Sarah Cochran
Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov battles with New York Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev on Sunday, Oct. 7 in PNC Arena. Svechnikov scored his first NHL goal against the Rangers and contributed to the Hurricanes' 8-5 win.
This Carolina Hurricanes team certainly doesn’t lack for excitement. The Canes erased four separate deficits in a crazy, back-and-forth, 8-5 win over the New York Rangers at PNC Arena Sunday.
Forward Andrei Svechnikov, the 2018 No. 2 draft pick, scored his first NHL goal, the game winner in the third period, for the Canes (2-0-1). Forward Warren Foegele put up two goals and an assist, forward Jordan Staal had a goal and two assists and forward Justin Williams had three assists. Forwards Jordan Martinook, Micheal Ferland, Lucas Wallmark and Teuvo Teravainen also scored against the Rangers (0-3-0).
“It’s the guys,” head coach Brind’Amour said. “They believe in each other already; you can feel it. There’s a ton of work to do. We’re making mistakes we just shouldn’t be making. But I just think there’s a quiet confidence going on that no matter what happens, we can come back. That’s a good feeling. We have a lot of good players, and that’s what makes you feel that way.”
With the Canes trailing 5-4 in the third period, a trio of rookie forwards came through. Less than a minute after the Rangers took the lead, Wallmark snapped home a centering feed from Martinook to tie the game at five.
“We need everyone to contribute; we’ve said that from day one,” Brind’Amour said. “Whether you’re a rookie or you’ve been around forever, if you want to play you’ve got to contribute. [The rookies] are finding ways to contribute. They’re not just taking up ice time; these guys are making an impact. That’s making my job easy to throw them out there. I know now that these guys are capable. That’s building the confidence in our group and it’s fun to watch them grow.”
Svechnikov’s milestone tally made it 6-5 Canes with 9:16 to play; he got position in front of the net and tipped in defenseman Justin Faulk’s wrister from the side boards.
“That’s my dream, to score my first goal in the NHL,” Svechnikov said. “That’s a great emotion and I was super happy.”
Foegele’s second of the game on a nice feed from Williams gave Carolina some insurance. The line of Foegele, Staal and Williams combined for three goals and nine points.
“I think it just goes to my linemates,” Foegele said. “They’re telling me to just play hockey and don’t worry about my mistakes. Tonight I made a couple mistakes but they were positive with me, and we’ve been playing well together. Luckily tonight we finally contributed.”
Prior to the Canes’ rally, Rangers forward Chris Kreider put New York in front 5-4 not five minutes into the third with his second goal of the game as he got behind the Canes’ defenders and beat goalie Petr Mrazek on the backhand.
“Even when we got down two, thankfully it was early, you just feel on the bench, there was no panic,” Brind’Amour said. “There was no ‘Oh man, we’re not coming back.’ It was, ‘Ok, let’s just get to our game and then see what happens.’ I think that’s a real positive, especially with the young guys. Maybe they don’t know any better. But I just like that they just kept digging in.”
The Canes were behind the eight ball early in this one. It didn’t take long for the Rangers to take a 2-0 lead; forward Jimmy Vesey, who had also had a two-goal game, and Kreider both took advantage of Canes turnovers less than six minutes into the game.
The Canes answered quickly, cutting the lead in half with a tight-angle goal from Foegele and tying it at two as Martinook finished a slick cross-crease feed from Williams.
“I don’t think we’re going to want too many of those,” Martinook said. “It kind of got into a track meet there for a little bit. We kind of left Petr out to dry a couple times. We’ll sure those up, play better defensively and hopefully keep scoring lots of goals.”
The Canes continued to play sloppy defensively in the second, as Vesey was left all alone in front of the net for his second of the game and a 3-2 Rangers lead less than three minutes into the period.
Following an extended sequence of either power play or four on four with a slew of penalties to both teams, the Canes tied it at three; Staal took a pass from Foegele and had a breakaway from the blueline in, finishing top shelf.
Shortly after, with the Rangers on another power play, forward Pavel Buchnevich poked home the rebound of a point shot off the post to make it 4-3 New York.
Ferland tied the game at four with 30 seconds left in the second period, taking advantage of an errant clearing pass by Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev and firing one home from the point.
Teravainen iced the game with 30.6 seconds to play with an empty-net goal.
The Hurricanes ended the game with a bit more excitement. The team stood at center ice, seemingly to raise their sticks in a traditional salute to their fans. The ensuing celebration was anything but traditional, as the Canes clapped their hands, skated full speed to the opposite end and jumped into the boards.
“Instead of the standard everybody goes to center ice and holds your stick up, we’re trying something new,” Martinook said. “I think we had fun with it and I think the fans liked it. Keep an eye out on those. We might change it up or stick with that one; who knows.”
The Hurricanes, who have gotten at least one point in the standings in all three of their games, will be back in action Tuesday at home against the Vancouver Canucks.