The Carolina Hurricanes suffered another rocky overtime loss on Saturday, Nov. 19, falling 2-1 to the Minnesota Wild.
An extreme lack of offense marked the affair as the Canes (10-5-3) and Wild (8-8-2) only mustered 21 shots apiece. While center Sebastian Aho opened the scoring in the first period, there were no more goals to be had until Minnesota center Sam Steel snuck in a game-tying goal in the final three minutes of regulation.
The Wild finalized the result 1:12 into the overtime period when defenseman Alex Goligoski scored the game-winner.
“The fact that we got a point out of that game is a miracle in my opinion,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “We were God awful. When you have two or three guys playing and the rest are just going through the motions, that’s what you get.”
While the game didn’t feature much in the goals department, both offenses engineered plenty of shots. Carolina outpaced Minnesota 50-43 in Corsi, but the defenses stepped up as well. The Canes and Wild blocked 13 and 19 shots, respectively.
The Hurricanes got off their game in the second period and it showed. Minnesota generated some momentum in the middle 20 minutes, not quite finding twine but creating six high-danger scoring chances.
“We just stopped playing our game,” said defenseman Brett Pesce. “We tried to be too cute with the puck, especially in the O-zone, and we could’ve gotten pucks to the net. We’re trying to make that extra play and they countered on it. Kudos to them, they played a good hard game. They got pucks behind our D, which makes it hard for us back there. We gotta be better.”
Carolina will look to turn its fortunes around as its mediocre November continues. The Canes stand at 4-3-2 for the month, just a shade over .500 but nowhere near the team’s expectations. The Canes will get their next shot to generate some momentum Monday, Nov. 21 when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the Jets. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
“We’re a desperate hockey team right now,” Pesce said. “We need to be better and we all know that. We’re too good of a team to not get wins, and especially on these road trips. We gotta find a way to dig one out in Winnipeg.”
