After a five-day break, the Carolina Hurricanes began their annual California tour against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. Following a perfect four-game homestand, the Canes shut out the Flyers on the road Saturday behind Mark Jankowski's two goals and Pyotr Kochetkov's 26 stops. Beginning a stretch of three games in four days, the Canes sought to extend their win streak to eight.
Sticking with the normal goalie rotation, Frederik Andersen was between the pipes for the Canes. He was sharp in the group's victory over the Red Wings last Friday. Dmitry Orlov returned to the lineup in Scott Morrow's place on defense. Georgi Romanov started for the Sharks. After making three relief appearances over the last two seasons, this was Romanov's first NHL start.
It was a great start for the road team for about 11 minutes. There was non-stop pressure in front of the rookie netminder as the Canes peppered him with shots and forced him to make big stops. Mark Jankowski had two great chances that Romanov denied. Following a great shift from the top line, Sebastian Aho drew a penalty, giving the Canes' power play a chance to work.
This was about when the period fell apart. After Aho was denied from the slot, the Sharks had the better chances. Eventually, it would lead to a fluky first goal. The second unit coughed up the puck, giving the Sharks a chance on a 2-on-1. Brent Burns sprawled to deny a pass but tripped William Eklund, who slid into Andersen as the puck continued over the line for the only goal of the period.
With the lead, the Sharks continued to push early in the second period. Several rebound chances were ripe for the taking, and San Jose couldn't get their sticks on them. Slowly, the period turned in the Canes' favor, allowing them to tie it. The top line had been hovering around it before a turnover made its way to Seth Jarvis in the slot as he lifted it home to knot things up midway through.
It looked for a second as if the top line had struck again a few minutes later. Jackson Blake made Romanov look silly on a breakaway chance, but the replay clearly showed that Blake entered the zone early. It was around this time when the period felt like it was firmly in the Canes' favor, though the horn would sound with the sides deadlocked at one through 40 minutes.
The Aho line continued its dominant night early in the third period, giving the Canes their first lead. Hard work below the goal line by Blake allowed him to spin free and find Aho alone between the dots for a one-time blast. Romanov had no shot of stopping it through the traffic as the Canes' top trio found the back of the net, again.
Late in the period, the Canes added an insurance marker. Like Blake on the go-ahead goal, Taylor Hall's work behind the net ended with a beautiful pass to Sean Walker at the point. The puck was in and out of the net so fast that it didn't look like it had gone in. However, it clearly did as the Canes opened up a multi-goal lead.
The Canes' penalty killers had to endure a late 6-on-4 with Romanov on the bench, but they went over two straight minutes of non-stop action to kill the penalty and seal the victory. Jordan Staal and Jaccob Slavin threw their bodies in front of the puck, and Burns made a big play in the crease to prevent a tap-in as the Canes held on for a 3-1 win to extend their win streak to eight games.
From start to finish, the best line on the ice for either team on Thursday night was the trio of Sebastian Aho, Jackson Blake, and Seth Jarvis. The team's two leading goal-scorers found the back of the net and while Blake had one taken off the board, he provided a helper on the Aho goal. They combined for ten of the team's 29 shots in the game, led by Aho's five.
It's a shame this doesn't go down as a shutout for Frederik Andersen because the one shot that beat him was as fluky as it gets. Otherwise, the Canes netminder was perfect, stopping 24 shots to continue his dominance on the road. He got some help from the group in front of him, getting 19 blocked shots with six from Jaccob Slavin and five from Shayne Gostisbehere.
What felt even more impressive was the work done to keep Macklin Celebrini quiet. Up until the late San Jose power play, Celebrini didn't have his name called much. He made one great pass to create a chance in the second period, but that was about it. Will Smith was far more prevalent, tying for the Sharks' lead with four shots. I was also impressed by Georgi Romanov's game despite taking the loss.
Up Next: The Carolina Hurricanes will wrap up their California journey with a back-to-back this weekend against the Kings and the Ducks on Saturday and Sunday. Once the team returns home, they'll begin another four-game homestand against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Everything leads to a highly-anticipated battle with the Capitals to conclude the homestand on April 2nd.