Carolina Hurricanes take the Special Teams Battle in Style
Despite the loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Carolina Hurricanes, in my opinion, won the special teams battle in Ontario this afternoon. Although they dropped the initial penalty kills for Pesce’s double-minor that resulted in the Maple Leafs’ three-goal lead, they successfully killed off the additional two Toronto power plays of the afternoon.
The first successful kill was a thing of beauty, as mentioned in the article opening. A short-handed goal for Brock McGinn, his second of the season that sparked the fantastic game we all witnessed. And a goal that appeared to break the will of Toronto, no less. This short-handed goal also put Carolina as the league-leaders in short-handed goals with eight on the year thus far.
Then we have the second goal, of the five unanswered, that Carolina scored. A powerplay goal by none other than rookie phenom and fan-favorite Martin Necas, putting the Hurricanes within one in the final minute of the first period.
A heckuva tip on the power play pic.twitter.com/gUHOYYt7Pd
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) December 23, 2019
These two goals changed the dynamics between the two teams for nearly forty minutes’ worth of hockey. A fantastic effort that, unfortunately, would end up squandered in the third period.