2022-23 Regular Season, Game 41: Hurricanes (25-8-7) v. New Jersey Devils

As the Hurricanes and Devils get set to collide for the third time in as many weeks, it's hard to ignore that the two teams are trending in the opposite directions than they were when they met the previous two times. The Canes were the team on a roll for the first two meetings while New Jersey was looking for wins. Now, the Canes are struggling to win games while the Devils have begun to make up ground in the Metropolitan Division. Carolina has dropped three straight games, though they managed a point in their last outing on Saturday afternoon against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Despite another game where the Canes outshot their opponent by a ton, they didn't play like the better team. They fell behind 2-0 in the second period on two power-play goals from Kirill Marchenko before scoring three unanswered goals before the end of the period. Max Pacioretty scored two of the three, his first two as a Hurricane, with Brady Skjei the third. In the third period, Columbus was the better team as Marchenko finished his first-career hat trick and Columbus forced overtime. The two sides played five continuous minutes of overtime without a whistle and in the shootout, Joonas Korpisalo made one more save than Antti Raanta did to earn the second point. It stinks to lose again but at least we earned a point. It doesn't make me feel great as we move into this third meeting with New Jersey but it's still early as we hit the midway point of the season. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Max Pacioretty-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Andrei Svechnikov-Paul Stastny-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Teuvo Teravainen-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Stefan Noesen

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Jalen Chatfield-Dylan Coghlan

Pyotr Kochetkov

Antti Raanta

Injuries/Scratches- Derek Stepan (healthy), Calvin de Haan (healthy)

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

The Canes will be rolling the same lines they did against Columbus on Saturday with one change. Stefan Noesen returns to the lineup after leaving the game against the Rangers in the first period. Max Pacioretty, coming off his two-goal performance, remains on the top line with Teuvo Teravainen sticking on the fourth line. Dylan Coghlan will also stay in the lineup with Calvin de Haan serving as the healthy extra on defense. Pyotr Kochetkov will be in the net for the Canes. He's 2-0-0 in his career against the Devils and will look to end a two-game losing streak tonight. 

Tonight's Opponent: New Jersey Devils (25-12-3, 53 Points, 2nd the Metropolitan Division)

The Devils, like the Canes, have played three games since the last meeting. They've won two of those three games and have earned points in four of their last five games overall. They've shrunk the Canes' lead in the division down to four points with this game serving as a huge game for both sides. Their last game was a solid overtime victory over the New York Rangers at home on Saturday afternoon. It was a huge afternoon for New Jersey'd All-Star selection Jack Hughes. He factored on all three goals in regulation for the Devils, scoring twice and assisting on Jesper Bratt's power-play goal. In overtime, Damon Severson did it all by himself as he beat Igor Shesterkin to finish the comeback for New Jersey in a 4-3 victory. Vitek Vanecek stopped 31 shots to earn his 15th win of the season. 

Last Meeting v. Carolina- The two teams began 2023 with a New Year's Day tilt in New Jersey and it was a battle. Neither team scored in the first period before the offensive floodgates opened in the final 40 minutes. Derek Stepan opened the scoring and after Hughes tied it, Sebastian Aho scored short-handed after Mackenzie Blackwood misplayed the puck and handed it right to him. The scoring picked up in the third period. Jesper Bratt tied the game early in the period. Stepan scored his second of the game to regain the lead. Nico Hischier tied it and Bratt scored his second of the game just over five minutes apart to give New Jersey their first lead of the game. This lead didn't last long as Martin Necas scored on the power play to tie it. This would eventually lead to overtime and after neither team scored, Andrei Svechnikov scored the lone goal of the shootout to earn the win. 

New Jersey's Starting Goalie: Vitek Vanecek (15-5-2, 2.34 GAA, .914 SV%)- Vanecek will get the nod for the Devils again for this game. He was in the net for the first meeting this season, allowing three goals through 40 minutes before being pulled in favor of Blackwood. Vanecek has won each of his last three starts, allowing two goals per game during that stretch. He's coming off of a 31-save performance on Saturday afternoon against the Rangers. 

New Jersey Player to Watch: Tomas Tatar- Not only does he have one of the best nicknames in hockey but he's also playing some very good hockey. He has eight points in his last eight games, including two assists in the shootout loss to the Canes on New Year's Day. He's now fifth on the team in scoring and while he's ten points behind the next closest teammate, he's provided some much-needed scoring depth to the team. The Canes better not let the Tuna get loose. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 13:03- Jesperi Kotkaniemi (7) SH (assisted by Martin Necas (22))

(NJD) 17:04- Jonas Siegenthaler (2) (assisted by Dougie Hamilton (26) & Nico Hischier (21))

2nd Period

(CAR) 8:50- Max Pacioretty (3) (assisted by Sebastian Aho (20) & Brady Skjei (11))

(CAR) 17:34- Sebastian Aho (13) SH (assisted by Teuvo Teravainen (13) & Brett Pesce (13))

(NJD) 19:08- Dawson Mercer (9) (assisted by Damon Severson (7) & Ryan Graves (9))

(NJD) 19:26- Jesper Boqvist (4) (assisted by Dawson Mercer (15) & Michael McLeod (13))

3rd Period

(NJD) 8:53- Dawson Mercer (10) (assisted by Jesper Boqvist (2) & Michael McLeod (14))

(NJD) 19:04- Nico Hischier (19) EN (assisted by Tomas Tatar (16) & Erik Haula (17))

Let's Talk About the Game

We've told this story way too many times in the last two weeks. The Canes entered the third period tied and came out on the losing end of it. It doesn't help that it was a division game that they controlled for 39 minutes. The Canes were a little undisciplined to begin the game, taking two early penalties. Little did we know that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world tonight. Give some credit to Jesper Fast for forcing Vitek Vanecek to hold onto a shot to get a face-off in the attacking zone because, on the ensuing draw, Martin Necas played it forward to himself and set up Jesperi Kotkaniemi for the opening goal of the game short-handed. Unfortunately for Pyotr Kochetkov tonight, a running theme was soft goals against the Hurricanes. Late in the first period, Jonas Siegenthaler takes a seemingly easy shot at the pads of Kochetkov and then starts to celebrate. The referee blows the whistle and initially, it just looked like a normal stop. Then, the referees take a look at it from every angle that ESPN showed, it looked like Kochetkov stopped it with his pad and then brought the puck out with his toe. That was until they went with the angle from Siegenthaler's back. It turns out that the puck bounced over the line to even the game. It was a tough way to end a period that the Canes were primed to finish with the lead. 

It looked like the Canes were going to get a good jump start to the period with Fast drawing an early power play for the team but that was shortly negated by an offensive zone penalty from Seth Jarvis. Regardless, the Canes came out of the break on fire and controlled the play for the better part of the period. For all of the good chances they were earning, it would be a weird bounce that would lead to the Canes taking the lead. For the second straight game, Max Pacioretty was the benefactor of a great bounce off of a defensive player as he batted at the puck behind the net and it would trickle over the line with some help from Yegor Sharangovich. Pacioretty was credited with the goal, his third in two games, as the Canes took the lead. After the Canes failed on their third power play of the night, they would be forced to kill their fourth penalty. Kochetkov would make a great save on Jack Hughes during this sequence but it was the Finnish connection that would extend the lead. On a 2-on-1, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen put Dougie Hamilton in a blender and after Teravainen nutmegged Hamilton with the pass, Aho buried the puck into a vacant net to make it 3-1 late in the period for the Canes. 

At this point, it felt like the Canes were in the driver's seat of this game. They seemed primed to enter the locker room with a two-goal lead at home against the team on their tails in the division. In 18 seconds, that lead would evaporate and this game became all about Dawson Mercer. Right after we entered the final minute of the period, Mercer made a move to the front of the net and after making the initial save, the puck squeaks through Kochetkov's pads to give the Devils some life. 18 seconds later, Mercer would find Jesper Boqvist with all the space in the world. Boqvist would elude the poke check from Kochetkov and would slide it between his pads to tie the game. Just like that, the Devils were back in this game and the two sides entered the third period with a clean slate. The Canes had no life in the third. New Jersey controlled the puck for most of the period and they would eventually find the go-ahead goal. Once again, Mercer torched the Canes' defense and made a beautiful play to get it to his forehand so he could slide it past Kochetkov to give New Jersey their first lead of the night. I'll contend that this shouldn't have been a goal. The entire play starts with Michael McLeod knocking the puck out of mid-air with a high stick so Boqvist could find Mercer. The Canes were unable to challenge the play since it didn't occur in the offensive zone, so it looks like the referees missed it. Either way, it wouldn't have mattered in hindsight. The Canes couldn't generate any offense against Vanecek and after Nico Hischier was awarded an empty-net goal after being hooked, the Devils celebrated at the final horn with a 5-3 victory. 

Losing four games in a row and watching your division lead shrink to just two points isn't a fun place to be. The good news is that we're only at the halfway point and the Canes still hold a decent lead over some other teams in the division. A lot of the online discourse tonight seems to be surrounding Kochetkov and his play recently. Many people are pointing out that he's been allowing a lot of soft goals, especially through the five-hole. I did something tonight that I don't usually do. I went back and watched each of the goals New Jersey scored on Kochetkov and for three of them, I found a single common thread. The first goal by Siegenthaler is inexcusable. That puck shouldn't go into the net and that is absolutely a soft goal by his standards. I want to talk about Dylan Coghlan's role in the next three goals. I want to make it clear that he's not the sole reason for these goals but he plays a significant role. On Mercer's first goal, after Kochetkov stops the initial shot, it was Coghlan's stick that knocks the puck into the net. On Boqvist's goal, he loses an edge to allow the forward a free shot at the net. It doesn't help that Kochetkov misses with the poke check but if Coghlan stays on his feet, maybe the chance never comes to fruition. The eventual winner from Mercer is a result of Coghlan being caught flat-footed. This allows Mercer to blow by him and score a pretty goal. It was an interesting decision to get Coghlan in for two straight. I think it's safe to say he's going to be in the press box on Thursday night. 

I've harped on a lot of the negatives from tonight's game. There were some positives to be taken away from the effort tonight. Pacioretty has provided the offensive touch we hoped he would as he scored another weird goal tonight. Aho had two points and seems to be back in the swing of things. Kotkaniemi earned a promotion tonight and spent some time between Svechnikov and Necas at the end of the game. The special teams looked very good tonight. The power play featured some new lines and while they didn't score, there were some glimmers of hope. The penalty kill was perfect and outscored the Devils 2-0 with two short-handed goals and had as many shots as the Devils did on the power play with five. They also kept Hughes off of the board and never allowed him to be the difference-maker he's proven to be. We're only at the halfway point of the season and the Canes are on pace for 114 points. While I doubt that's where they'll finish in April, it's a good sign that the team is in a good place relative to the rest of the league. They'll have plenty of challenges to overcome in the second half of the season and I'm excited for wherever the road goes from here. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Brett Pesce (Assist)

The first half of the season has been very good for the pairing of Skjei and Pesce. I feel like I've talked about them a lot thus far and after Skjei was the focus of the last few games, Pesce stepped up tonight and played a solid game. He put his body on the line, shaking off an early blocked shot that stung him a little, to put in a good effort and he'd be rewarded with an assist on Aho's short-handed goal. 

Second Star- Sebastian Aho (Goal, Assist)

After missing seven games with an injury, it took some time for him to look like he was back to normal. He's put in some solid performances in the last few games and finished tonight as the lone Hurricane with a multi-point night. He picked up the primary assist on Pacioretty's circus goal and then buried the team's second short-handed goal of the night, the 15th of his career, to put him one behind Eric Staal for the team record. 

First Star- Max Pacioretty (Goal)

We may have waited a long time to see him hit the ice and I speak for every fan when I say he's been worth the wait. He followed up his two-goal performance in Columbus with another goal tonight and while it might not have looked the prettiest, it still counts all the same on the scoreboard. I also appreciate that he doesn't shy away from contact as his hit on Hughes in the third period was the loudest the building got for the final 20 minutes. 

What's Next

The quest to earn Rod Brind'Amour his 200th victory as a head coach will have to wait another day as the team looks to get it for him in their return trip to Columbus on Thursday night. It's weird that the schedule has them returning there so soon after they visited on Saturday night but that's just how it worked out. After beating the Canes in a shootout on Saturday, they've lost two straight, including a 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight in Tampa. The Blue Jackets did all they could to stay in the game, pulling to within one goal on two different occasions, but two power-play goals in the third period for the Lightning put the game out of reach. Patrik Laine finished with two assists, Kirill Marchenko scored his in fourth goal in three games, and Tim Berni scored his first-career goal in the loss. After visiting Columbus, the Canes will return home for a weekend back-to-back against Pittsburgh on Saturday and Vancouver on Sunday.