"The Definition of Insanity": 2024-25 Regular Season, Game 25: Hurricanes vs. Seattle Kraken

After a rough weekend, it's time for the Hurricanes to get back on track. A home-and-home sweep by the Panthers has the Canes on a short skid, but they can get over that by coming out with a huge performance against the Seattle Kraken. Seattle got some good news with the return of Vince Dunn over the weekend, but Jordan Eberle remains out on LTIR. As the Kraken look to make up ground in the Pacific Division, the Canes aim to keep their place in the Metropolitan Division with New Jersey and Washington surging. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

SEA (0:19)- Jaden Schwartz (6) (Yanni Gourde (8) & Matty Beniers (8))

CAR (4:56)- Eric Robinson (7) (Martin Necas (26))

2nd Period

SEA (5:56)- Eeli Tolvanen (7) (Oliver Bjorkstrand (9) & Vince Dunn (3))

3rd Period

CAR (5:43)- Martin Necas (13) PP (Sebastian Aho (19) & Shayne Gostisbehere (15))

SEA (10:48)- Yanni Gourde (4) (Jaden Schwartz (10) & Matty Beniers (9))

SEA (15:03)- Brandon Tanev (6) (Ryan Winterton (1) & Brandon Montour (10))

My Thoughts

If you're like me, you knew that goal wasn't going to stand for two reasons. First, Jack Drury scored, so it was clearly nefarious. Second, it was a goalie interference challenge against the Carolina Hurricanes, so the goal was coming back. I've been a hockey fan since I was eight, meaning I've been watching for 18+ years. I still don't know what goalie interference is, and I probably never will. Sometimes, it's when you skate into the goalie. Sometimes, it's when the goalie skates into you. Sometimes, it's when you do your best to avoid the goalie when he's outside of the crease but get just enough of him to take him off his path. I'm not sure what Eric Robinson is supposed to do. He does his best to avoid the crease while he's skating backward. Meanwhile, Joey Daccord is on top of the crease skating into Robinson. Bias be damned, I think Daccord initiates contact. I could stomach the disallowed goal if Toronto gave us a legitimate explanation for why it was overturned instead of copying and pasting the rule in its "explanation." The reason we don't understand the rule is because it never gets explained or enforced uniformly. 

As frustrating as the call was, don't let it distract you from the fact that the Carolina Hurricanes stunk tonight. It was painful to watch at times. Seattle blocked everything they could, prevented the Canes from generating anything offensively, and capitalized on multiple mistakes. It's the recipe for success when playing Carolina. The second period was the most egregious of the trio. Seattle outshot the Canes 14-2, which is what we're usually saying about what the Canes do to other teams. Pyotr Kochetkov is the only reason the game never got out of hand. He didn't look phenomenal in his return, but he did enough to give his team a chance to win the game. Excluding their two good penalty kills in the first period and their power-play goal in the third, there wasn't a lot of like about tonight's effort.

I don't care what Rod Brind'Amour does with his line combinations, as long as he doesn't separate Martin Necas and Eric Robinson. They're the only consistent duo the team has currently. They came together to score the tying goal early in the first period and set up Drury's goal before it was disallowed. Necas added the power-play tally in the third period, giving him another two-point game. Robinson finished with a team-high four shots, including his seventh goal of the campaign. Since coming together against Edmonton, the two have been sensational.

There is no reason to be alarmed by the team's current three-game skid. A slight bump in the road is to be expected after the way they began the year. The hope is that this doesn't snowball into anything more concerning, which is easier said than done. The first area to address is the team's starts. They've rarely played from in front over the last few weeks, forcing them to chase their opponent. Sometimes, they come back and all is right with the world. Lately, it has been hard to overcome. Kochetkov's return should solidify the goalie situation for now, though it'll be even more imperative that he does his part to prevent small mistakes from becoming major problems. I'm not saying he shouldn't continue to be aggressive, but picking a time and place is essential. I don't think we have anything to be worried about right now. This will pass and the Hurricanes will be back to their winning ways.

#RaiseUp First Star of the Game- Martin Necas

It was either Martin Necas or Eric Robinson for this spot tonight. I opted for the guy who had two points over the guy with a goal and four shots. Honestly, there wasn't a wrong choice between the two. Other than taking a goal away from Jack Drury, the most egregious thing the successful challenge did was steal point #40 from Necas. Still, that power-play goal was disgusting and the pass to Drury on the disallowed goal was marvelous.

The Road Ahead- The Colorado Avalanche will be the next team to visit the Lenovo Center, doing so on Thursday night for their lone journey to Raleigh. The Canes have already played in Denver, falling 6-4 in November. Once they make a quick trip to Long Island on Saturday, the schedule lightens a little. They'll have two days before Ottawa comes to Raleigh and two more days before the Sharks' visit on Tuesday and Friday, respectively.