Carolina Hurricanes Drop Pitched Battle vs Leafs

In an absolute beast of a game, the Carolina Hurricanes fall 8-6 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite a magnificent effort by the Hurricanes.

In one of the most exciting National Hockey League games I’ve had the pleasure to watch, the Carolina Hurricanes drop an amazing second-period comeback, falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

One could say that the game was a foregone conclusion at the end of the first five minutes of the game after Toronto took a commanding three-goal lead, two of which came during an extended power play on a high-sticking double-minor from Brett Pesce.

This series of goals forced head coach Rod Brind’Amour‘s hand, and James Reimer found himself replaced by Petr Mrazek. The Maple Leafs wouldn’t hold that lead for long, as Brock “Shorty” McGinn lands his second short-handed goal of the season and his eighth of the year. This admirable goal puts the Hurricanes on the board at 13:49 of the first period.

The Hurricanes would find themselves within one at 19:35 of the first period on a powerplay goal by fan-favorite Martin Necas. The game was beginning to look promising going into the first intermission

The second period proved to be something else entirely, and gave all of us a glimmer of hope, seeing the Canes extend their lead with an additional three unanswered goals. Necas would break the second-period stalemate at 15:09, tabbing his second goal of the night. This was quickly followed by Erik Haula, a scant twenty seconds later.

Russian superstar Andrei Svechnikov would put the nail in the coffin with a third goal in sixty-nine seconds, his sixteenth of the year, to send the team to the second intermission on a five-to-three lead. We were all feeling great at this point, and the Hurricanes had dug themselves out of a three-goal deficit in just over twenty minutes of playtime.

This is where we get into seeing how we stacked up against my three keys to victory this afternoon.