013120 This Week, Last Season

[zacka77ack]

Annnnnnd we're back. Last Week, Last Season was the All-Star break and game, so there were no Hurricanes games to relive. 

Last week was last week though. Welcome to This Week, Last Season.

1/31/20 - Golden Knights @ Hurricanes

The Hurricanes took their time getting going in this one before eventually falling to a tie breaker scored late in the 3rd.

The Hurricanes couldn't match the Golden Knights energy and movement, and looked slow out of the gate in their first game after the All-Star break. A couple of Hurricanes defensive breakdowns (or maybe just 1 defensive breakdown and then a domino effect?) led to the Knights first goal at the 3:52 mark. Reilly Smith (basically left alone) finds Paul Stastny (also left alone) waiting patiently on Mrazek's left knee and pots one in. At the 9:59 mark of the first period, the Knights take a 2 - 0 lead when the Hurricanes thought they could squeeze in a line change. Jonathan Marchessault walks in, with Steady Eddy between him and Mrazek, and snaps one from the left faceoff dot, beating Mrazek glove side. Mrazek should have stopped this one. The Canes had 5 shots on goal in the 1st period. Not great. The Canes did show life in the 2nd period, though, as Turbo cut the lead in half at the 9:55 mark. Teravainen, moving left to right in front of Subban, cradles a bouncing rebound off a Martinook shot and find the twine. The 2nd period ended with a score of 2 - 1 and the Canes had work to do.

Queue the make or break 3rd period. Nothing really happens for the first 12 minutes of the final frame. But boy oh boy, do the final ticks of this game push you to the edge of your seat. Nate Schmidt beats Mrazek top shelf, stick side, to put the Knights up 3 - 1. This looked like the dagger but the Hurricanes had one last push left. 16 seconds later Brock McGinn goes top shelf, beating Subban glove side, making it 3 - 2. With under 4 minutes to play, Svechnikov draws a penalty and the Canes get a Power Play. At the 16:21 mark, while on the man advantage, Slavin booms one from the blue line and Aho, with his stick blade pointing skyward, creates a beautiful redirection to beat Subban. We're all even at 3 - 3.

1 minute later, though, the Golden Knights get their own man advantage and score immediately to deliver the dagger. 4 goals were scored in the final 8 minutes creating one heck of a finish, just not the one that the Canes wanted. Canes fall, 4 - 3.

 

2/2/20 - Canucks @ Hurricanes

Another game, and another Justin Williams shoot out win.

The first goal of the first period in this one goes to the Canucks. Elias Pettersson, at the 4:25 mark, is the lucky recipient of a puck that was seemingly lost by everyone, and with a tight turn around shot, he surprises Reimer over the shoulder to break the ice. 1 - 0 Canucks. Just after puck drop in the 2nd period, though, the Canucks get surprised and caught off guard when Give Me Fuel, Give Me Fire, Give Me Nino Niederreiter scores on his own turn around shot, but he added a "no look" modifier to increase the flair. Tie Game. 4 minutes later, Sebastian Aho finds a rebound off a Slavin shot and puts one past Thatcher Demko to put the Canes up 2 - 1. Jaccob Slavin bombing from the blue line and Sebastian Aho scoring off a rebound. Name a more iconic duo. The Canucks weren't going to go quietly into the night, though. After almost giving up a shorty goal while on the power play (to who else? Aho.), Tyler Myers ties the game for the visiting team when a puck slips through Reimer's legs and winds up on the tape of his stick. The cage was wide open and he did miss. Tie game.

5:23 into the 3rd period, Svech puts on a clinic and shows just how dangerous he can be. You hear this referred to as a "Power Move". Svech is often described as a "Russian Power Forward". And those descriptors are on display here. He just takes his defender for a ride and powers his way to the net, looking to score and with a flick of his wrist, he does. The Canucks would tie the game 5 minutes later and its not even something you can be mad about. Pettersson pots his 2nd point of the night with a pretty shot from the baseline, bouncing the puck off Reimer and into the back of the net. Again we have a tie game and would be going to Overtime. In OT, Demko made some down right nutty saves for the Canucks and was able to force a shoot out.

Shoot outs get mixed reviews. Some people think its a terrible way to decide a winner. Other people love the thrill. I, personally, enjoy them. There's something primal about them; its just a 1 v 1 for the whole shabang. The eventual game winner is scored by none other than Justin Williams, who appears to be pretty good in the clutch.

 

2/4/20 - Hurricanes @ Blues 

I am not going to spend a lot of words on this one. This game should be mostly forgotten as the Canes fall to the reigning Stanley Cup champions in a 9 goal affair. The Blues won 6 - 3. I say "mostly" forgotten because there are a noteworthy items that resulted from this game. Hurricanes defenseman Joel Edmundson, who spent the previous season as a member of the St. Louis Blues, was presented with his Stanley Cup Championship ring in a pregame ceremony. It has a gaudy 282 diamonds, 20 princess-cut sapphires, 16 custom-cut blue sapphires and 15 round sapphires.

How did Edmundson wind up in Carolina? Well he was traded for Carolina's home grown prospect, Justin Faulk, just before the start of the season in 2019. And in this game, Justin Faulk gets his first point against his previous team. And he didn't wait too long to do it. At the 2:44 mark of the first period, Faulk sent one in from the blue line with a heavy shot (something we'd seen him do hundreds of times in a red sweater) with Mrazek making the initial save, but Blues' forward Sammy Blais was able to gather the rebound and score. The Blues' never looked back after that goal and they would go on to completely bury the Canes in their 6 - 3 win.

 

2/6/20 - Hurricanes @ Coyotes 

The one with the Red Wedding.

Coming off an embarrassing loss to the Blues', the Canes needed to get back into the Win column. But we don't always get what we want and this one started out looking like the 'Yotes were going to run away with it. The only goal scored in the 1st period occurred at the 15:45 mark, when Coyotes scored from the blue line. A soft clear by the Hurricanes (stop me if you've ever this one before) results in a turnover and Alex Goligoski full sends one from his defensive position, and beats Reimer with a shot that Aho actually redirects. The pucks rings out off the near post, and into the net. The Coyotes continued the scoring into the 2nd period. At the 4:06 mark, while on a Power Play, Christian Dvorak is left alone at the left side of the crease and lifts a rebound over Reimer's pads to give the Coyotes a 2 - 0 lead. Shortly thereafter, though, the Coyotes stopped having fun.

The Hurricanes score 4 in a row, starting with a Svechnikov goal that looked very similar to the Dvorak goal. Svech was left unmarked at the side of the crease and was able to life a rebound past Antti Raanta to cut the lead in half. Jaccob Slavin, Andrei Svechnikov (again) and Sebastian Aho score the next 3 goals. Slavin scores off a nice pass out front from Dzingel who was posted up below the goal line. Svechnikov, who has apparently identified a weakness, scores again from the exact same spot as his first when Trevor van Reimsdyk put a shot on net, and Aho changes the pucks trajectory and Svech buries it. 3 - 2 Carolina to end the 2nd period. Just over a minute after the start of the 3rd period, Aho piles on when he finds twine. A quintessential Svechnikov power move results in a trailing Sebastian Aho with the puck on his tape, and he beats Raanta over the shoulder. 4 - 2 Canes.

The Coyotes would make it interesting by scoring 2 minutes later, but they never recovered from the 2nd period onslaught. Sebastian Aho seals the deal with an empty netter. Svechniko and Aho each had 2 goals, and an assist. It was a monster night for the SAT line, and they had a great bounce back game after a dismal appearance in St. Louis.

 

This was a mediocre stretch for the Canes. Out of a possible 8 points, they only secured 4. They showed some gumption, though, with their win against the Coyotes and the march toward the playoffs continues.

Edited February 4, 2021 by zacka77ack

[zacka77ack]

Also, I realize this is a lot to read. This is intended to be a long form recap for folks to consume throughout the week when things are a bit slow on the information front.