The Carolina Hurricanes returned home to face a surging San Jose team that was hungry for a win. After a physical and highly contested matchup, Carolina walked away with a 3-2 victory in the shootout.
After being blanked by the Boston Bruins earlier this week, it was very important for the Carolina Hurricanes to play with a sense of urgency. After being shut out in two of their last three games, the offense needed to show some signs of life, and it certainly did tonight.
This game was back-and-forth all night. It didn’t take long for the Hurricanes to open up the scoring though. Just 51 seconds into the game, Andrei Svechnikov scored off of a beautiful feed from Warren Foegele. This wouldn’t be the only time the young Russian would make an impact either.
After a slight breakdown in coverage by Jake Gardiner, Joe Thornton set up Marcus Sorensen for a wide open net after Petr Mrazek overcommitted, which tied the game at one at the 12:44 mark of the first period.
At around the half-way mark of the 2nd period, a beautiful display of passing between Warren Foegele and Jake Gardiner would lead to the second tally of the night. This seemed to be huge for Gardiner, who has had some tough times recently when it comes to his defensive coverage. I think we all hope this provides that spark he needs to get himself back on track.
Those pesky final minute goals struck in the 2nd period when Logan Couture tied the game on a shot that Mrazek had no chance of stopping. Giving up those final minute goals can be a huge momentum boost for the opposing side, but luckily, that didn’t happen tonight.
After a 3rd period that didn’t see much except some exciting physicality from both sides, the game went into overtime. There were some great chances for Carolina, but they couldn’t bury it passed Aaron Dell. We then head into a shootout, where Mrazek took over. He stopped every shot he faced, and got Carolina the extra point.
This game was evenly played throughout the entire night. A quick look at the numbers will show just how close these two teams were. For a cross-conference matchup, this game had some fireworks, and that was very exciting to watch. Carolina needed this win, and they got it. Let’s take a look at three takeaways from Thursday nights game at PNC Arena.