Thoughts From My Couch

After a successful back-to-back in Raleigh last week, the Hurricanes are back on the road, trying to get off to a great start against Metropolitan rivals. The trip begins in Philadelphia against the Flyers. The Canes are coming off a 3-0 win on Friday night against the Sharks behind a Teuvo Teravainen hat trick and a 20-save shutout by Antti Raanta. On top of it all, the team got Andrei Svechnikov back after a long absence. The Hurricanes will try and extend their win streak against a tough Flyers team.  Scoring Summary 1st Period CAR (3:11)- Stefan Noesen (2) (assisted by Andrei Svechnikov (1) & Dmitry Orlov (4)) PHI (15:09)- Owen Tippett (2) (assisted by Sean Couturier (6)) PHI (18:23)- Garnet Hathaway (1) (assisted by Nicolas Deslauriers (1) & Scott Laughton (6)) 2nd Period CAR (9:02)- Michael Bunting (3) PP (assisted by Stefan Noesen (6)) 3rd Period CAR (16:13)- Teuvo Teravainen (8) (assisted by Michael Bunting (5) & Jesperi Kotkaniemi (6)) My Thoughts Sometimes, it...

Daily Headlines Monday 10/23 Jake Allen stops 36 shots, backstopping the Canadiens to a 3-1 road victory against the Sabres.  Tuesday 10/24 For the second time ever, all 32 teams were in action with staggered start times from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. After Jared McCann ties the game late, Jordan Eberle scores with five seconds left in overtime to defeat the Red Wings.  Wednesday 10/25 27-year-old undrafted goalie Hunter Shepard makes his NHL debut for the Capitals and backstops a 6-4 victory over the Devils.   Thursday 10/26 Anaheim scores twice in the final two minutes, and Mason MacTavish completes the comeback to hand the Bruins their first loss of the season 4-3 in overtime.  Martin Necas records two goals and three points, including the game-winner in overtime, to help the Hurricanes erase a 2-0 deficit and snap their three-game losing streak against Seattle.  Tristan Jarry's 31 saves and a pair of goals from Reilly Smith help the Penguins hand Colorado its f...

It was a fun return to PNC Arena for the Hurricanes last week. After spending a long time on the road, the Canes took back-to-back wins against Seattle and San Jose in very different ways. They erased a 2-0 deficit against the Kraken, getting heroics from Martin Necas in the final ten seconds of overtime to snap a three-game losing streak. On Friday, in Andrei Svechnikov's return to the lineup, Teuvo Teravainen scored all three goals, and Antti Raanta stopped 20 shots to earn the 20th shutout of his career. Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho finished with assists on two of Teravianen's goals, with Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield also earning points. After a rough road trip, this was the best response we could've asked for as fans.  The Opponent: Philadelphia Flyers (4-3-1, 9 Points- 5th in the Metropolitan Division) After an incredible start last season, the Philadelphia Flyers missed the playoffs for the third straight season and the seventh time in the previous 11. The team...

It was a big movement weekend for several conferences, with four Top 25 battles, headlined by a PAC-12 battle to help thin the crowd atop the conference. Some of the SEC's best faced tough battles, while two of the ACCs best went at it to try and keep pace with Florida State. Several teams survived close calls, while a few highly ranked teams were given rude awakenings.  Game of the Week- Kansas 38,  #6 Oklahoma 33 (Lawrence, KS) Business in the Big 12 is wide open again. All Oklahoma had to do was win out, and they'd be in a great position to make the College Football Playoff. Kansas had different ideas. The Jayhawks controlled the early portion of the game, highlighted by intercepting Dillon Gabriel and returning it to the house. With Kansas ahead 14-7, the game entered an extended weather delay with lightning in the area. Once play resumed, Oklahoma took charge again. They scored two quick touchdowns to take its first lead, leading 21-17 once halftime rolled around. The sec...

The Hurricanes got back in the win column last night by erasing a 2-0 deficit to win in overtime. The Kotkaniemi line took over the game, combining for three goals and six points. Two goals came from Martin Necas, including the game-winner in overtime. Tonight, the Hurricanes and Sharks will complete back-to-backs. The big news is the return of Andrei Svechnikov after missing the end of last season and the start of this season while recovering from a torn ACL.  Scoring Summary 1st Period CAR (6:10)- Teuvo Teravainen (5) PP (assisted by Seth Jarvis (4) & Sebastian Aho (4)) CAR (15:10)- Teuvo Teravainen (6) (assisted by Dmitry Orlov (3) & Jalen Chatfield (1)) 2nd Period None 3rd Period CAR (6:06)- Teuvo Teravainen (7) (assisted by Seth Jarvis (5) & Sebastian Aho (5)) My Thoughts This back-to-back was excellent for all fantasy hockey owners with Martin Necas and Teuvo Teravainein, especially if you have both like I do. After the Kotkaniemi line dominated Thursday's win ove...

The Hurricanes returned home Thursday night and picked up a huge comeback win to end their three-game losing streak. They fell into a 2-0 hole in the first period after Oliver Bjorkstrand made a great move to get Brent Burns off balance before sniping it top shelf, then he set up Devin Shore with an incredible aerial pass before he finished the play. The Canes got one late as Martin Necas batted a puck home from the top of the crease. This goal would prove to be huge. Neither team scored in the second period, a rare occurrence for a Canes game this season. In the third, the Canes finally tied it late. A good play by Brady Skjei began a transition chance. He passed it over to Necas, who spun and fired it to a trailing Jesperi Kotkaniemi. No mistakes were made as Kotkaniemi lifted it past Joey Daccord in the final five minutes. The game would move to overtime, and Seattle controlled the puck for most of the five minutes. They recorded the first three shots, and Frederik Andersen was up t...

Returning home on a three-game losing streak, the Hurricanes played their first home game at PNC Arena in 15 days. They were met by the Seattle Kraken, who'd beaten the break off them during their west coast road trip. Eyeing some revenge, the Canes looked to turn the tides in front of a raucous crowd in Raleigh on Thursday night.  Scoring Summary 1st Period SEA (11:24)- Oliver Bjorkstrand (2) (assisted by Jade Schwartz (1) & Jamie Oleksiak (1)) SEA (14:52)- Devin Shore (1) (assisted by Oliver Bjorkstrand (5)) CAR (18:22)- Martin Necas (3) (assisted by Michael Bunting (4) & Jesperi Kotkaniemi (5)) 2nd Period None 3rd Period CAR (15:36)- Jesperi Kotkaniemi (4) (assisted by Martin Necas (5) & Brady Skjei (6)) Overtime CAR (4:50)- Martin Necas (4) (assisted by Tony DeAngelo (4) & Sebastian Aho (3)) My Thoughts With each overtime, Martin Necas continues to write himself into the lore of Carolina Hurricanes history. It's like he turns into a new player every time the...

The losing streak extended to three games on Tuesday night after the Canes were shut out 3-0 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The loss to end the road trip dropped the Hurricanes to 3-4-0 this season. Pyotr Kochetkov tried his best to keep the Canes in the game, but the Bolts scored a goal in the final three minutes of each period, and Jonas Johansson stopped all 32 shots he faced for his second-career shutout. It wasn't all bad for the Hurricanes as Sebastian Aho returned to the lineup after his three-game absence. The team finally gets some time on home ice, playing their first home game since the Opening Night win over Ottawa.  The Opponent: Seattle Kraken (2-4-1, 5 Points- 5th in the Pacific Division) Last Meeting- Exactly one week ago, the Canes and Kraken met at Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle came into the game winless, scoring just three goals in four games. Yanni Gourde and Jesper Fast traded goals 19 seconds apart, but two special teams goals, one on the power play by Jaden...

After two rounds without much drama, both championship series went the distance, providing enough storylines to make up for the first few weeks. Third Wild Card teams and one division champion remained in the hopes of becoming World Champions. The races for the pennants were thrilling and left many people surprised.  To avoid writing a million words for each series, I'm going to keep things brief. I'll try to give the headlines for each game to paint an accurate picture of what transpired in both seven-game series.  Championship Series Preview ALCS- 2. Houston Astros vs. 5. Texas Rangers Game 1- Jordan Montgomery weaves 6.1 shutout innings, and Leody Tavares hits his first home run of the postseason to lead Texas to a 2-0 win in the opening game of the ALCS.  Game 2- Yordan Alvarez homers twice in Houston's attempted comeback, but the Astros cannot overcome a four-run 1st inning and a Jonah Heim home run as the Rangers go up 2-0 in the series with a 5-4 win.  Game 3-...

The Hurricanes' road trip is finally ending as they travel to Tampa Bay to close the six-game journey. Needing a win to pull even for the trip, the Canes look to get to Jonas Johansson early. The team received positive news before the game as Sebastian Aho returned from his three-game absence with an upper-body injury. He would be on the wing of Teuvo Teravainen as he looked to get back into the action.  Scoring Summary 1st Period TB (19:04)- Brayden Point (1) PP (assisted by Victor Hedman (6) & Nikita Kucherov (4)) 2nd Period TB (17:51)- Alex Barre-Boulet (2) (assisted by Darren Raddysh (3) & Brayden Point (8)) 3rd Period TB (17:04)- Nick Paul (4) (assisted by Brandon Hagel (3) & Mikhail Sergachev (3)) My Thoughts Just when you think you get the defense figured out, the offense decides to go cold. Granted, it's one game without a goal, but we've yet to see the offense and defense work together in harmony this season. This isn't to say the defense was perfec...

The Hurricanes have returned to the correct time zone after a road trip that saw them go 2-3-0 against some solid Western Conference opponents. Injuries played a significant part in the last few games, and they only got worse for the game in Colorado on Saturday night, with Brett Pesce announced to miss the game. For the first half of the game, the Hurricanes were in a good spot. They scored the first goal of the night, courtesy of Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and even after Colorado scored twice to regain the lead, the Canes struck back for two of their own from Brent Burns and Michael Bunting. Pyotr Kochetkov looked solid for 30 minutes in his first start of the season. All of the good times changed in the final eight minutes of the second period. The Avalanche scored four unanswered goals to finish the period, including two on the power play, to take a 6-3 lead into the third period. Jaccob Slavin scored in the third to pull within two goals, but the Canes couldn't get more, losing 6-4 t...

With the formalities of Opening Week behind us, we could finally start getting into the grind of the 82-game season as teams began to get more games under their belt. There were plenty of surprises, upsets, and fun times as the new season continued.  Monday 10/16 Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks beat Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs in a battle of generational #1 picks.  Tuesday 10/17 Egor Zamula scores his first NHL goal, and Sean Couturier scores his first goal in almost 2 years in a 2-0 shutout win for Carter Hart and the Flyers. Pierre-Luc Dubois scores his first goal with the Kings in his return to Winnipeg.  Kirby Dach will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL & MCL.  Cale Makar becomes the fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 250 points, needing 241 games.  The Colorado Avalanche matched the NHL record for the longest road winning streak (14, with the 2006 Sabres) with their 4-1 win over Seattle. Wednesday 10/18 In his first game...

There were four Top 25 matchups for the weekend, headlined by the first of three big games this season in the Big Ten East. One of the division's three best teams was about to be given a brutal blow in the race to win the crown. Elsewhere, three of the other four Power 5 conferences had Top 25 meetings to help shed some light on the bigger conference races as we inch past the midway point.  Game of the Week-  #14 Utah 34, #18 USC 32 (Los Angeles, CA) USC and Utah have a ton of history. At one time, this matchup was heavily dominated by the Trojans. Recent history shows the Utes in control. In a rematch of last season's PAC-12 Championship Game, they met in mid-October as a pair of one-loss teams looking to stay afloat against Oregon and Washington. This most recent stretch of games has been unkind to USC, culminating in a big loss to Notre Dame last week. Utah's offense has been sputtering with Cam Rising. In this game, Bryson Barnes proved he might be ready to take over. T...