2022-23 Regular Season, Game 44: Hurricanes (27-9-7) v. Vancouver Canucks

The Canes seemed to have found their groove once again. After snapping their four-game losing streak to Columbus on Thursday night, the Canes played a strong 60 minutes against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night. Powered by a penalty kill that stopped five of its six opportunities, a 34-save performance from Frederik Andersen, and goals from Brady Skjei and Jalen Chatfield, the Canes held on to beat the Penguins for the fourth time this season, 2-1. All four lines had their chances to shine at various points of the game and the defense did a good job of making sure the Penguins' stars didn't leave a huge impact on the game. These last two games have been won in very different fashions, something we've grown used to seeing from the Canes. Tonight, they'll look to remain perfect in the second half of back-to-backs as they look for their seventh straight win coming off of a game the night before. It'll be an earlier start than usual as they welcome the Vancouver Canucks for their lone trip to Raleigh this season for this cross-conference matchup. 

Projected Lines/Pairings 

Teuvo Teravainen-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Andrei Svechnikov-Paul Stastny-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Jesper Fast

Derek Stepan-Stefan Noesen

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Jalen Chatfield-Calvin de Haan

Dylan Coghlan

Pyotr Kochetkov

Antti Raanta

Injuries/Scratches- Jordan Staal (personal), Max Pacioretty (lower-body injury), Frederik Andersen (healthy)

IR- Ondrej Kase (LTIR- concussion)

Shortly before the game tonight, it was announced that Jordan Staal would not play due to personal reasons, so the Canes will go 11/7. This means that Dylan Coghlan will be in the lineup as the seventh defenseman. Pyotr Kochetkov will get the start in the net tonight trying to break a three-game skid of his own. He last played on Tuesday night in the 5-3 loss to the Devils. Antti Raanta will be his backup tonight with Frederik Andersen serving as a healthy extra. Max Pacioretty will miss his second straight game with a lower-body injury. 

Tonight's Opponent: Vancouver Canucks (17-22-3, 37 Points, 6th in the Pacific)

The Canucks are in the midst of some serious struggles. They've lost their last four games and seven of their last eight as they struggle to make any moves in a division that is starting to become a runaway train at the top. They're 14 points behind Edmonton and Calgary for a wild card spot despite some excellent individual performances. Elias Pettersson continues to develop into a star, leading the team with 52 points, and he's been named to this season's All-Star game. Bo Horvat has 30 goals already this season. JT Miller and Quinn Hughes are both operating at nearly a point per game. Andrei Kuzmenko is having an excellent first season in the league, with 17 goals and 36 points, though he isn't eligible for the Calder Trophy. The problem has been their goaltending. Despite having a top-ten offensive, they're 30th in the league in goals allowed per game and have the worst penalty kill in the league. The Canucks were also in action last night, visiting the Panthers in Sunrise. Jack Studnicka opened the scoring early in the first period but Ryan Lomberg evened things up to send the two sides into the intermission tied. Tyler Myers scored his first of the season 39 seconds into the third period to give Vancouver their second lead of the night. Florida would score three times in the second, including twice on the power play, to take a 4-2 lead. Horvat scored his 30th of the season on the power play in the third period but the comeback would fall short as Sergei Bobrovsky shut the door in the final minutes to secure the victory for Florida. Despite the loss, Pettersson and Horvat extended their point streaks to five and seven games, respectively. There are fewer players in the league hotter than Horvat right now with 16 points in his last ten games. 

Last Meeting v. Carolina- The two sides met in Vancouver in October amid a slow start for the Canucks and the last stop of a road trip for the Canes. Carolina had lost their last two games and Vancouver still had yet to win a game. The Canes struck first with Andrei Svechnikov scoring his 7th of the season on the power play. Miller responded with a power-play goal of his own to even things through 20 minutes. Neither team scored in the second period and Frederik Andersen and Thatcher Demko kept it even. Jesper Fast and Sebastian Aho scored 37 seconds apart in the first 90 seconds of the third period to make it 3-1 and despite a second goal from Miller, the Canes secured a 3-2 victory to end their two-game losing skid. Demko make 36 saves in the loss, while Andersen only needed to make 14. 

Vancouver's Starting Goalie: Colin Delia (3-2-0, 3.54 GAA, .893 SV%)- With Demko on the shelf and Spencer Martin playing last night, the Canucks will turn to their third-string goalie for today's game. Delia has a winning record in his first season with Vancouver but rough stats otherwise. He's allowed nine goals in his last two starts, getting pulled after allowing four to the Jets and allowing five in his last start, a 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay on Thursday night. Delia is 1-1-0 in three career appearances against the Canes. All three of his appearance came during the 2020-21 season. He allowed five goals on 82 shots, including a 36-save performance in his lone win and going a perfect 19-for-19 in a relief appearance. 

Vancouver Player to Watch: Brock Boeser- While many on the Canucks are scoring in bunches, it has been a slower start for Boeser. He did sustain a back injury earlier in the season but Boeser only has eight goals and 25 points. While his 25 points are the seventh-most on the team, it's a far cry from the best that we've seen him produce in his career. He's played well as of late, with five points in six games in 2023. Boeser picked up an assist last night in the loss to Florida and could be finding his stride as we enter the second half of the season. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 2:35- Paul Stastny (3) (assisted by Andrei Svechnikov (16) & Calvin de Haan (7))

(CAR) 19:26- Jordan Martinook (10) (assisted by Jaccob Slavin (11)

2nd Period

(VAN) 17:52- Ethan Bear (3) (assisted by Andrei Kuzmenko (20) & Jack Studnicka (4))

3rd Period

(VAN) 7:35- JT Miller (17) (assisted by Quinn Hughes (35)) 

(CAR) 17:08- Sebastian Aho (14) (assisted by Teuvo Teravainen (15) & Jaccob Slavin (12))

(VAN) 19:43- Brock Boeser (9) (assisted by Bo Horvat (18) & Andrei Kuzmenko (21))

Overtime

None

Shootout

1. Brent Burns is stopped by Colin Delia

2. Andrei Kuzmenko scored on Pyotr Kochetkov

3. Andrei Svechnikov scored on Colin Delia

4. JT Miller is stopped by Pyotr Kochetkov

5. Teuvo Teravainen is stopped by Colin Delia

6. Elias Pettersson scored on Pyotr Kochetkov

Let's Talk About the Game

Let's call a spade a spade. The Canes didn't look great for most of this game. They showed some flashes, especially during the plays leading to goals but the game felt like it was largely played in the defensive zone. The sounds inside PNA Arena were largely quiet for large portions of the game. At the end of the day, the Canes blew another third-period lead and weren't able to pick up the second point after being forced into overtime. The Canes played a solid first three minutes. They had a good redirection chance that just missed the net and then they'd get on the board first. Andrei Svechnikov made a great cross-seam pass to Paul Stastny, who was on an island all by himself. No one was remotely close to him as he buried his third goal of the season to get the Canes out to a quick start. From there, Vancouver had a lot of zone time in front of Pyotr Kochetkov, forcing him to make some big saves to keep it 1-0. The Canes would earn the first power play of the night and it was a stinker. They didn't generate much offense until the very end of the period when Jordan Martinook picked up his own rebound and roofed it over Colin Delia to make it 2-0 as the Canes went into the locker room holding the momentum. 

The second period felt like a lot of the same. Vancouver held onto the puck for a long time and Kochetkov was forced to make some big saves. He made one in particular with his glove close to his body as he moved from right to left to rob the Canucks. The penalty kill was called upon in the second period without Jordan Staal in the lineup and they got the job done. Credit needs to be given to Jesper Fast for denying what would've been a surefire goal. Kochetkov made the initial save and Fast tied up a stick as the rebound trickled to his left with the net wide open. It delayed the inevitable momentum changer for the Canucks and it came in the form of Ethan Bear. The former Hurricane has found some success in Vancouver after being traded early in the season. He snuck down from his point late in the second period and beat Kochetkov over the glove to cut the Canes' lead in half with 20 minutes to play. 

The Canucks rode this momentum through the third period and it would eventually net them the tying goal. JT Miller uncorked a wicked shot from just inside of the blue line and though he was denied by the metal, he followed up his shot by backhanding the rebound into the net to knot things up at 2-2. Both teams tried their hardest to find that little sliver of space to get the tie-breaker but it wouldn't come until the end of the third period. After an excellent stretch pass to Teuvo Teravainen from Jaccob Slavin, Sebastian Aho won a race against Luke Schenn to get a breakaway chance on Delia. He made no mistake about it and sent PNC Arena into a frenzy with less than three minutes to play. The Canucks would pull Delia in favor of the extra skater and that gamble would pay off as Brock Boeser slid a rebound chance through Kochetkov with 17 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime. Overtime was exciting as both goalies made some huge saves. Kochetkov made a key breakaway save and Delia extended his pads to deny Slavin in the final seconds to keep it tied and send the game to a shootout. Luck was not on the Canes' side in the shootout. Both Brent Burns and Teravainen hit the crossbar and Svechnikov's goal wasn't enough as Andrei Kuzmenko and Elias Pettersson got shots past Kochetkov to steal the second point from the Canes. 

Rod Brind'Amour was candid in his statement after the game that the Canes never clicked tonight and that the power play was especially terrible. He wasn't happy with their two chances on the power play and neither were the fans. It's not that the Canes look tired after last night's big win over Pittsburgh, it just never felt like they got comfortable and found their game. With the seven-man rotation on defense, Dylan Coghlan only plated 4:22 tonight but he did have a blocked shot in the second period. It wasn't all bad for the Canes tonight. Aho is still playing really well, picking up another goal. Slavin almost had the winner in overtime and finished with two assists. Despite another loss, Kochetkov made some key saves and looked good often. It didn't take long for the news to circulate that the Canes are sending him back down to Chicago and I think that's the right decision. He's clearly in a position to take over the net as early as next season and with Frederik Andersen coming back, it's easier to carry the two veterans and let Kochetkov get most of the starts in Chicago. He'll be back at some point this season and he'll be welcomed with open arms by this fanbase. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Pyotr Kochetkov (29 Saves)

The results just haven't been there for him as of late but the saves he made in overtime were tough. He faced four saves from the Canucks during the extra session, all of which were high-danger, and he shrugged them off like they were nothing. He'll have to live with the shootout loss but has nothing to be ashamed of with his performance tonight. 

Second Star- Jaccob Slavin (2 Assists)

I might as well just insert the "good two-way night" stuff that I always say about Slavin. He played a strong night on both ends of the ice as he led the team in ice time. He blocked a few shots in the defensive zone and was the only Hurricane to record multiple points with two helpers. The stretch pass to set up the Aho was especially nice. 

First Star- Sebastian Aho (Goal)

This is the All-Star player that we've grown to love. His goal sent some electricity through the arena and gave us something to cheer about for the first time in a while. Though it wouldn't be the game-winner we all hoped it'd be, it was still an awesome moment. He led the team with five shots tonight and had a few other solid chances to find the net. 

What's Next

Having played three games in four days, the Canes are set to get a nice three-day break from playing as they are next slated to be in action on Thursday night as the Minnesota Wild come to town. They'll be in Washington on Tuesday night to face the Capitals before traveling to Raleigh. The Canes will then head to Long Island for their third meeting with the Islanders on Saturday night before getting another three-day break afterward. There are a lot of off days for the Canes in the next two weeks, so they need to be taking full advantage of them.