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Carolina Hurricanes: First Period High Goes Awry

By Christopher 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 03: Carolina Hurricanes Left Wing Nino Niederreiter (21) gets tangled up with Washington Capitals Goalie Ilya Samsonov (30) and Washington Capitals Defenceman Nick Jensen (3) in front of the net during an NHL game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals on January 3, 2020, at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. (Photo by John McCreary/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC – JANUARY 03: Carolina Hurricanes Left Wing Nino Niederreiter (21) gets tangled up with Washington Capitals Goalie Ilya Samsonov (30) and Washington Capitals Defenceman Nick Jensen (3) in front of the net during an NHL game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals on January 3, 2020, at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. (Photo by John McCreary/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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.

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