Last night, the Carolina Hurricanes tried to make a late game comeback against the Washington Capitals. Unfortunately, the Hurricanes fell short in their third preseason game of the year.
Yesterday, the Carolina Hurricanes took on the Washington Capitals at Capitol One Arena in DC in their third game of this year’s preseason. The Hurricanes were looking to continue their preseason winning streak against the team they silenced in game 7 of the first round of last season’s playoffs. Despite a slow start and falling down 3-0, the Canes were able to mount a comeback, but unfortunately fell short.
During the first period, the Hurricanes found themselves down early with unassisted goals by Brett Leason and Brian Pinho respectively. With Leason being the first person to score a goal on the Cane this preseason. They were able to hold the Caps off throughout the second period, thankfully. However, in the third period, Brian Pinho was able to notch up another goal for the Caps. But then the Hurricanes started their comeback. Brock McGinn scored with an assist from Lucas Wallmark. Shortly after, Janne Kuokkanen was able to put another puck in the back of the net for the Canes with an assist from Jake Bean and Martin Necas. But that’s where it ends. 3-2 in favor of the Caps.
Lets talk about the good from this game first. Kudos to Kuokkanen for snagging the third star of the game. Julien Gauthier continues to be a bright spot for the Hurricanes this preseason. He is seriously making a case for himself to be on the roster for the Carolina Hurricanes come opening night against Montreal. Jake Bean looked good as well. Newcomer James Reimer is making his case to be the number two goalie for the Canes as well. Reimer had an impressive series of saves in the second period.
The Caps commentary also gave us this gem when Brock McGinn scored his goal.
"We all know him and we don't like him very much"
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) September 22, 2019
Watch Brock score another goal at Capital One Arena pic.twitter.com/9V96a6TEoG
Now onto the bad. Head coach Rod Brind’amour called the game “disgusting”, and he’s not wrong. Frustratingly, the power play continues to be an issue for the team, regardless of which group takes the ice. The Carolina Hurricanes couldn’t score on any of the opportunities they had, including a 5v3 man advantage which left me dumbfounded on how they couldn’t capitalize on that big an opportunity. Multiple players left quite a bit to be desired. Jake Gardiner still isn’t making the impact everyone was hoping he would after filling the role left by Calvin de Haan. New goalie Anton Forsberg allowed two goals which were the result of two of many mistakes made by Fredrik Claesson. Martin Necas has yet to hit that level of play that was initially expected, though he is improving, which is promising at least. Roland McKeown has some room for improvement as well.
#Canes head coach Rod Brind'Amour didn't like a lot of what he saw tonight: "It was a pretty disgusting game, to be honest with you. I don’t even care about the score. We didn’t play the way we’ve been practicing all week. I didn’t know what we were watching."
— Michael Smith (@MichaelSmithNC) September 22, 2019
Thankfully, this is only the preseason. There is still time to work out these kinks, as well as develop the chemistry needed to succeed in the NHL. It is also worth noting that the group of Hurricanes that took the ice tonight primarily consisted of prospects from Charlotte. As well as new signings picked up through trades and free agency. So mistakes should be expected since a lot of these guys are trying to find their footing in the NHL.
The Carolina Hurricanes take on the Predators in Nashville on Wednesday the 25th. Hopefully, they will be able to bounce back from last nights loss and get back to their winning ways from the game prior.
Question for CC readers: What was your biggest takeaway from this game?