2023-24 Regular Season, Game 29: Hurricanes at Detroit Red Wings (Postgame)

After picking up their first win on the road trip on Tuesday night in Ottawa, the Hurricanes looked to finish the road journey with a win in Detroit to build some momentum before heading home. With the Red Wings dealing with injuries and suspensions, the Canes tried to build on their excellent game against the Senators. Meanwhile, Detroit hoped to stay afloat with key contributors out of the lineup. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR (4:48)- Jack Drury (4) (assisted by Stefan Noesen (9) & Martin Necas (14))

2nd Period

DET (5:20)- Michael Rasmussen (7) (assisted by Andrew Copp (9) & Jonathan Berggren (2))

CAR (11:49)- Jordan Staal (4) (assisted by Jesper Fast (5) & Brett Pesce (3))

3rd Period

None

My Thoughts

It's almost unfathomable to look at the Canes' 2-4-0 record on this trip and acknowledge that it's the same mark they had on their first long trip of the season after Opening Night. If you'd told me the Canes had identical records on those two trips without me already knowing it, I'd say you were crazy. While the records might be the same between the two journeys, the general feeling about them is significantly different. However, the end of this trip has me feeling a lot better. The team carried its momentum and lineup from the Ottawa win and played a great game, albeit a different one from the 60 minutes they put together against the Senators. 

Honestly, the Canes won this game with the second-best goalie in the game. I thought Ville Husso was asked to do more for the Red Wings than Pyotr Kochetkov needed to do for the Canes. Husso was phenomenal. The difference in the game was the one puck he misplayed, leading to what would be the game-winner. Kochetkov had a similarly egregious turnover to Patrick Kane, but he was able to recover to keep the game 1-1 at the time. Husso didn't just misplay the puck once. He misplayed it three separate times on the same play. Brett Pesce's dump-in went under Husso's stick. Then, it bounced off the endboards and eluded Husso a second time. Eventually, the puck found Jordan Staal, who was quicker to it than Husso was as he poked it into the open net to give the Canes a 2-1 lead. Outside of this one mistake, Husso made Seth Jarvis and Jesperi Kotkaniemi miserable with all of the times he robbed them tonight. 

Kochtkov was excellent in his own right, and his being the second-best goalie shouldn't be seen as a slight toward him. The goal he allowed to Michael Rasmussen was one you'd like back, as Kochetkov didn't challenge it or square up to it the way he should've. Outside of that, he was good when he needed to be. He wasn't challenged nearly as much as his counterpart across the ice, but he allowed fewer goals. His performance in Ottawa will turn more heads. His performance in Detroit was simple and an excellent follow-up. He didn't need to resort to any extreme measures, allowing most of us to enjoy the game peacefully. His biggest stop of the night was on Alex DeBrincat during Detroit's power play late in the game. It might've caught the pants of a Red Wing at the front of the net before Kochetkov was able to knock it down with his shoulder. He stood tall at the end of the night, earning back-to-back wins to close the trip. 

Only scoring two goals might be seen as a bad thing, considering they had 39 shots, but I don't think we need to dwell on that too much. In fact, the Canes winning this game was about as encouraging as it gets. To this point in the season, this isn't the type of game they've been winning. It's the first time this season they've won a game scoring two or fewer goals and the first time they've held their opponent to one goal or less in consecutive games. One-goal games haven't been kind to the Canes on this trip, either. Three of their four losses were by one shot, so getting a positive result in regulation is a strong ending to what was nearly a season-killing road trip. 

My Three Stars of the Game

3rd Star- Seth Jarvis- 7 shots

In a perfect world, Jarvis would've been able to convert a few of the chances he had tonight. He had a game-high seven shots, and almost all of them were one-on-one with Husso. Unfortunately, the puck was going in for him, but it doesn't take away from how good a night he had. 

2nd Star- Pyotr Kochetkov- 25 saves

We've seen Kochetkov string together some solid starts this season, but his wins in Ottawa and Detroit might be the two most important. For as bad as the road trip had been, the return east served well for Kochetkov and the team. He didn't need to be as heroic as he was against the Senators, but he did everything he could to earn two points. 

1st Star- Stefan Noesen- 1 assist

Just like Jarvis and Kotkaniemi nearly had multiple goals tonight, Noesen easily could've finished with a handful of assists. The pass that got him on the scoresheet was pretty enough, getting through two Red Wings to find Drury for a tap-in. It felt like every time he touched the puck, he was setting up a teammate for a Grade-A chance. 

Up Next- With the road trip ending, the Canes will get to enjoy some home cooking for about a week. The turnaround will be quick as they travel home tonight before facing the Nashville Predators at PNC Arena on Friday night. After facing Nashville, they only have four games left before Christmas. They'll play two games at home against Washington and Vegas, hit the road to battle Pittsburgh, and finish up in Raleigh against the Islanders before getting a few days off for the holidays.