Carolina Hurricanes: First Period High Goes Awry

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.

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.

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?