2022-23 Regular Season, Game 59: Hurricanes (39-11-8) at Vegas Golden Knights

A busy month of March kicks off with the Hurricanes traveling to Las Vegas for the first of two games on a brief trip to the west. The last game before the trip was a bit of a downer with the Canes falling victim to a great goalie performance from John Gibson and the Anaheim Ducks. The game remained scoreless until the Ducks broke through Frederik Andersen late in the second period. They'd add another goal early in the third period before Jesperi Kotkaniemi broke the shutout just 13 seconds later. Anaheim scored during a 4-on-4 to regain a two-goal lead but Jesper Fast redirected a puck past Gibson to cut it back down to one goal. From there, Gibson took over and finished the night with 51 saves as the Ducks completed the upset to win both games against the Canes this season. In the grand scheme of the season, it's not the worst loss of the season, but it sure stinks to lose to a bad team. They'll not re-focus on the task ahead as they prepare to take on their biggest month of the season. 11 of their next 16 games are against playoff-caliber teams and they're in a tight race in the division with New Jersey. They can't afford to fall off now. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Andrei Svechnikov-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Teuvo Teravainen-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Stefan Noesen-Paul Stastny-Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Calvin de Haan-Jalen Chatfield

Frederik Andersen

Antti Raanta

Injuries/Scratches- Dylan Coghlan (healthy), Jesse Pujujarvi (recently acquired), Shayne Gostisbehere (recently acquired)

IR- Max Pacioretty (Achilles), Ondrej Kase (LTIR- concussion)

There won't be any changes to the Canes' lineup tonight as the same group of 18 will play in front of Frederik Andersen tonight. The Canes put up 53 shots in the loss to Anaheim and though Andersen only faced 15 shots, he only stopped 12. Though they haven't joined the team yet, there are some new names added to the roster as the team acquired Jesse Puljujarvi from the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday and Shayne Gostisbehere from the Arizona Coyotes today. It is unclear when Puljujarvi will join the team but Gostisbehere is expected to play on Friday against the team that traded him. 

Tonight's Opponent: Vegas Golden Knights (35-19-6, 76 points, 1st in the Pacific Division)

We talk a lot about the current state of the Metropolitan Division but the race in the Pacific Division features four teams separated by six points. At the top of the group is the Vegas Golden Knights, the league's 31st team that missed the postseason for the first time in 2021-22. They appear primed to make it back this season and a big part of that is getting Jack Eichel for most of the season. He missed a month earlier in the season but he's been at nearly a point-per-game pace (43 points in 47 games) and leads the team with 20 goals. Chandler Stephenson is also having a huge season, leading the team with 38 assists and 50 points. They've also received spectacular goaltending rookie Logan Thompson. He leads all rookies with 20 wins with solid numbers all-around. They're on a little slide right now, losing three of their last four games (1-1-2), including a 3-0 loss in their last game to Colorado on Monday night. Mikko Rantanen scored 14 seconds into the game and that was all Colorado would need. He would add another goal and Nathan MacKinnon would score an empty-netter as Alexander Georgiev completed the 31-save shutout. Adin Hill play well in the loss, stopping 31 of the 33 shots he faced. 

Last Season v. Carolina- Carolina won both meetings last season, scoring four goals in each game. They first met in November in Vegas with Carolina taking a decisive 4-2 victory. Tony DeAngelo and Sebastian Aho each scored in the first period to take a 2-0 but Vegas fought back in the second with two goals in 1:19 on goals from Brett Howden and Shea Theodore. The Canes would pull ahead early in the third on Seth Jarvis' second-career goal and Vincent Trocheck added an insurance goal to seal the win. The script was very similar during Vegas' trip to Raleigh in January. Nino Niederreiter and Trocheck scored 57 seconds apart in the second and Nolan Patrick scored late in the period to make it 2-1. Aho added a goal on the power play early in the third but Howden scored once again and Nicolas Hague tied it with 2:30 left to force overtime. The Canes would get the second point as Aho scored his second of the night in overtime to sweep the season series. 

Vegas' Starting Goalie: Adin Hill (14-6-1, 2.48 GAA, .912 SV%)- With Thompson still a little banged up, Vegas will deploy Hill once again tonight. He played well in the team's 3-0 loss to Colorado on Monday night, snapping a four-game winning streak for Hill. This will be Hill's second start and his third appearance in his career against the Canes, both while with Arizona. He stopped the only shot he faced in relief of Antti Raanta in a game in January 2020 and allowed three goals in a 3-0 loss in his lone start in December 2018. 

Vegas Player to Watch: Brett Howden- Why will I be keeping close attention on a player with three goals and six points this season? Because he scored both times the two teams played last season, accounting for two of his nine goals. It might be a slight overreaction considering he's a fourth-line player that likely won't play much. He hasn't scored a point in four games but two of his three goals have come in the last two and a half weeks. Either I'm on to something huge here or it'll be nothing. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

None

2nd Period

(VGK) 5:11- Jack Eichel (21) (assisted by William Carrier (9) & Shea Theodore (27))

(CAR) 13:02- Martin Necas (24) (assisted by Teuvo Teravainen (22))

(VGK) 18:51- Jack Eichel (22) (assisted by Ivan Barbashev (20) & Phil Kessel (15))

3rd Period

(CAR) 12:45- Jordan Staal (16) (assisted by Brent Burns (33) & Jaccob Slavin (14))

(VGK) 16:19- Reilly Smith (20) (assisted by Michael Amadio (8) & William Karlsson (28))

Let's Talk About the Game

As a North Carolinian, I hate 10 pm starts. Whenever I see them on the schedule, it upsets me. I am mentally prepared for having to stay up late and I hope that my team plays well to make up for the lack of sleep I'll have once it's over. I also hate nationally-televised games. Call me old-fashioned but I like when I'm watching a broadcast and the announcers know the inner workings of my team. I feel we have an excellent crew with Mike, Tripp, Shane, and Hanna. I usually get a bad feeling and I want them to have a good showing in front of a national audience. Suffice it to say, last night was not a fun one. The scoreboard shows 3-2 at the end of the day in Vegas' favor but it never felt like the Canes deserved to win. The offense went stagnant for long stretches. Vegas seemed to find the formula against our defense. There were a ton of sloppy plays with the puck that ultimately led to their defeat. It honestly could've been worse had Vegas not hit two posts. This wasn't like the Anaheim game where John Gibson stole the show. Adin Hill was good but the Canes also made his night very easy. 

The Canes came out of the gate hot, throwing tons of shots at Hill that he was catching and kicking away. Vegas started to shift the momentum back in their favor and used it to draw the game's only penalty on Martin Necas late in the first. The kill came through once again the keep Vegas off the board and after Shea Theodore rang the far post against Frederik Andersen, the two sides ended the period in a scoreless draw. Vegas scored early in the second period, taking advantage of some tired bodies on the ice for the Canes. Brett Pesce didn't apply enough pressure on Jack Eichel and he snapped one over the glove of Andersen to make it 1-0. After being held with a shot for close to 15 minutes, the Canes started to push back. It took a little bit but Necas would atone for his penalty by turning it into a one-man show. He made a subtle move to get around a Vegas defender before surprising Hill with a quick shot that beat him under his glove to tie the game. The Canes looked like they should've taken a 2-1 lead a few minutes later but an early whistle from the referee waved off a tap-in goal for Andrei Svechnikov. There wasn't much protesting from the Canes but I do think the whistle was a little premature. Hill had initially stopped a high shot and as he was going down, the puck fell to the ice. By that point, the whistle had blown. Instead, Vegas ended the period with a 2-1 lead after a tough shift from Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns. Slavin tried to control a puck and skate into the zone but never really got a handle on it. This allowed Vegas to transition and instead of worrying about Eichel, Burns opted to pinch on Ivan Barbashev, who had the puck. Barbashev backhanded an easy pass to Eichel, springing him on a breakaway and he buried his second of the night with just over a minute left. 

Playing from behind for most of the period, the Canes were just doing whatever they could to generate something. It was a lot of long wrist shots that either were blocked or caught by Hill. They did a good job of making sure Vegas didn't get many chances to extend their lead and Andersen was making stops when he needed to. As is usually the case, the Canes found their answer from the captain. Burns let a soft wrist go from the point. Jordan Staal managed to get the shaft of his stick on it and redirected it past Hill to even it up again. I don't know off the top of my head how many times Staal has scored a clutch goal this season but I'm willing to bet it's been quite a few. This good feeling didn't last long. With under four minutes left, William Karlsson got a puck behind the Canes' defense to spark a 2-on-1 for Vegas. Michael Amadio outwaited Jalen Chatfield, found Reilly Smith, and made no mistakes as he beat a sprawling Andersen to take the lead for the third time. Talk about a deflating goal. The Canes pulled Andersen with about two minutes left and I'm not sure they managed to get a shot with the extra skater on the ice. Vegas kept finding ways to clear the zone and they iced it away to take the 3-2 win. 

It wasn't a matter of rest for the Canes because they hadn't played since Saturday. I also don't think the travel was much of an issue. I just think they played a flat game. Vegas is a very good team but I don't think they're better than the Canes. Tonight, they were. Each line showed flashes but they never put together a complete game. Andersen was good and while you'd like a save on one of the two goals from Eichel, I can't place much blame on him. It's the second time in four games the Canes haven't gotten a power play and I'm not sure how that's humanly possible. Given their struggles this season, I'm not sure it would've made a difference. They were the second-best team on the ice tonight and they lost. It's as simple as that. 

I do need to get on my soapbox a little bit because I have something to say about the TNT broadcast last night. The focus of the last two weeks has been the trade deadline coming up on Friday and all of the big moves that have been made. Carolina has made two trades, as I highlighted earlier. Jesse Puljujarvi and Shayne Gostisbehere are by no means the biggest stars in the league but to hear a group of experts say the Canes need to go out and get a star player is absurd. They've been in on several big goal-scorers, like Bo Horvat and Timo Meier. They aren't going to blow the organization up for a player they can't guarantee wants to sign long-term. We've been talking about the arms race in the Metropolitan Division with New Jersey getting Meier and the Rangers getting Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane. New Jersey gave up seven assets for Meier. Kane wasn't going to any other team than the Rangers. New York is the rare exception of a team that has largely been shaped by trading for big names. Tampa Bay won three Stanley Cups with most of its core being homegrown. Colorado's superstars are homegrown. Boston's core is homegrown. Don't push the narrative that a team has to trade for stars to be successful at the deadline. Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov are both stars. They have one of the best defenses in the league and a solid goaltending group. They have the second-best record in the league. It's going to be fine. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Teuvo Teravainen (Assist)

I'm almost exclusively adding him to this list because of the sequence of plays he had leading up to the Necas goal. He made an excellent play defensively to lift Karlsson's stick to prevent a chance in front of Andersen, then began the play leading to the goal, being credited with the only assist on Necas' goal. It was an otherwise quiet game with Teravainen with just one shot to go with his assist. 

Second Star- Jordan Staal (Goal)

Staal scoring a clutch goal for the Canes is like McDavid scoring a point anytime he's on the ice. Once it gets to the third period in a game where the Canes are either tied or down a goal, you know who is going to get on the board. His only shot of the night was his redirection to tie the game at two but he also finished the game with six hits, tied with Svechnikov for the most on the team tonight. 

First Star- Martin Necas (Goal)

The fantastic ride continues for Necas as he scores once again and this one was pretty. It felt like he was starting to take the game over in the second period and it led to a beautiful goal to get the Canes on the board. He made up for his penalty in the first period and finished tied for the team lead with three shots in the game. He now sits alone in points for the moment with 53. 

What's Next

The short trip out west as the Canes travel to Arizona to face the Coyotes on Friday night. It'll be the first time they've played at Mullett Arena on Arizona State's campus, so I'm curious about what the atmosphere is going to be like. The Coyotes fell tonight in Dallas 4-2, despite holding a 2-0 lead in the first. Tyler Seguin scored twice and added an assist for Dallas while Barrett Hayton and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes. Shayne Gostisbehere is expected to make his team debut and he won't need to go far since he'll be going to the opponent's locker room in Arizona. The team will return home for a nationally-televised afternoon game against Tampa Bay on Sunday. The Lightning will be playing the second game in a back-to-back and their third game in four nights with games against Pittsburgh on Thursday and Buffalo on Saturday.