Carolina Hurricanes Split Season Series With Caps

When the Carolina Hurricanes Needed a Wall the Most, It Wasn’t There.

There were precisely two times in the entire contest that the Carolina Hurricanes needed Petr Mrazek to come through more than any other, and it didn’t happen. The first was on Alex Ovechkin’s first tally, a result of a net-front turnover by Martin Necas, right onto the stick of the Russian Dynamo. It was Ovi’s 685th career goal, unseating Teemu Selanne for 11th most career goals (684).

The second time was on the powerplay when Ovechkin would score his 686th career goal on the powerplay. It is also Ovi’s 258th powerplay goal, putting him within seven of unseating Brett Hull for most career powerplay goals (265). These two goals were also Ovechkin’s twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth of the season.

Despite giving up these two to the Russian Machine, the Czech native would pull some of the most defiant acts of goaltending we have seen this season for the rest of the game. Including a dandy, to borrow from John Forslund’s (@JohnForslund) lexicon, that came against a Washington breakaway early in the third period. I wish I could link the NHL.com video directly in the article, or a tweet with it. No such tweet exists, unfortunately.

The biggest takeaway from tonight isn’t that Petr Mrazek gave up those two goals, but that he was the only reason the Canes had anything resembling a fighting chance. There were numerous times he came up big, including the highlight reel save, that prevented the deficit from reaching three or more goals. While he eats the loss, the Hurricanes didn’t drop the game because of his performance.

The Carolina Hurricanes Should Just Get Hitched to the Sin Bin.

Hell, I might even have someone who could do the nuptials for it. The Carolina Hurricanes could not stay out of the penalty box last night. A large portion of that could be pinned on the officiating team that acted as if they were on the Capitals’ payroll. The first period alone saw the Hurricanes penalized four times, with six minutes and seventeen seconds spent short-handed.

As I mentioned in my three keys article, the Hurricanes had found themselves short-handed an average of five times per game across the previous three contests. The hockey Gods read my article and decided to tell me to “hold their beer” as Justin StPierre would call penalties like he was calling pockets in a game of billiards.

The first period saw numerous penalties called against the Hurricanes. Andrei Svechnikov got a minor for tripping Washington’s Richard Panik. Seven minutes, eleven seconds later (ironically the time Svech took the first penalty), Warren Foegele found himself on vacation in the sin bin on a minor for slashing against Lars Eller.

Dougie Hamilton‘s penalty was the result of an unfortunate change in puck orientation as he attempted to clear the Hurricanes’ zone. The puck would sail across the glass, and Hamilton would take his turn in the box for delay of game. The Capitals would convert on this powerplay only seventeen seconds in; however, Jordan Staal‘s trip on T.J. Oshie (if you can even call it that), would see the Canes facing off at center ice, on a penalty kill.

That was just the first period. The Hurricanes had four penalties, six minutes and seventeen seconds of short-handed time, and a powerplay goal against to show for it. Jake Gardiner and Dougie Hamilton would find the box again in the third, but I’m not even going to touch on that. The penalty box was frequented so often in this game it could have been a secondary bench for the Hurricanes.

The penalty situation was so terrible that I took to Twitter to point out that Caniacs could be proud of the fact we hadn’t had a penalty in 22:42 at the end of the second period. I’m confident that you, my readers, likely have similar sentiments. Although I’m sure those are profanity-laced, something I can’t do here.

When the Carolina Hurricanes Score on the Powerplay, You Get a Bo-Berry Biscuit! The Problem Is That They Didn’t.

For the first time in the 2019-2020 season, the Carolina Hurricanes didn’t convert on the powerplay against Washington. It is the first time since the Stanley Cup Playoffs, specifically the double-overtime game seven on April 24th, 2019, that they haven’t scored a powerplay goal against the Capitals. In each of the three previous games, the Hurricanes scored at least one powerplay goal.

That wasn’t for lack of trying, however. Like the rest of their offense, the powerplay units struggled to gain anything approaching momentum against a buzzing Capitals penalty kill, a penalty kill that saw only three tests in the entire game. The Canes didn’t even get their first powerplay opportunity until five minutes, thirty-three seconds into the second period.

When they finally got their first man advantage, a dumpster fire could be said to look better. That initial powerplay was an absolute let down, with no real momentum or organization to it. Their second opportunity, granted by Washington’s Eller roughly four minutes later, did little to make headway against a steadfast Samsonov and Capitals penalty kill.

Carolina’s third, and final, powerplay opportunity came with just under eight minutes left in the second period. Courtesy of Evgeny Kuznetsov. Like the previous two powerplay opportunities, this one left much to be desired. Had the Hurricanes been able to capitalize here, if nowhere else, they could likely have pulled themselves back into the contest, as the last two times they trailed after two periods in Capital One Arena, they’d pulled off spectacular overtime wins.

Postgame Notes

This usually is where I’d put in my CardiacCane three stars of the game. However, I don’t feel there was anyone worthy other than Petr Mrazek, who kept any hope of a comeback alive. As such, there won’t be any three stars listing in this article.

• Next Home Game: 17 January 2020
  • Versus Anaheim Ducks
  • Second of two 2019-2020 regular-season meetings
  • 1-0-0 vs. Ducks this season
  • 12-13-2-6 record in 33 total meetings
• Next Away Game: 16 January 2020
  • Versus Columbus Blue Jackets
  • Third of four 2019-2020 regular-season meetings
  • 0-1-1 vs. Blue Jackets this season
  • 20-15-5 record in 40 total meetings

Question for CC Readers: With the Hurricanes continuing to slide against Metropolitan Division opponents, do you think they will make a playoff berth in 2020?