Carolina Hurricanes: Three takeaways as undermanned Canes lose
Carolina has fallen to 10-2 on the year as they lose 2-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers in the most annoying fashion as they get robbed of two points by Carter Hart. This was far and away, the best goaltending performance anyone has put up against the Carolina Hurricanes this season. Stopping 39 of 40 shots to rob the Canes of two points in the standings.
While Philadelphia wasn’t exactly the most stable of teams on their feet and was very good at getting penalties from things that were not infractions, that had nothing to do with the result in this game. A very good third-period push allowed the Flyers to pick up 2 goals and just shut it down after the Canes took the lead in the 2nd period. A clinical performance on the road for Philadelphia.
What makes this so annoying is that it makes it very difficult for the Carolina Hurricanes to take anything away from this back-to-back with the St Louis Blues waiting in the wings to take on the Canes tomorrow on their final home game before they embark to the west coast. It’s a difficult position to be in. Tomorrow’s game means so much more now because Hart was lights out.
Either way, that is tomorrow’s game and we still need to talk about this one. We need to talk about how Carter Hart just stonewalled the Carolina Hurricanes in a game that the Flyers had absolutely no right to be in. Carolina now sits just five points above the playoff line, and yet, they still sit top of the Metropolitan division due to having played 2 fewer games than Washington.
Carter Hart robs Carolina
There’s no other way to say it, sometimes, you’re going to run into a goalie who wants to stop everything and that was Carter Hart in this game. A Canes offense without two of its top six wingers didn’t have the capacity to beat him a second time, and it was a real uphill battle all the way through the game.
It’s not a lack of chances that saw Carolina fail to beat the Sherwood Park, Alberta native. It was just a goaltender that was seeing the puck like it was a beachball and was able to comfortably make saves throughout the night. Not a lot you can do, other than try to take his eyes away, but even then, Hart found a way to stop shots. It was a masterclass in goaltending.
Now, I know a 40 shot performance from the Canes ending in a 2-1 loss feels a lot like the days when the team was so horrible that not even Canes fans wanted to acknowledge the team, but this is very different team. This wasn’t 40 muffins, this was a lot of fantastic, high-quality scoring chances that Hart was just able to stop. As annoying as it is, there’s not a lot you can do but accept it. Next time, aim for a tip instead and hope for the best. Hart was seeing it too cleanly otherwise.
When we talk about Carolina needing their game-breaking talent to come through. It didn’t in this game, and it means the Canes get nothing from this game as opposed to taking two valuable points away from a division rival. It puts a lot of pressure on the team to take nothing but two points away from the second game in this back-to-back against St Louis.
Carolina’s powerplay couldn’t connect
Carolina’s man advantage yet again could have been the difference in this game, except it became very clear very quickly that they were shooting on a goaltender who was just not going to lose this game. With several fantastic powerplays generating a ton of scoring chances, this Philadelphia penalty kill continued to bend but didn’t break under any pressure.
Carolina looked deadly all night long when they had the extra man, and with both units. But Carolina’s man advantage looked like it was ready to click, as it had everything but the goal in this one. On another night, Carolina likely blow the Flyers out just on their powerplay with how dominant a performance it put in during this game.
In particular, the top unit (I know the Canes coaching staff doesn’t like labeling the units, but the one with more talent) looked deadly. It looked like the team could have scored a thousand goals a thousand ways and it was just an unfortunate case of running into Carter Hart again and again and again and again until it was obvious that there wasn’t anything that would have ended up behind Hart.
If you’re on the powerplay, you do not change a thing going forward. Six or seven times, the powerplay had a great chance to score, and every single time, there was a goalie there to tap it away and that’s incredibly annoying. However, this happens. It’s the best league in the world and goalies can do that. Now you regroup and get ready for the next game.
Seth Jarvis… wow
Seth Jarvis. If I just left it at that, that’s enough to get my point across. This kid looks like the player the Carolina Hurricanes wanted when they selected him 13th overall in 2020. He looks like everything Carolina has needed, and the fact he performed as well as he did tonight in an elevated role shows you that he is ready to step up big time for this franchise and this team.
At just 19 years old, he looks like the dominant force on the second powerplay unit, he looked like a driving force 5-on-5, he looks like a budding star. Yes, there are hiccups in his game, but he’s only 19. He’s going to be a sensational player when he figures it all out. Yes, he did jump the zone on a goal in the 2nd that would be ruled offside because of his mistake, but he realized that and would have been onside if he didn’t sharpen his skate blade.
There’s so much to like about the Winnipeg, Manitoba native. He’s explosive, he’s dynamic, he’s smart and he works hard. He’s going to be a great talent in this league for a long time if he can avoid injury, and we are all seeing him start with a great level of talent in his game. He’s going to become a star, and I don’t want to guess where his talent will max out, because he can go as far as he wants.
Carolina’s budding young superstar holds a lot of promise. He’s another young cost-controlled winger, and he’s going to be a great player for a long time. He’s always going to be worth watching, and he’s going to be a dependable player for a long time. He’s worth paying the price of admission on his own, and he sums up what it means to be a Carolina Hurricane.