As the leaves start to turn colors and fall enters the city, one thing’s for certain in Raleigh — Carolina Hurricanes hockey making its return to the ice in the City of Oaks.
The Canes (1-0-0) took on the Ottawa Senators (0-1-0) in their home opener, showing some early strengths and weaknesses. While the night started off slow for Carolina, it was able to use momentum from the buzzing home crowd to turn the contest to its favor and finish with a dominating 5-3 score.
“It’s game one — we’ve got 81 more of these and 41 more home games,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “[The fans] were just electric in there …It just goes to show the great support we have here and it’s appreciated.”
While Carolina kept the majority of the roster the same from last season, this game was an opportunity for some new faces to shine. Left wing Michael Bunting and defensemen Dmitry Orlov made their Canes debut, and defenseman Tony DeAngelo took the ice in red and black for the first time since suiting up with Carolina for the 2021-22 season.
Five different players notched their first goal of the season against the Senators, with the coveted first goal coming courtesy of Bunting in the second period. Twelve players were able to get on the score sheet by the end of the matchup, showing potential for the development of a deep offensive roster.
“It always feels good to get the first one out of the way and get the monkey off your back,” Bunting said. “But it was a great play by the guys, and I was fortunate enough to be open and put it in.”
The first period was dominated by the Senators, with right wing Mathieu Joseph scoring the first goal of the game to put Ottawa up 1-0. The Senators did a good job in disrupting the Canes’ rhythm, outshooting the home team 10-6 through 11 minutes. Ottawa also started out more physical, dealing out 13 hits to the Canes’ eight.
It was in the second period where Carolina took some momentum back. An early power play allowed Bunting to get the first goal for the Canes, and DeAngelo notched his 200th career point on the same play.
The first half of the second period was spent on the Canes’ side of the ice, as the team struggled to make offensive plays and was forced to break out the defensive depth. With the Canes’ penalty kill back in action, goaltender Frederik Andersen made some huge saves, starting the season right where he left off during the playoffs last year.
“Every night we get a lot of practice [on the penalty kill].” Brind’Amour said. “When you get one or two [penalty kills] a night you don’t have to make adjustments, but when you’re starting to get two, three they’re doing a little something, so it’s keeping us on our toes.”
With both teams firing on all cylinders trying to get something in the net, left wing Teuvo Teravainen found himself alone at the back post and let one rip to make the game 2-1 in the Canes’ favor. With the line cycling the puck well and keeping the Senators stuck in the zone, it looked like it was all Carolina out on the ice in the second frame.
Carolina’s dominance continued briefly into the third period; center Jordan Staal snuck past the Ottawa netminder to give the Canes a steady 3-1 lead. But Ottawa was moving quickly, tying the game up with two goals in 35 seconds — one shorthanded and another right after the Canes’ power play ended.
“I think we can do a better job defensively, especially as forwards,” Staal said. “I think we were a little loosey with a few plays and kind of hoping a little bit more than we should have”
Even though the Canes were playing carelessly, drawing multiple penalties and giving Ottawa many power play chances, the team was still able to rally and get the win.
Once again, the Hurricanes relied on their high-scoring defenseman to be the difference between getting the win and losing. Defensemen Brady Skjei and Jaccob Slavin recorded their first goals of the season, bringing the final score to 5-3 in Raleigh.
“Once we started going and flowing without the penalties, you saw our strengths,” Bunting said. “It’s the first game so it’s going to take a little bit to get the stream moving, but I thought we played well, and I thought we had great pace.”
The Hurricanes will now embark on a six-game road trip across the U.S., with the first game set for 10:30 p.m. against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, Oct. 14.
