The Carolina Hurricanes began their big week on Monday night as the Dallas Stars came to visit. The Canes finished a three-game road trip on Saturday night, falling 5-4 in a shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The big news coming out of Columbus was Pyotr Kochetkov leaving in overtime after an accidental collision with Sean Walker.
With Kochetkov unavailable for the time being, Spencer Martin has assumed the role of the Canes' starter with Yaniv Perets backing him up. The big news was Seth Jarvis' return to the lineup after missing seven games with a shoulder injury. Jake Oettinger started for the Stars, looking to improve on his incredible start to the campaign.
What do a missed high-sticking penalty and a between-the-legs shot attempt have in common? Mason Marchment did them both during the first shift of the game. Marchment got away with a clear-as-day stick infraction before his shot attempt landed on Tyler Seguin's stick to open the scoring 18 seconds into the game.
To add to the Canes' misery, they were assessed two penalties during the first 5:31 of the contest. They killed the first penalty and scored the tying goal during the second. Jarvis started the play by knocking the puck down inside the defensive zone before skating up the ice with Sebastian Aho. Jarvis received the pass as he skated to the net and slid a backhander along the ice to beat Oettinger and knot it up early.
The good feeling in Raleigh didn't last very long. Thomas Harley had all the time in the world to walk down and snap a shot off the post and past Martin midway through the period to restore Dallas' lead. The moment it felt like the Canes were in trouble came in the second period. Jackson Blake nearly had the tying goal, being stopped by the inside of the left post. The Stars immediately took the puck to the other end of the ice and Marchment put one home to make it 3-1.
The third period began with another penalty kill for the Canes, but it helped them find their game. Four seconds after the penalty ended, Jarvis returned the favor by setting up Aho to cut into Dallas' lead. With the building finally alive, Brent Burns tore the roof off. As the lone skater without a goal, Burns snapped one through traffic and under Oettinger's blocker to tie it.
The Hurricanes didn't earn their first power play until almost eight minutes into the third, and they made the Stars pay. Shayne Gostisbehere fired a wicked wrister over Oettinger's glove 18 seconds into the power play to earn their first lead. Miro Heiskanen wouldn't allow the Stars to go quietly. With 5:14 left in regulation, Heiskanen countered with a beautiful shot to tie it up, again.
Another high stick against Dallas earned the Canes a late power-play opportunity. Martin Necsa drew the call, and he would score the subsequent goal. Sometimes, you need a little luck. Necas was trying to find Aho at the backdoor. Instead, his pass hit Ilya Lybushkin's skate before glancing off Oettinger's skate and crossing the line. It was as fluky of a goal as we've seen this season, but it put the Canes ahead. With Oettinger on the bench, Andrei Svechnikov finished it, scoring into the empty net with 14.5 seconds left to complete a wild 6-4 victory.
There are few words in the English language to describe how important of a victory this was for the Carolina Hurricanes. It might be late November and the 21st game of the season but after everything that happened in Columbus on Saturday, the Canes needed this one. Things were looking dire after 40 minutes. Naturally, they turned to their sparkplugs to get the building going.
The Canes' offense had been churning out goals over the last seven games. Still, getting Seth Jarvis back in the lineup was awesome. He and Sebastian Aho willed the team back into the game with their work short-handed before the power play scored a pair of crucial go-ahead goals. Jarvis and Aho combined for a pair of goals, assisted by one another, and seven points.
Spencer Martin's stat line won't inspire much confidence in anyone purely looking at the box score after the game. However, his third period was massive. Martin made a trio of stops that proved to be game-changing. The biggest of the trio came against Roope Hintz shortly after Gostisbehere made it 4-3. He allowed a late tying goal, but Necas' game-winner had to be a massive weight lifted off his shoulders. I hope we don't see too many games like this with Pyotr Kochetkov. Otherwise, we'll need the offense to score six or seven goals each night.
Up Next: The Thanksgiving Eve tilt will be on Wednesday night as the New York Rangers come to town. The Rangers have been struggling and rumors are swirling about a potential roster shakeup. Once Turkey Day passes, the week will end with a back-to-back against the Florida Panthers, beginning at the Lenovo Center on Friday afternoon.