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Carolina Hurricanes: First Period High Goes Awry

ByChristopher Highe|
RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 3: Petr Mrazek #34 of the Carolina Hurricanes goes down in the crease to make a save as Brett Pesce #22 defends and Brendan Leipsic #28 of the Washington Capitals looks for a rebound during an NHL game on January 3, 2020 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 3: Petr Mrazek #34 of the Carolina Hurricanes goes down in the crease to make a save as Brett Pesce #22 defends and Brendan Leipsic #28 of the Washington Capitals looks for a rebound during an NHL game on January 3, 2020 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
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RALEIGH, NC – JANUARY 3: Petr Mrazek #34 of the Carolina Hurricanes goes down in the crease to make a save as Brett Pesce #22 defends, and Brendan Leipsic #28 of the Washington Capitals looks for a rebound during an NHL game on January 3, 2020, at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC – JANUARY 3: Petr Mrazek #34 of the Carolina Hurricanes goes down in the crease to make a save as Brett Pesce #22 defends, and Brendan Leipsic #28 of the Washington Capitals looks for a rebound during an NHL game on January 3, 2020, at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Carolina Hurricanes had a Strong Start but Squandered it.

In their third of four matchups in the 2019-2020 National Hockey League (NHL) season, the Carolina Hurricanes, unfortunately, drop two crucial points against a Metro Division opponent. The first period was one of pure dominance for the Hurricanes, where they outshot the Capitals eighteen-to-seven. It looked like the Hurricanes could grab a series sweep.

Unfortunately, that fantastic energy dissipated in the second period. Carolina rapidly found themselves on the losing end, with Richard Panik finding a wide-open hole on Petr Mrazek‘s right side. Two minutes and nine seconds later, Evgeny Kuznetsov would score his seventh powerplay goal of the year, putting the Canes down by two after two periods.

It was in the third period that the Hurricanes finally managed to find a break, as the Captain, Jordan Staal, would get one past the brick wall that had been Ilya Samsonov.

Things started to look up for the Canes, but Lars Eller would appear to dash those hopes a minute and fifty seconds later with his third powerplay goal of the season, putting Carolina back in a two-goal deficit.

Another two minutes and twenty-three seconds would pass before Jakub Vrana would score the eventual game-winning goal against Carolina. It wasn’t the end of Carolina’s fight, though. The Hurricanes would find the net two more times across the period, driving the deficit to one. Unfortunately, the comeback would fall short, thanks in part to a penalty drawn by Washington’s T.J. Oshie.

We’ll talk about that penalty, and some of the great goals as we look back on how the Hurricanes stacked up against my three keys to victory.

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