Carolina Hurricanes: First Period High Goes Awry

The Carolina Hurricanes Still Can’t Shake Their Love Affair With the Sin Bin.

The Carolina Hurricanes racked up five minor penalties for a total of ten penalties in minutes tonight, some of them reasonably egregious. As shown in the slide’s opening photograph, the first penalty against Carolina came as Nino Niederreiter got caught up on Samsonov, which would also draw an embellishment call against the Washington netminder.

The next two penalties would come from Sebastian Aho, who isn’t known for what he was called for. Twice. Sebastian would find himself penalized for interference at 4:17 of the second period, a penalty that would have near-immediate consequences for the Hurricanes, giving Washington its two-goal lead for the period. Aho would take a second interference penalty at 13:43, which would be successfully killed.

Erik Haula would hand Washington its third powerplay opportunity of the night less than a minute into the third period. The Capitals would capitalize on this opportunity as well, extending their lead back out by two. It looked like it would be the end of the Hurricanes bench flirting with the penalty box for the game, but T.J. Oshie would find a way to draw one more.

That penalty, roughing, came from Dougie “Is A Forward” Hamilton, who isn’t known for losing his cool. Unfortunately, not only did it come in the final two minutes and forty-four seconds of the third period, it robbed the Hurricanes of any real chance at completing the comeback to force overtime. I’m not usually hyper-critical of decisions, but the loss could be attributed in large part to Hamilton for taking Oshie’s bait.

The Capitals were given four opportunities by the Hurricanes tonight, and they made good on half of those – a significant factor in Carolina’s loss tonight.

The Carolina Hurricanes Made Excellent use of Slipups by Washington. Mostly.

Despite what can only be described as an abysmal second period, the Carolina Hurricanes did excellent in taking advantage of bad plays. In the first period, we saw an overwhelmingly dominant Hurricanes team pressing the Washington defense. If lady luck had been on the Hurricanes side, the first period could have easily seen a commanding lead for the good guys. Luck, however, was on Samsonov’s side, as he made some ridiculous saves.

Whatever the Hurricanes did in the locker room between the first and second periods tonight, though? It changed the momentum of the game. The commanding presence of the Hurricanes that prevented the Capitals from gaining any worthwhile traction in the first twenty minutes evaporated.

The second period saw the Hurricanes come out and play some of the most timid hockey they’ve played all season. The forecheck was almost non-existent, and the hustle that saw the Capitals’ offensive plays broken up with haste just was not there. Petr was the primary factor in the Hurricanes not finding themselves with a more massive deficit than the two they ended up with.

I imagine that Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour had words to say about the period, as we saw a reinvigorated Hurricanes bench hit the ice for the final frame. Jordan Staal’s goal thirty-nine seconds after puck drop further incited the Canes to action. Action that, unfortunately, would fall just short of drawing the game into overtime.

When the Carolina Hurricanes Score on the Powerplay, you get BoBerry Biscuits!

The Carolina Hurricanes special teams continue to find twine and are now thirty-three goals in one-hundred and thirty-two man-advantage opportunities. That’s a goal every four powerplays, which puts them in the top-five in the NHL as of the game’s end. Only four teams have more effective powerplay teams as of 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (3 January 2020): Edmonton (30%), Tampa Bay (29.7%), Boston (27.2%), and Vancouver (26.7%).

The Washington Capitals would offer up six juicy opportunities to the Carolina Hurricanes across the close contest, starting with a truncated four-on-three, ending in a five-on-four, in the first period. The Canes were unable to convert on this initial attempt, not for lack of trying. They would be handed a second five-on-four halfway through the period, in which they also came up fruitless.

The inability to convert would carry over into the second period, as Alex Ovechkin found himself taking a short stay at the PNC Penalty Inn & Suites after being drawn into a slashing call. This third powerplay also turned out as a bust, with the Hurricanes struggling to gain traction. The Hurricanes’ fourth powerplay, gratuitously provided by Tom Wilson via slashing, also failed to bear fruit.

The third period? As explosive in special teams’ effectiveness as it was the Hurricanes’ morale. The Finnish duo, Teuvo “Turbo” Teravainen, and Sebastian Aho would combine for the team’s second tally, and first powerplay conversion, at six minutes and thirty-five seconds. It marked Turbo’s third powerplay goal of the season, and Aho’s sixth powerplay assist.

But the talk of the night wasn’t the Finnish duo bringing the Hurricanes within two. Ryan Dzingel would bring the Hurricanes within one with 7:25 remaining in the third period, tabbing his fourth powerplay goal of the 2019-20 campaign off a beautiful feed from rookie Martin “The NHL Can’t Pronounce My Name” Necas, who now has two powerplay assists.

Dzingel has proven himself to be one of the best acquisitions of the offseason and an often underrated depth scorer. In forty-one contests, he has eight goals and seventeen assists putting him on pace for a fifty-point season.

Cardiac Cane’s Three Stars and Miscellaneous Notes

• Stars of the Game:
  1. Andrei Svechnikov
     • 2 Assists
     • 4 Shots
     • 1 Hit
  2. Jordan Staal
     • 1 Goal
     • 2 Shots
     • 2 Takeaways
  3. Ryan Dzingel
     • 1 Powerplay Goal
     • 2 Shots
     • 1 Hit
• Notes:
  • Next Home Game: 5 January 2020
    • Versus Tampa Bay Lightning
    • Last meeting between teams in the 2019-2020 NHL regular season
    • 2-0-0 vs Lightning this season
  • Next Away Game: 13 January 2020
    • Versus Washington Capitals @ Capital One Arena
    • Last meeting between teams in the 2019-2020 NHL regular season
    • 2-1-0 vs Capitals this season

Question for CC readers: Given Carolina’s struggles against division opponents this season, where do you think the Hurricanes will finish in the standings in April?