Another game, another blown three-goal lead for the Carolina Hurricanes. In a game the Hurricanes led 3-0, former Hurricanes forward Brandon Sutter came down the wing in sudden death overtime and fired a shot far side on starting netminder Eddie Lack to give the Vancouver Canucks (2-0-0) a 4-3 overtime win against the Canes (0-0-2).
A poor first few minutes saw the Canes badly outplayed, however, Lack, who made 27 saves on 31 shots and was a big reason the Canes got the game to overtime. He was sharp, and the team was able to settle in and get its offense going, particularly in the last few minutes of the period.
With 2:24 left in the first, forward Lee Stempniak made a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Victor Rask, who roofed a shot for a 1-0 lead. Shortly after, with the Canes on the power play, forward Teuvo Teravainen scored his first as a Hurricane, firing a snap wrister past Markstrom for a 2-0 lead.
The Canes picked up where they left off in the second, quickly building to a 3-0 lead as defenseman Justin Faulk carried the puck up the middle, put a shot on Markstrom, and swept in his own rebound a little over five minutes into the period.
The Canucks got on on the board with about eight minutes left in the second, as a bad clearing attempt right after a penalty kill allowed Canucks forward Bo Horvat to come up with a loose puck and backhand it past Lack to cut the Canes lead to 3-1. Vancouver continued to turn up the pressure late in the second, but some more timely saves by Lack, and a little luck on a few missed shots by the Canucks, allowed the Canes to take a two-goal lead to the locker room.
The Canes probably began to get a sense of “I’ve seen this before” early in the third, as a bad turnover by Faulk led to numbers down low for the Canucks and a goal for Markus Granlund 1:11 into the final period to make it 3-2 Canes.
The Canucks continued to press throughout the third, and got the equalizer with 5:50 left, as defenseman Ben Hutton scored from the slot to tie the game at three and the Canes saw a three-goal lead evaporate for the second game in a row. A tripping penalty for Jordan Staal shortly after Hutton’s equalizer gave the Canucks a late power play and a chance to tie the game, but the Canes penalty kill again came up big and the game headed to overtime.
This start to the season will definitely sting for the Hurricanes. While getting a point in each game definitely minimizes the damage, but both should have been two. For a team trying to end a seven-year playoff drought, those are points that cannot be left on the table. The Canes getting out to good starts in these games is definitely a positive, but the team has to figure out a way to play better with the lead and get two points in games that appear to be in the bag with a big lead.
The Canes will continue their season-opening six-game road trip Tuesday when they head to Edmonton to take on the Oilers.
