After getting humbled by Vegas just eight days ago, the Hurricanes suited up knowing what they were in for this time. The home advantage was not enough to stop Vegas from doing it again, except this time in front of all of the Caniacs.
The Carolina Hurricanes (6-3-0) hosted the Vegas Golden Knights (6-1-3), ready to even out the series 1-1. They came out with power and speed, striking first, but lost all momentum by the third period, allowing four unanswered goals. In the end, they lost 6-3, missing out on two points.
The problem came late in the third when winger Taylor Hall and defenseman Sean Walker couldn’t get the puck under control. An awkward bounce off a skate put the puck directly into the stick of winger Ivan Barbashev, who made a sneaky pass to center Jack Eichel. Eichel was already flying towards the net and capitalized on the one-on-one situation with the goalie, scoring the game-winning goal.
Two goals quickly followed for Vegas, pushing the game further out of reach for the Canes. Eight different players from the opposing squad tallied a point during this four-goal run.
“We made a couple of mistakes and they have some elite players that put them in the back of the net, and that’s what they did,” said center Jordan Staal. “There are a couple of their plays [where] they did a great job of barring their chances, they’re a good team, and we were giving it all we had. We were down for sure, but I have to be smarter.”
Although momentum was lost in the third, the final roster head coach Rod Brind’Amour had to pile together before the game did much better than they get credit for. With five top names out due to injury, and one leaving after the first period, the Hurricanes’ squad was composed of an unusual amount of rookies, multiple even playing in their first-ever NHL home game.
“Obviously, you like to build chemistry with your guys, but these guys all know how to play the right way here,” said defenseman Jalen Chatfield. “They come up, and we all communicate out there. We talk a lot on the bench and I feel like we’re all on the same page.”
The first goal of the game came from winger Andrei Svechnikov, breaking the five-game curse of no power play goals. With absolutely no time wasted, center Sebastian Aho beat his opponent in the face off and got a solid pass off to Svechnikov. Svechnikov, on the one-timer, slammed the puck past the goaltender so quickly, he had no chance of saving it. With Aho getting the pass off, this extends his season-opening point streak to nine games, tying Mikko Rantanen for the second-longest season-opening run by a Finnish player in the NHL.
Another Hurricanes goal, off the stick of center Logan Stankoven, gave the Canes a 3-2 lead and could’ve been considered the game-winning goal if the defense tightened up before falling apart. But now, he just goes on the record for a point. Receiving the pass from Chatfield, he used his size and speed to draw people off balance, then went the opposite way and sniped one into the netting, making the score 3-2 in favor of the Canes.
“Our job here is to try and win hockey games, and obviously, we haven’t done that the last couple of nights,” said winger Jordan Martinook. “We have to come out on Thursday with the mindset that we’re going to dictate every part of the game, and I think we’re going to do that. We’ll figure out what we can do better at, and we just have to get back to what makes us successful.”
The Hurricanes host the New York Islanders on Thursday, Oct. 30, with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
