"They Don't All Need to be Exciting": 2024-25 Regular Season, Game 43: Hurricanes vs. Vancouver Canucks

To complete the back-to-back, the Hurricanes shot for two wins in a row after taking down Toronto on Thursday on the back of Jordan Staal's hat trick. The Canes have only won consecutive games once over the last month, meaning a win streak feels long overdue. They'll have to contend with a Canucks squad that is playing the first half of a back-to-back, trying to start their weekend on the right foot. With the injuries piling up for both sides, this game was equally important for all parties. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR (14:41)- Jordan Staal (9) (Dmitry Orlov (16))

2nd Period

CAR (1:37)- Andrei Svechnikov (14) (Jordan Staal (14))

3rd Period

None

My Thoughts

I will take a boring 2-0 victory over a stress-inducing 6-3 win 11 times out of 10 when given a choice between the two. The best way to describe this was that it was a hockey game that happened, which is great when your team scores the only two goals of the game. It's not as fun when your team is on the other side of it. Last night was fun in that a lot of goals were scored, but it was an incredibly tense 60 minutes as I hoped the Canes would maintain their lead amidst a push from the Maple Leafs. Tonight, I was kind of concerned when Vancouver got their power plays in the third period, albeit not as much so given how well they'd played defensively through two periods. It was a great team effort on the heels of a chaotic 60 minutes the night before.

To call tonight "boring" would take away from the good things the Hurricanes did to prevent the Canucks from generating any offense. The Canucks managed just 14 shots in three periods, failing to get more than five shots in any period. Like last night, it was all about keeping Vancouver's stars out of the game. Quinn Hughes seemed to be on the ice all night and while he carried the puck a lot, he didn't do much. JT Miller had three shots, none of which stood out as particularly memorable, and he was on the ice for both goals. Elias Pettersson drew a pair of penalties and might've skimmed the crossbar, but he had zero shots in his return. The Canes blocked 27 shots, making life pretty good for Dustin Tokarski as he earned his fourth win in five starts and his first shutout in almost three years. 

Jordan Staal has turned the clock back this week. After accomplishing a feat only copied by Jaromir Jagr last night, Staal picked up his third straight multi-point game, bringing him to five goals and seven points in the last four days. Along with Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Martinook, this has been the Canes' most dangerous line by a mile. Svechnikov joined Staal in extending his point streak to four games by scoring the team's second goal. Martinook didn't find the scoresheet tonight, but he provided the net-front screen on Svechnikov's goal and blocked two shots in the third period. The only concern is that those blocks did damage after he missed the end of the game.

For the first time since mid-December, the Hurricanes are on a winning streak. They had alternated wins and losses since Christmas before back-to-back wins against Toronto and Vancouver. Their schedule anomaly had them playing five games in seven days and while 3-2-0 doesn't look all that exciting, it's big considering how rough things have been lately. If you need to find a positive spin, the Canes have won three of their last four and deserved a lot better than the result shows in their loss to Tampa. The team might've found its groove, but I'll give it a few more games before making that final judgment. 

#RaiseUp First Star of the Game- Andrei Svechnikov

After gushing over the captain's game last night, I'll turn my attention to Andrei Svechnikov tonight. Along with drawing the first penalty of the game against JT Miller in the first period, Svechnikov scored his second goal in three games by making Carson Soucy look silly and powering to the front of the net. Svechnikov has points in four straight and is starting to play his best hockey of the season at the right time.

The Road Ahead- After five games in seven days, the Hurricanes only have three games between now and next Sunday. It starts with an action-packed evening on Sunday with the Anaheim Ducks in town. Eric Staal's pre-game jersey retirement will be a monumental moment before the Canes look for their third straight win. Next week, there are only two games. They'll be in Buffalo on Wednesday and back at home on Friday against Vegas.