that should've been stopped. It's a shot you're willing to give up on the penalty kill, but not one you expect to beat a goal of Raanta's caliber. 

Rod Brind'Amour made a huge change to start the third period, pulling Antti Raanta in favor of Pyotr Kochetkov. Speculation online was that Raanta got up slow at one point in the period, but might have just been the fact that he'd allowed two soft goals and three on 15 shots in 40 minutes. Regardless, it was the right decision in hindsight. There was no grace period for Kochetkov as he was thrown right into the fire. While the Canes were busy getting held without a shot, Kochetkov was doing his best to keep the game tied. Neither team was looking like they were going to make a move until an unlikely face put the team on his back. With under five minutes left to play, spurred by a great play in the neutral zone from Staal, Martinook was sprung on a breakaway and he beat Binnington clean between the pads for his second of the night to give the Canes the lead late. It was only a matter of time before Binnington made his way to the bench. Once he did, it didn't take long for Staal to get on the scoresheet as he blocked a shot, made a beautiful move in the neutral zone to deke around a defender, a flung it into the empty net to give the Canes a two-goal lead. There was still a lot of meat left on the bone and Ryan O'Reilly made sure to put everyone back on edge with a soft that Kochetkov had no chance on to shrink the lead down to one goal with just over 40 seconds left. There'd be no comeback on this night, however, as Burns rimmed a puck out of the zone off a face-off and it made its way to Martinook's stick with all the time in the world to complete his second-career hat trick. It was a feel-good way to end a game the Canes truly deserved to win. 

The theme of tonight's game was all about adjustments. The Canes did it all night at various different points. The three goals in 64 seconds happened because they started to get to the front of the net and take the vision of Binnington away. It was especially critical on the Burns power-play goal and Martinook's first goal in the second period. This rattled Binnington enough that he wasn't nearly the same the rest of the night. The next adjustment was on dump-ins into the St. Louis zone. For most of the first two periods, they were keeping the puck on the ice and no matter how hard they rimmed the puck around the boards, Binnington was able to play the puck and get the puck back for the Blues. In the third period, the puck started to come in around the boards, limiting what he was able to do. It was a small change that took the game even more out of Binnington's control. The last, and arguably the most important, was the move to Kochetkov in the net in the third period. For him to come in cold and make ten stops in high-stress situations makes you think that he deserves the net going forward. At the end of the day, we'll remember this night for Martinook's hat trick. He's already eclipsed his goal total from last season and is now fourth on the team in goals. Some so many guys had great nights. The entire Staal line was great and led the play for most of the night. The defensemen were getting into the play and were visible all night. On a night where some of the top stars didn't have a point, it was the depth scoring that the Canes have sorely missed in the last few weeks that won them this game. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Seth Jarvis (Goal)

The last few games have proven that Jarvis has found a new gear after a very suspect start to his season. He's scored in two of the last three games and has points in five of his last six, including four straight. His scoring touch is back now and that's just the beginning of it. Arguably the most important play of the night was the stick play he made on Kyrou to prevent a rebound chance that would've put St. Louis ahead.  

Second Star- Jordan Staal (Goal)

An empty-net goal being the only thing on the scoresheet doesn't do justice to how well of a game he played tonight. We could easily be talking about a hat trick for him tonight if not for some huge stops early by Binnington. His pressure in the neutral zone eventually leads to Martinook's go-ahead goal in the third period and he pulled out some nice moves after blocking a shot before scoring his goal. 

First Star- Jordan Martinook (2nd-Career Hat Trick)

Just over four years after his first hat trick in November 2018 against Florida, we're talking about three goals for a guy that was on waivers at the beginning of the season. He's been the glue of this team through most of the rough patches and tonight was the reward for all of his hard work. He was the most impactful guy on the ice all night for the Canes and put them on his back to earn these two points. 

What's Next

The road trip is already off to a great start and a trip to California could only help that with games against Los Angeles on Saturday night and Anaheim on Tuesday night. Both of these games will be 10 pm or later starts, so we'll be getting some #CanesAfterDark and a couple of sleepless nights. Los Angeles is hosting Arizona tonight and is down 3-2 at the time of my writing this. Anaheim lost 5-0 tonight to Dallas behind three goals from Jason Robertson and will be in Minnesota on Saturday afternoon before hosting the Hurricanes on Tuesday. These are two winnable games, but west coast games are always tricky. The Canes have played their fair share of games out west already this season and they haven't been easy. Coming home with a few more points in the bank is all that I ask for. It doesn't matter how we get them right now, as long as they're ours. They'll need to build off of a strong night tonight if they want to get the job done.