Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Shootout Win vs. Florida

The Carolina Hurricanes finally notched another win last night; this time against the Florida Panthers in the shootout. The Canes’ losing streak comes to an end at 3 as they look to establish another winning streak going forward.

Last night’s game was interesting. The Carolina Hurricanes looked much better for most of this one than their previous three matchups against the Tampa Bay Lightning, all of which they lost.

The Canes would take an early one-goal lead. They’d hold that lead until the 3rd period, when they’d tack on another goal to extend the lead to 2. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Carolina Hurricanes, in the 3rd period, would blow a 2-goal lead; the Cats scored twice to tie the game at 2 a side.

Each team would score once again, ending the 3rd period tied at 3 goals apiece and sending the game into overtime.

Neither team would score in the overtime period, and the shootout would commence. The teams traded goal after save after goal, until Martin Necas would pick Sergei Bobrovsky‘s five-hole (much like every other goal the Canes scored in the shootout last night) to end the game for good and send the Carolina Hurricanes back to the team hotel with their first 2 points in a week.

Quite a few notable things happened in last night’s game, but none more notable than Jake Bean‘s first NHL goal. It only took Bean 13 games in the NHL to net his first goal, and his point total increases to 6 (1g, 5a) in 11 games played this season.

Needless to say, Jake Bean has more than earned a full-time spot on the NHL roster going forward, so I’d look for the rotation among the other defensemen (namely Jake Gardiner and Haydn Fleury) to continue.

James Reimer started last night, and while only really one of the goals the Florida Panthers scored on him was entirely “on him”, I still believe the Carolina Hurricanes should stick with giving Alex Nedeljkovic the lion’s share of starts going forward, but I digress. A win is a win, and I’ll take it. If we see Reimer in the starter’s crease against the Florida Panthers again on Monday, though, I’d say that’s cause for concern.