Recording a goal in consecutive games for the first time this season, winger Mark Jankowski was the only player for the Carolina Hurricanes to tally a point in the match-up against the St. Louis Blues.
The Canes (41-18-6) outshot the Blues (26-29-10) and dominated the entirety of the first period, but let off the gas in the final two periods. Down by one at the start of the second, St. Louis noticed the decline in energy from the Canes and ramped up the pace, scoring three unanswered goals to walk away with a 3-1 win.
With less than five minutes left in regulation and in a tie game, Blues winger Dylan Holloway used his body to shield off the Canes defenders and slipped the puck out in front of the net to Blues winger Jimmy Snuggerud. Scoring his second, Snuggerud chipped the puck past goaltender Brandon Bussi to net the game-winning goal.
“They’re heavy players,” winger Eric Robinson said. “They’re hard to knock off the puck. They hold onto pucks, and a lot of times they’re going to try to draw a penalty because a defender just doesn’t have much to do. They have big bodies, and they obviously have some skill.”
Holloway secured the primary assist on Snuggerud’s first goal as well, slipping him the puck in their defensive zone and letting him go to work. Skating through the length of the ice and through every Hurricanes player, he took the shot from straight on and found the back of the net, tying the game at one.
The first goal of the game, and only goal for the Canes, came early on in the first period. Winger Nathan Walker had a soft pass to his teammate in the neutral zone that Jankowski broke up and skated towards the net. With a defender blocking his linemate, he took the shot himself and got the Canes on the board.
“I just picked it off in the neutral zone,” Jankowski said. “Their [defensemen] jumped me on the two-on-one, so [I] got around him, and then saw [Carrier] and thought maybe back door, but their back checker had him, so I took it to the net, and luckily it went in.”
Even though Carolina had a stellar first 20 minutes, the Canes let off the gas too early and their effort in the beginning didn’t get them through the final 40.
“Well, we didn’t score,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Probably our best period of the year, maybe, in the first period, and we were up by one. Then you’re just letting the team hang around. You know they’re going to come back a little bit, and then it wasn’t much after that.”
The Hurricanes head to Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning on Saturday, March 14, with a 7 p.m. puck drop.
