Charlie Otto Lilienthal
Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov blocks a shot during the game against the Vegas Knights at the Lenovo Center on Friday, Jan. 17, 2024. The Hurricanes beat the Knights 3-2.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?
At least that’s what the Carolina Hurricanes hope after falling to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 in one of the final games of their Western road trip.
Coming into the game, the Hurricanes (5-1-0) were not only looking to continue their run as the NHL’s only remaining undefeated team but they also hoped to move exclusively into second on their franchise’s leaderboard for longest win streak to open a season, only behind their 9-0-0 start back in 2021. However, those aspirations were quickly squashed after the Golden Knights (5-0-2) ended their win streak at five games.
After falling behind 1-0 midway through the first period thanks to an unfortunate deflection by defenseman K’Andre Miller into their own net, the Hurricanes looked to rebound as Vegas was forced to make a change in goal.
Shortly after the first goal, which was credited to center Jack Eichel, Vegas’ starting goalie, Adin Hill was removed from the game with an apparent leg injury, leaving backup Akira Schmid as the new netminder. Upon his entry, Schmid quickly became more comfortable between the posts after right wing Pavel Dorofeyev snuck a one-handed shot past a sliding Frederik Andersen, doubling the Golden Knights’ lead less than two minutes after Eichel’s goal.
Dorofeyev and Eichel have started the season as a formidable two-headed monster for the Golden Knights, with the former tied for the league-lead in goals at seven and the latter atop the league leaderboard in points at 16.
Nevertheless, the Canes looked to turn things around in the second period and cut into Vegas’ lead. They did just that after center Sebastian Aho scored off a shot from the right circle as he got his revenge on Schmid, who stopped him point-blank on a breakaway near the end of the first period. The goal extended Aho’s point streak to open the season, which now encompasses all six of the Hurricanes’ games thus far.
Much to the dismay of Hurricanes players and fans however, Aho’s second-period goal would be the only puck snuck past Schmid that night as he went on to stop 22-of-23 Carolina shots for an overall save percentage of .957. And although the scoring might have been finished for the Hurricanes, it most certainly was not for the Knights.
Midway through the third, Vegas left wing Ivan Barbashev pickpocketed Miller and took the puck the rest of the way himself to cap off his third goal of the season and Vegas’ third goal of the night. And just to add insult to injury, the Golden Knights sealed the deal on their 4-1 win with an empty net goal courtesy of centerman William Karlsson, who notably was assisted by one of Vegas’ new aces, right wing Mitch Marner.
Marner joined the Golden Knights’ this offseason after being acquired via a sign-and-trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs where he signed an eight-year, $96 million contract in Sin City. With a respectable 10 points thus far on the season, Marner joins Dorofeyev and Eichel to round out an overall dynamic offense that surely makes Vegas one of the top contenders for the Stanley Cup.
For the Hurricanes, they won’t have to wait long for a rematch with Vegas as the Knights will make the trip out to the Lenovo Center on Tuesday, Oct. 28. But before then, Carolina looks towards the penultimate game of their road trip out west as they meet for a date with the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, Oct. 23. Puck drop is set for 9 p.m. Eastern.