Hurricanes hold on to beat the Devils on Whalers night

Hartford Whalers night is such a great time for the fans. Brass Bonanza blaring through the arena, the 1980’s feel, and the nostalgia of seeing the iconic Whaler green on the ice. It’s just a lot of fun for everyone, right? Seemingly not. Apparently, the rest of the league doesn’t like it because the Canes record in these throwback jerseys is something ridiculously stupid, and I love it.

A beautiful Spin-O-Rama goal from the stand-in for the night put the Canes ahead, and then a power forward takes the puck to the net and good things happen doubled the Canes lead, and from there, the Canes held out. They relied firmly on their goaltender through the second period because the team decided that playing defense was only applicable on certain days. Seriously, sometimes this team is so poor defensively, and it’s infuriating because we know they can be so good.

In the third period, Carolina did what they almost always seem to do. Shut the door, and play like the best team in the NHL. They are one of the best teams in the NHL in general, but in the third period, they almost become this different beast of a team. It’s completely unexplainable, but whatever goes on in that room after 40 minutes, Carolina comes out as the best team in the NHL in that third period.

This game was a really good showing of the skills of a netminder that many of been calling for a replacement for, and for the first time in a while, it wasn’t due to his on-ice play. We all know Antti Raanta’s injury history, but he proved in this one that when he is healthy, he is still a very talented netminder and he is still capable of winning games and playing a prominent role in them at the NHL level.