2022-23 Regular Season, Game 29: Hurricanes (16-6-6) v. Seattle Kraken

It's hard to play as well as the Canes did during their most recent road trip. The team returned home with 11 of a possible 12 points, including back-to-back shutouts against the Islanders and Red Wings by Pyotr Kochetkov without Sebastian Aho and Jesper Fast in the lineup. The Canes outscored their six opponents 20-12 during the trip, the penalty kill went 14 for 17, and the team just looked much better than they did during their rough patch in November. The win over the Red Wings on Tuesday night was not the smoothest by any means but the power-play tally by Brady Skjei was all the offense that was required as Kochetkov stopped all 27 shots he faced to finish his third shutout of the season. Now that the road trip is done, the Canes are going to finally spend some extended time at home as they kick off a four-game homestand with three games in four nights. This is a huge stretch of games as they face several playoff-caliber teams through the end of 2022. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Andrei Svechnikov-Paul Stastny-Martin Necas

Teuvo Teravainen-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Seth Jarvis

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Derek Stepan-Jack Drury-Stefan Noesen

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Calvin de Haan-Jalen Chatfield

Pyotr Kochetkov

Antti Raanta

Injuries/Scratches- Sebastian Aho (lower-body injury)

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

Sebastian Aho remains out of the lineup for the time being but Jesper Fast will return tonight as the Canes return to the normal 12/6. Maxime Lajoie has been sent back down to Chicago as they don't have a healthy extra in the press box. Pyotr Kochetkov will start once again for the Canes as he looks to extend his shutout streak. He's very close to breaking the rookie shutout record for the Canes. The Staal line is all back together and Paul Stastny will be playing in his 1,100th NHL game. 

Tonight's Opponent: Seattle Kraken (16-9-3, 35 points, 2nd in the Pacific Division)

It was early and things had hardly gotten settled when the two sides met in October. Since then, Seattle has been quite remarkable. After a 3-4-2 start, the Kraken won 12 of their next 14 games (12-1-1) to move up the Pacific Division standings and they find themselves squarely in the hunt. It's been a struggle of late to score for Seattle as they come into the contest losers in four of their last five games. In all four losses, they are being outscored 19-6. Raleigh is the final stop in a four-game road trip against the old Southeast Division. Offseason addition Andre Burakovsky has fit in nicely with the team, leading the way in points with 27 and tied with Jordan Eberle with 17 assists. Rookie sensation Matty Beniers looks to be the early favorite for the Calder Trophy with his 11 goals and 23 assists. Defense and goaltending remain weak spots for the team, as evidenced by their recent struggles. Their penalty kill is toward the bottom of the league, though it has taken some positive strides. Their team defense is 20th in the league, allowing 3.25 goals per game. Philipp Grubauer hasn't found his footing and has largely lost his spot to Martin Jones. Grubauer got the start against the Lightning on Tuesday night and it didn't go well. He allowed four goals on 20 shots in the 6-2 loss as the Kraken were completely outclassed. 

Last Meeting v. Carolina- A little over two months ago, they met in Seattle and the Canes were dominant. Seth Jarvis score the lone goal of the first period before the Canes took over in the second period. Sebastian Aho scored one on the power play and while Burakovsky got one back, Andrei Svechnikov would score twice just 70 seconds apart, including another on the power play, to give them a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes. Jordan Martinook would add insult to injury in the third period as the Canes cruised to a 5-1 victory. Aho and Svechnikov finished with a three-point night and Frederik Andersen stopped 22 shots to move the Canes to 3-0-0. 

Seattle's Starting Goalie: Philipp Grubauer (2-4-1, 3.49 GAA, .874 SV%)- Martin Jones was initially announced as the starter for the Kraken, but they made a late change. Grubauer hasn't been the same since joining the Kraken and he's lost his starting job. He was pulled after allowing four goals in his last start against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. He allowed five goals when the Canes visited Seattle earlier this season. 

Seattle Player to Watch: Oliver Bjorkstrand- Though he began his first season with the Kraken hot, things have slowed down a little bit in December. He has just two assists in his last six games after a strong month of November. The former Blue Jacket didn't have any points in the first meeting this season but his 15 career points against the Canes are the second-most against any team in his career. I think he'll be a bigger factor in this bout. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 10:10- Andrei Svechnikov (16) (unassisted)

(CAR) 17:16- Derek Stepan (1) (assisted by Jack Drury (2) & Calvin de Haan (2))

2nd Period

(CAR) 2:08- Stefan Noesen (4) PS

(SEA) 11:26- Ryan Donato (5) (assisted by Carson Soucy (5) & Yanni Gourde (14)) 

3rd Period

(SEA) 10:14- Daniel Sprong (7) (assisted by Brandon Tanev (9) & Will Borgen (6))

Let's Talk About the Game

The scoreboard will make it look like it was a close game between the Canes and Kraken. Anyone who watched this game knows the Canes could've easily won this game by a thousand if not for the shape play of Philipp Grubauer. Though he wasn't announced to be the starter until close to game time, Grubauer stepped up and played one of his best games of the season. There wasn't anything he could've done with any of the Canes' goals because they were simply perfect. The first period made it very clear that the Canes missed home because that might've been the most dominant period they've played on both ends of the ice all season. Right from the drop of the puck, the puck was in the offensive zone trying to find the back of the net. It led to the first power play of the game and though they didn't score, they kept the momentum going. For as good as they were, it was a little bit of puck luck that led to the opening goal. Some great pressure from Martin Necas and company led to Andrei Svechnikov picking up the puck all alone and he whipped one past the blocker of Grubauer to get the fans on their feet. The deluge continued for the Canes for the rest of the period and before it was over, they found the back of the net once again. The fourth line, arguably the team's strongest all night, combined on a beautiful passing with Derek Stepan on the receiving end as he wired a snap shot over the glove of Grubauer to double the lead. The Kraken only managed four shots in the period as Pyotr Kochetkov sat back and watched the magic in front of him. 

The pressure continued into the second period for the Canes as they killed the remainder of their first penalty of the game and the fourth line once again found themselves on the good side of the play. Stefan Noesen was thwarted on a breakaway attempt by Adam Larsson and it was enough for him to draw the first penalty shot attempt of his career. On the ensuing chance, Noesen went old-school as he beat Grubauer with a half-slap shot over the glove to make it 3-0 and it looked like the Canes were about the roll over Seattle. Give credit to Seattle though because they stayed in this game until the very end. With a goalie playing as well as Kochetkov has lately, it was going to take a perfect shot to beat him and that's exactly what Seattle got. Carson Soucy's shot from the point hit a few things on its way to the net, including the stick of Ryan Donato, as the deflected puck hit the crossbar and crossed the goalline to officially put an end to the shutout streak. There's nothing Kochetkov could've done about it. It was just a perfect chain that led to Seattle finding a new life. Near the end of the period, Jesperi Kotkaniemi was called for a high-sticking penalty that seriously looked like it was friendly fire and I'm still not sure the referees know what happened. They had initially called the penalty, then announced that it was friendly fire, then called the penalty again to put the Canes short-handed once again. Though the Canes would kill it, that could've been bad if Seattle had found a way to score. Instead, the Canes went to the locker room with a 3-1 lead and needing a strong third period to get the job done. 

The Canes re-found their spark at the beginning of the third period as they tried to re-establish their three-goal lead, but Grubauer refused to budge. For as good as Kochetkov has been in this recent stretch, he's going to want the goal from Daniel Sprong back because it was just a leaky one. He looked to have it played perfectly. He just didn't squeeze hard enough as the puck trickled into the net to cut the lead down to one. This is when the PTSD of some fans kicked back in because this felt like it was about to turn into a classic Canes game where they were the dominant team and they were going to find a way to blow the lead. The Kraken had all the momentum on their side as they pushed for the tying goal. Kochetkov, not keen on seeing overtime, shut the door and the defense rallied around their rookie netminder to limit Seattle's chances. I think we all let out a collective sigh of relief when Seth Jarvis outworked Soucy to earn a late power play for the Canes. While the power play looked bad, it essentially killed two minutes that Seattle could've used to tie the game. Once the penalty was killed, the Kraken couldn't get set up. The Canes suffocated every entry they had into the zone and eventually iced the game away to earn a victory that ended up being much closer than it needed to be. 

I can't sing the praises of the fourth line enough tonight. I thought they were excellent for three periods and they played a huge part in the Canes pulling away early. All three guys found their names on the scoresheet tonight for their efforts. The Staal line was back together and played very well too. Tonight's crazy stat is that Paul Stastny, playing in his 1,100th game, led the forwards in ice time with 18:22, five seconds more than Necas. Everyone on the team finished with at least one shot tonight as everyone got into the action at some point. I don't think this was a case of the Canes sitting back once they got a big lead. I think this was a goalie playing great to keep his team in the game after they dug themselves into a hole. Grubauer, despite the loss, was probably the first star of the game and Seattle's best player tonight. Still, the Canes did enough early to get out in front of the game and enough at the end to hold on. It was just nice to see them on home ice again. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Jordan Martinook (5 Shots)

He had a hat trick during the road trip and he easily could've had one again tonight. He had so many excellent chances to find the back of the net that were taken away by Grubauer. He tied with a team-high five shots and had the best chance for either team during a power play with a redirection that Grubauer got over on during the second penalty kill. It was just one of those nights for Martinook. 

Second Star- Jack Drury (Assist)

This was easily Drury's best game of the season as he was a central part of the fourth line's success tonight. He, like Martinook, finished the game with five shots and while he didn't find the net, he did make a beautiful play to set up the Stepan goal at the end of the first period. He's gotten so much more comfortable in his role and it's now showing itself on the scoresheet. 

First Star- Stefan Noesen (PS Goal)

It's not often that a goal on a penalty shot is the game-winner. It's also not often that the Canes score on a penalty shot as Noesen became the first Hurricane in five years to bury one. I thought he played a solid game on both ends tonight. While his penalty shot was his only shot, he did a little bit of everything. He laid three hits, blocked a shot, and, most importantly, had the game-winning marker. 

What's Next

The homestand doesn't get much easier for the Canes as they get set to welcome the Dallas Stars for the first half of a back-to-back. Dallas sits atop the Central Division at the moment and they too won tonight, beating Washington 2-1 in D.C. They entered the third period down 1-0 but a power-play goal by Jamie Benn and a tally from Colin Miller just 1:19 apart in the first 2:07 of the period put the Stars ahead and it would remain that way as Jake Oettinger made 45 stops in the victory. The Stars have won four of their last five games and feature some of the most skilled players in the entire league. Their top six might be among the best in the league. It's even more exciting for me because I get to bear witness to this battle between Stanley Cup hopefuls. The Canes have an interesting decision to make between the pipes because they'll need both guys going with the back-to-back this weekend and the Penguins coming to town on Sunday.