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Carolina Hurricanes Prove the Leafs Are Actually Good

By Eric D. Cox

Dec 16, 2016; Raleigh, NC, USA; Carolina Hurricanes forward Victor Rask (49) carries the puck against the Washington Capitals at PNC Arena. The Washington Capitals defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in the shoot out. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 16, 2016; Raleigh, NC, USA; Carolina Hurricanes forward Victor Rask (49) carries the puck against the Washington Capitals at PNC Arena. The Washington Capitals defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in the shoot out. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports /
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Carolina Hurricanes lose a tough one at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs

After a good showing by the Carolina Hurricanes and Sabastian Aho Thursday night the Hurricanes looked to start a win streak against the young and fast-paced offense of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto came into town not only for a coach to coach fun loving barbecue but on a two-game winning streak. The Leafs trailed the NY Islanders for the 2nd wild card spot by one point and were four points behind 3rd place Boston. The Leafs needed a big-time win to keep themselves in the playoff race.

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The Game:

The Hurricanes started out strongly.  The Canes took control early and showed speed with a nice puck possession game.  It all came together quick for the Hurricanes and they scored first with Victor Rask beauty of a top shelf goal.

But it didn’t take long for Toronto to come back with a goal from one of the Leaf’s bright young stars Mitch Marner less than a minute later to tie up the Canes 1-1.

After Carolina controlled the first half of the period Toronto finishes the 1st in control until the last minute of play when the Hurricanes get the game’s first PP.

With the beginning of the 2nd period just getting underway, the Carolina Hurricanes made the Leafs pay for their 1st-period mistake.   Jordan Staal was credited with the goal at first, but it was later changed to a Teuvo Teravainen goal.

Even though the Hurricanes were controlling much of the 2nd period Toronto’s James Van Riemsdyk surprises Cam Ward off of the faceoff.

The rest of the regulation time goes by with Carolina controlling most of the game and ends the 3rd with a 37-25 shot advantage.  All of the Canes hard work end up being for naught when the game went to overtime.

OT:

Canes start the OT with a lot of fire, Victor Rask really puts on a show for the most part. Noah Hanifin carries the play and even Jaccob Slavin got into the act with some really good moves but in the end, the Hurricane’s Cam Ward let another game slip away by giving up another weak goal

Final Words:

This game went back and forth especially the first two periods with the Hurricanes always maintaining control.  The 3rd period was when the Hurricanes were pretty much the better team.

Once in overtime, the Canes controlled the play until a weak goal given up by Cam Ward right between the wickets.  The Hurricanes carried the game, the young defense played great shutdown hockey against the Leaf’s Auston Matthews the whole game.  The Canes even were the faster team.

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Carolina had some standout players too, Victor Rask, Jeff Skinner, and Patrick Brown were lights out all night. Cam Ward played at times like a top end goalie in the NHL.  In the end, the Carolina Hurricanes outplayed and outran the Toronto Maple Leafs but just couldn’t finish the deal.  Coach Peters will have a good argument with his old friend and fellow Canadian National team coach Mike Babcock about who really was the better coach tonight.

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