"A Double Shot of Jack": 2025-26 Regular Season, Game 9: Carolina Hurricanes vs. Vegas Golden Knights

As the entire league gets set to drop the puck on Tuesday night, this one should be exciting for the Canes and their fans, returning home for the first time in over two weeks. The Carolina Hurricanes had a good road trip, all things considered. They finished with eight of 12 possible points, including an even split against the four playoff teams they encountered. They did this despite playing without their top defenseman and backup goalie to begin the trip and losing four more skaters throughout their journey west. Players stepped up to help get them home in the black. Now, they get to enjoy a short stay at home through the week, beginning with tonight's return game against the Vegas Golden Knights, a rematch eight days in the making. The Golden Knights were one of the two teams to beat the Canes during their journey, winning 4-1 in Las Vegas last Monday night. With the home team behind them this time, the Canes look to keep their perfect start at the Lenovo Center intact against a skilled Vegas squad.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR (3:46-PP)- Andrei Svechnikov (1) (Sebastian Aho (7))

VGK (6:27)- Pavel Dorofeyev (8) (Mitch Marner (9) & Tomas Hertl (5))

VGK (18:03-PP) Pavel Dorofeyev (9) (Shea Theodore (4) & Jack Eichel (11))

2nd Period

CAR (12:07)- Jordan Martinook (1) (unassisted)

3rd Period

CAR (2:31)- Logan Stankoven (3) (Jalen Chatfield (3) & Jackson Blake (5))

VGK (6:10)- Brett Howden (2) (Cole Reinhardt (1) & Keegan Kolesar (2))

VGK (15:01)- Jack Eichel (7) (Ivan Barbashev (6))

VGK (17:36)- Jack Eichel (8) (Ivan Barbashev (7) & Mitch Marner (10))

VGK (19:38-EN)- Tomas Hertl (4) (William Karlsson (2))

My Thoughts

Andrei Svechnikov saw everything being said about him online, and he took it personally. Okay, so I don't have any evidence that this happened, but he certainly looked great during the Canes' early surge in the first period. He was throwing everything at the net. Eventually, it led to him, finally, finding the back of the net. Better yet, it came on the power play. Sebastian Aho won the draw right to Svechnikov, who wasted no time firing the puck past Akira Schmid. It checked several boxes. It got Svechnikov on the scoresheet. It got the power play on the board. It also got Aho to nine straight games with a point to start the season. It was a great start for a player who desperately needed to gather some momentum.

Svechnikov was so back tonight that he not only took two penalties in the same period, but he also didn't get a single call. Down a goal late in the third, Svechnikov should've drawn a tripping penalty against Tomas Hertl. Instead, Vegas recovered the puck, and Jack Eichel scored his second goal in 2:35. It was a damning indication of how poorly I felt the officials presided over the game. Vegas had four power plays to Carolina's one, which lasted two seconds before they scored. There was another bad miss earlier in the period. Jeremy Lauzon got away with a blatant slew foot against Nikolaj Ehlers, leading the Canes forward to go after him. Brett Howden stepped in for his defenseman, sending both to the box for two minutes. The Canes could've had two or three more chances tonight that weren't awarded. It's a disappointing trend over the last few games, only exacerbated by the eight kills they had to endure in Denver last Thursday.

While the final score doesn't look great, this was a close game for most of the night. As I mentioned, the Canes got off to a strong start before Vegas took control of the better part of the next two periods. Jordan Martinook dragged his group into the battle, laying a massive hit on Eichel before stripping him of the puck later in the period to convert on a breakaway. The Stankoven line pushed them ahead early in the third period. Jackson Blake took a hit along the boards to set up Logan Stankoven's goal that gave Carolina a momentary lead. The defense had to step up after Shayne Gostisbehere, who was returning after missing three games, left after the first period with a new injury. Three defensemen played over 24 minutes, led by Alexander Nikishin's 27:33. Things got a little hairy when Joel Nystrom briefly left after catching a puck in the mouth. He returned to the game, but it could've gotten much worse.

The game came down to an unfortunate miscommunication in the Vegas zone, allowing Eichel to score the tie-breaking goal late on a breakaway. Vegas pulled away late, securing the season sweep against the Hurricanes. There are far worse teams this could've happened against, so I'm not taking too much stock in how things went down tonight. The defense has been depleted by injuries to start the season, and just when we thought it would get better tonight, we're right back where we started. Gostisbehere is hurt again. Slavin and Miller are not yet ready to return. It's not fun times right now in Raleigh.

First Star of the Game- Alexander Nikishin

Andrei Svechnikov had a good night, but Alexander Nikishin was on another level from pretty much everyone else. Playing over 27 minutes tonight, he was in the middle of so much in the defensive zone. Nikishin laid three hits, blocked three shots, and threw four shots on the net, all tied for the most on the team. At one point, Nikishin was playing goalie as everyone on the ice converged in the crease. He was very noticeable to the good tonight.

Next Up: The Canes conclude October on Thursday night against the New York Islanders, their third game against a division opponent at home this season. They won both division matchups before their road trip. They start November in Boston on Saturday afternoon, kicking off a busy 15-game month.