The Carolina Hurricanes capped off their West Coast road trip in the win column with a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, Oct. 24.
The Canes (4-1-1) outplayed the Canucks (0-5-2) for most of the night but didn’t pull away until the third period when a 1-1 tie quickly became a 3-1 Carolina lead. Center Sebastian Aho swooped in a rebound created by center Seth Jarvis for the go-ahead goal just 50 seconds into the final period. Right wing Jesper Fast padded the lead 37 seconds later.
“I’m real proud of the group,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Honestly, I know it’s early in the year, but we’ve really come out hard every game. Tonight was tough sledding — I felt like we were in control, but it was a tight game. Guys just kept working, we got the two points. That’s what we wanted.”
With a 39-16 shot advantage on the night, Carolina was simply the better team. The second line of right wing Andrei Svechnikov and centers Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Martin Nečas continued its early-season buzz. Svechnikov scored the game’s first goal on the power play.
However, Fast, left wing Jordan Martinook and center Jordan Staal made waves with a big improvement performance for the third line. The Staal line generated steady offense and stout defense with a 11-5 advantage in Corsi.
On the defensive end, the Hurricanes were more volatile. The top pairing of defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns was stellar as usual, making several key stops while Burns notched two assists. Defensemen Dylan Coghlan and Jalen Chatfield also showed out, exhibiting great chemistry on their way to a 16-4 Corsi advantage as a pairing.
“I love how hard we’re playing,” Brind’Amour said. “We can get better; there’s a lot of areas that we’re not quite there, but it starts with that compete effort. If you have that, you have a chance every night. Obviously we have enough skilled players that they can make plays. Overall I love that [there are] really no passengers in any games.”
The defensive trouble largely came from defensemen Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce on the second pairing, who gave up roughly as many shots as they created. Despite this inconsistency, goaltender Freddie Andersen put on a solid performance in net despite two goals allowed.
Center Derek Stepan seemingly gave Carolina a 2-0 advantage midway through the opening period but his goal was called back due to goalie interference. Once Brind’Amour’s challenge failed, the Hurricanes were charged with a delay of game penalty. Canucks center J.T. Miller took advantage of the opportunity and slipped away from the Canes PK, received a cross-crease pass and slotted Vancouver’s opening goal past Andersen.
Miller ended as Vancouver’s only goalscorer, finding twine again with 9:20 left to play. Not enough to pull the Canucks back even but certainly enough to make the Canes fans still awake on the East Coast sweat right up to the final buzzer.
The Hurricanes will get a few days to catch their breath before returning to Raleigh Friday, Oct. 28 to take on the New York Islanders. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
