2022-23 Regular Season, Game 28: Hurricanes (15-6-6) at Detroit Red Wings
After one of their most complete efforts of the season, the Hurricanes face their final test on the road before they begin their first homestand. The 3-0 win on Long Island on Saturday night was about as clinical as it could get for the team as they stifled a tired Islanders team on the back end of a back-to-back. After a scoreless first period, Paul Stastny opened the scoring with his first goal as a Hurricane in the second period. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Staal would provide the insurance goals in the third period as Pyotr Kochetkov faced just 16 shots and stopped all of them for his second shutout of the season. It never felt like the win was in doubt, even without Sebastian Aho or Jesper Fast in the lineup. The win was big with the logjam unfolding in the Metropolitan Division currently behind the Devils. This trip to the Motor City will be the culmination of a journey on the road that began two weeks ago, took the team to six cities with a little trip home after the California swing, and has earned the team nine of a possible ten points heading into tonight. I'm expecting a strong performance to finish things up.
Projected Lines/Pairs
Andrei Svechnikov-Paul Stastny-Martin Necas
Teuvo Teravainen-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Seth Jarvis
Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Stefan Noesen
Jack Drury-Derek Stepan
Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns
Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan-Jalen Chatfield
Maxime Lajoie
Pyotr Kochetkov
Antti Raanta
Injuries/Scratches- Sebastian Aho (lower-body injury), Jesper Fast (undisclosed)
IR- Ondrej Kase (upper-body injury), Frederik Andersen (lower-body injury)
The Canes will have to go at it without Sebastian Aho and Jesper Fast for the second straight game. The team will be using 11 forwards and seven defensemen once again after it worked well in New York on Saturday night. It'll be the same personnel with Pyotr Kochetkov starting in the net for the Canes. Kochetkov is coming off the shutout win over the Islanders on Saturday night.
Tonight's Opponent: Detroit Red Wings (13-8-6, 32 points, 4th in the Atlantic Division)
Though they sit outside of a playoff spot at the moment, the Red Wings are still in the hunt. They're just two points back of the final Wild Card spot and three points back of Tampa Bay for third in the division. Detroit has largely flown under the radar through the first two months of the season. I don't feel like they've been talked about very much for a team with a winning record. Their success is in large part to the quartet of 20+ point scorers, headlined by their captain Dylan Larkin. Larkin sits at or near the top of every major scoring category for the team, leading in points (27), tied for first in goals (10), and second in assists (17). Dominik Kubalik and David have been major additions in their first seasons in Detroit. Kubalik is tied with Larkin with ten goals and right behind him with 25 points, while Perron has 21 points. Filip Hronek leads the defensive core of the team. He's their workhorse, alongside reigning Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider, and puts up solid offensive numbers also (team-leading 18 assists, third on the team with 24 points). Scoring has been a small issue for the team to begin the season and it has been the cause of some recent struggles. They're 2-3-2 in their last seven games and have been held to two goals or fewer in four of their five losses, including their most recent loss on Saturday to Dallas in overtime. Larkin and Perron provided the offense for the Wings but the team was unable to capture the second point in overtime as Nils Lundkvist scored the game-winner in the final minute of extra time. Ville Husso, who has emerged as the clear starter for the team with the struggles of Alex Nedeljkovic, faced 33 shots and stopped 30 in the loss.
Last Season v. Carolina- Detroit got the better of Carolina in three meetings last season, winning twice. The Canes took the first meeting of the season last December in Raleigh under some wild circumstances. With a bunch of guys in COVID protocol, they only had 16 skaters available. Among that group was Jack Drury, making his NHL debut. He wouldn't wait long to get his first NHL goal as he capped off a five-goal period between the two sides to give the Canes a 3-2 lead heading into the first intermission. Behind two goals from Nino Niederreiter and five multi-point performances, the Canes would go on to win 5-3. The next meeting in Detroit would wait until the third period to get exciting. After the two sides traded a goal apiece through 40 minutes, each side scored twice in the third period, including the two captains scoring 38 seconds, to force overtime. In overtime, the Canes would be called for too many men and it would ultimately bite them in the end as Lucas Raymond scored the overtime winner with eight seconds left to win 4-3. The final meeting was all about Nedeljkovic. Though he'd played in both meetings to this point, he really had a big game the third time around. With Seider breaking a scoreless tie with 13 seconds left in the second period and the Wings' offense breaking through twice more in the third period, Nedeljkovic stopped all 46 shots he saw to silence the Caniacs at PNC Arena and secure the season series for Detroit.
Detroit's Starting Goalie: Ville Husso (11-4-4, 2.56 GAA, .916 SV%)- I was initially surprised by Detroit's decision to trade for Husso in the offseason just a year after trading for Nedeljkovic. Clearly, they knew something we didn't because it worked out well for them. Husso has done a lion's share of the work with this being his 20th start in 28 games. He's faced the Canes just once as a member of the Blues and it wasn't a fun one. He allowed five goals in 26 shots in a 7-2 loss last season.
Detroit Player to Watch: Lucas Raymond- With all of the young talent on the team, some guys get lost in the shuffle a little. Though his teammate won the Calder, Raymond still finished fourth in the race after scoring 23 goals and 57 points. He's picked right back up this season with 16 points thus far. In three meetings, he was good against the Canes last season, scoring three points, including the overtime winner in March. With guys like Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana, and Filip Zadina out of the lineup, he will be called up to be a machine offensively.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
(CAR) 17:20- Brady Skjei (5) PP (assisted by Seth Jarvis (9) & Jesperi Kotkaniemi (4))
2nd Period
None
3rd Period
None
Let's Talk About the Game
Not every shutout is built the same and while the New York game was easy for the Canes, this was a much bigger and tougher fight. The Canes came out of the gate in control from the jump and would've scored early if not for the work of Ville Husso and some help from the goalpost on a shot from Martin Necas. Husso used his outstretched pad to deny both Paul Stastny and Andrei Svechnikov in the first half of the first period. On the other end, Pyotr Kochetkov was doing what he needed to do to keep the game scoreless with some key stops. The first big break of the game would go the Canes' way as they earned the game's first power play. What would transpire was simply beautiful. While the goal will be credited to Brady Skjei, the spin-o-rama, backhand pass from Seth Jarvis is what we'll remember about this play. He laid it perfectly on the stick of a streaking Skjei to beat Husso on the glove side to get another one for the power play. It was a beautiful goal and it turns out it'd be the only one of the night.
It was very clear during the second period that the ice was starting to tilt in Detroit's favor. They started to spend a lot of time on Kochetkov's end, aided by three tough penalties from the Canes. The amazing thing was that the penalty looked phenomenal to kill all three, ending the third by drawing a penalty of their own. They suffocated the Red Wings' power play and they didn't allow a single shot to get to Kochetkov. Even with the success on the penalty kill, the Wings were buzzing at 5-on-5. It's not often we see a team outshoot the Canes by a large margin, but Detroit outshot them 13-6 in the second period, forcing Kochetkov to come up huge on multiple occasions. In the third period, the Canes seemed to regain their confidence offensively and played a much better period. Svechnikov rang the team's second post of the night. Husso seemed to catch everything coming in his general direction. Jaccob Slavin almost had the Canes' second highlight reel set up of the night to Svechnikov. Jordan Staal was denied on a 2-on-1. If not for Husso, the Red Wings would've been run out of the building tonight. Detroit started to push towards the end of the period to try and tie the game and if not for Michael Rasmussen fumbling a puck in front of the net in the final 30 seconds, they very well could've tied the game. Instead, the Canes bore down and held the Red Wings scoreless for the first time this season, handing them their third loss in a row, and securing a nearly perfect road trip for the Canes in a 1-0 win.
It's hard to do as well as the Canes did on this trip. If not for a letdown game in Anaheim that ended with an overtime loss, this would've been a statistically perfect six-game stretch. 11 of 12 points isn't terrible either. It helps the Canes keep pace in a division that is proving to be the toughest in hockey once again. There aren't enough words to describe how well Kochetkov is playing right now. He's the first goalie in 19 seasons with back-to-back shutouts for the Canes and now has three in 11 starts this season. He's now tied with Connor Hellebuyck and his counterpart tonight, Husso, for the league lead in shutouts. He's just so good and I'd hate to see him sent down to the AHL once the goalies are all healthy. Tonight also featured the point streak of Skjei being extended to four games, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi started one of his own with the secondary assist on the goal. I think this team is ready to be at home, but there's no denying how special they've been on the road this season. To play 19 of 28 games on the road, win 11 of them, and earn points in 16, including each of their last ten, is remarkable. Hopefully, this is going to translate well at PNC Arena.
Canes' Three Stars of the Game
Third Star- Andrei Svechnikov (3 Shots, 20:23 TOI)
I was sitting here hoping that Svechnikov would the empty net at the end of the game because he deserved to be on the scoresheet tonight. He hit the one post in the third period on a great individual play but wasn't rewarded tonight. Still, I felt he was one of the team's best skaters tonight, playing the second-most minutes among the forward group.
Second Star- Seth Jarvis (Assist)
I know I've been saying this for a few weeks now but Jarvis is really starting to find his game and is putting together a strong sophomore campaign. The pass he made on the Skjei goal was simply sensational and he really deserves two assists. The rest of his numbers for the night aren't going to jump off of the page, yet he still felt like a major presence all night.
First Star- Pyotr Kochetkov (27 Saves on 27 Shots)
It's time we start having the Calder conversation for Kochetkov. He's played the fourth-most minutes among rookie goalies, has the third-most wins in that group, the most shutouts, and is in the top five in the entire league in save percentage (.926) and GAA (2.02). I know he's only played 12 games and has some stiff competition but give the man some consideration because he truly deserves it.
What's Next
The team is heading home and I'm not sure there is a single person in the organization or fan that supports the team that isn't excited about that. It was an excellent road trip but it's time to get some games at home with the Caniacs. That being said, this isn't going to be an easy homestand. Things kick off on Thursday with the final meeting of the season with Seattle, one of the best stories of the season as they sit in a playoff spot. Seattle was stomped tonight in Tampa Bay 6-2 by the Lightning. They'll then play a back-to-back over the weekend starting with the Stars on Saturday night, which I'll be in attendance for, before hosting the Penguins on Sunday. They then finish things with the New Jersey Devils for their first meeting this season. All four teams would be in the playoffs if they started today, so the competition is going to be stiff. Hopefully, we'll get some good news on the injury front and we'll see Sebastian Aho and Jesper Fast back in the lineup at some point soon.
Comments
Post a Comment