3 takeaways as Canes suffer first overtime defeat in San Jose
It wasn’t the two points they wanted, but the Carolina Hurricanes improved to 14-2-1 on the year after an overtime defeat in San Jose. This was a poor performance from the Carolina Hurricanes as the Sharks edged out the goalie duel in this one, but it does open up room for improvement. At 14-2, the Hurricanes were straddling the line as a historically great team. Now, they look human and have room to grow.
Now, this result will not destroy the Canes season. Moving forward, yes the extra point here would have been nice, but the one point from this game is better than none at the end of the day, and Carolina now has to go away and learn from their mistakes in this one before they go onto Seattle. With the Hurricanes just not being up to speed in this game, the Hurricanes will require extra more time to improve in this one.
This was a trap game that the Hurricanes tripped over. I got a lot of reminders of the Arizona game at PNC Arena earlier in the year when the Canes needed a third-period comeback to stave off fears of a shock defeat at the hands of the Coyotes, who were winless at the time. San Jose was always going to be a threat in this game, and the Canes looked past the Sharks and got punished for it.
Carolina will move onto Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle for the first-ever matchup between the Kraken and the Canes, but before then, there need to be some takeaways from this defeat. This team was sloppy in Los Angeles, it was sloppy at points against Anaheim. This defeat will hopefully reset the system and we will see the Hurricanes get back to winning ways in their next game.
Carolina lost the goaltending battle
There’s a lot of people you can blame this loss on, but Carolina’s netminder in this one is certainly not to blame. Losing 2-1 in OT and only managing 23 shots is just proof that a goalie kept you in a game where your offense couldn’t generate a thing. It was the Carolina netminder that kept this slacking offense in the game. Carolina was getting frustrated by San Jose, and Antti Raanta stopped the breaks at the other end.
Would you want an NHL goaltender to stop the first shot? Sure, fair enough. It goes through Raanta’s body between his arm and his logo. You would expect an NHL goaltender to stop that shot nine times out of ten. Yes, you want him to stop it, but he has more than earned a few mistakes during his time as a Hurricane due to his outstanding play as the backup.
This was the first loss Raanta had suffered as a Carolina Hurricanes netminder. Raanta has shown some outstanding skills during his time on the team. We know that he can be a very good NHL goaltender and that goalies make mistakes sometimes. Raanta has earned some room to make some mistakes. This is one of these mistakes, and these things happen.
However, Raanta game into this game and gave the starter a much-deserved rest as the team continue to run up and down the west coast on this extended road trip along the coast. It’s a disappointing result for the Carolina Hurricanes, but things like this happen and the team in front of him and that just wasn’t good enough. It would have required a shutout from their goalie to win this game, and that’s unacceptable to ask.
Seth Jarvis is officially sticking around
This is a major takeaway from this game and a monumental moment for years to come. Seth Jarvis played in his 10th NHL game, meaning that his entry-level deal will begin to run out this season. He’s officially arrived in the NHL, and he marked the occasion with another assist in this game. Carolina’s rookie is starting to shine with the makings of a true superstar.
Jarvis’ performances have earned him the right to be on the team, and he’s now playing on the Hurricanes vaunted top line. He’s been a major success since he came up to the big time, and he’s been a shining light for the Carolina Hurricanes this season. There were a lot of question marks about him coming into this season, but he’s answered them all and left no questions.
This now means that Jarvis is sticking around for the foreseeable future. He’s become one of the best players on the team and a staple of the top six. It’s a matter of time until we see him on the premier Powerplay unit, and he’s becoming such a difference-maker in those tight games. When the Canes take to the ice for the future, number 24 is going to be a big part of the result from here.
Jarvis’ time in Raleigh has really opened the eyes of a lot of people. We expected him to be good, but no one expected him to be this good right away. We will all talk soon about the Carolina Hurricanes and Jarvis being a potential Calder candidate, but right now Jarvis is just being the player everyone wanted him to be when the canes took him 13th overall in 2020.
The captain plays his 600th game with the team
When we talk about the important players for this team, we often talk about the members of the SAT line, we talk about Jarvis, we talk about the top six. One of the Hurricanes’ most important players is often their captain who very quietly does his job and does it so effectively that opponents struggle to get the better of his line. He’s one of the best in the league at his job.
Jordan Staal is not only a leader on the ice but a leader in the locker room. He is the leader of the team and it applies in every sense of the word. He plays in every situation, he’s the best guy on the team when it comes to the faceoff dot, and he was a very prominent feature of this game. While he didn’t have the best of games for himself, he was still Jordan Staal.
He may have lost his scoring touch from last year, where he was a lot like Midas in the fact that everything he touched turned to goals. Carolina’s captain doesn’t have the same goal-scoring touch that he did last year. His point production is way back down, and he’s not getting the same puck luck that he was last year. It’s just not going in for him right now.
However, this doesn’t mean he’s not playing to the same level as he was prior. He’s still dominating games, and he’s still shutting down the opponent’s best lines. He’s a big-time player for this organization and he’s expected to continue to be a big player while he remains in Raleigh. Finding his successor at 3C is going to be an interesting conundrum when he retires, but for now, that’s not a problem.