The Background
No goalie in franchise history has made a larger impact than Cam Ward. Through the 2016-17 season, Ward had already placed himself as the franchise leader in almost every statistical category. Entering the 2017-18 season, the next big milestone for him to hit was 300 wins.
Win #299 for Ward was a wild one. The Canes struck twice on the power play, but Aleksander Barkov helped the Panthers force overtime with the tying goal late in the third period. Noah Hanifin got the job done in overtime, scoring with two seconds remaining against a sprawling James Reimer to beat the clock and earn the second point. While he was unsuccessful in his first attempt to capture his 300th win, Ward's next chance would come with the team's first-ever trip to Las Vegas.
The Vegas Golden Knights were the NHL's shiniest new toy. Sporting an incredible pre-game on-ice production in one of America's busiest cities, the product on the ice was getting the job done, too. At 19-9-1, the rag-tag Vegas squad was second in the Pacific Division, behind hot starts from William Karlsson, James Neal, and Jonathan Marchessault. They were also getting a boost in the net with the return of Marc-Andre Fleury after suffering an early-season concussion.
Entering their meeting with the Golden Knights on December 12, the Hurricanes were 11-11-7 and sitting at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division. New Hurricane Teuvo Teravainen was proving to be an excellent table-setter, leading the team in assists (16) and points (24), while fellow Finn Sebastian Aho was putting together a strong sophomore season.