When entering the third period with a lead, the Canes are 22-1-1 on the season so giving up five goals in the third period is a tough pill to swallow. The Jets scored five unanswered goals in the final frame proving why they are one of the best in the West.
“Really embarrassing,” said center Jordan Staal. “We’ve got to give ourselves a squeeze, man up and start playing hockey. We kind of just sat back and hoped it wasn’t going to go the way it was going and it did.”
Despite a 12:30 p.m. start, the Hurricanes (36-19-6) came out ready to play. Within the first two minutes, the Canes established a flurry of chances on net, but Jets (38-16-5) all-star netminder Connor Hellebuyck stood strong in the first 20 minutes.
Although the Canes started hot, Winnipeg got right back into the game in the second half of the first period. Carolina started the period outshooting the Jets 9-3 but once the first buzzer sounded, the shot lead was reduced to just one.
Through the first 30 minutes, Carolina was the better team at establishing puck possession in the offensive zone but both teams struggled to do so. The first goal of the night came from center Martin Necas.
Collecting the puck at the red line, Necas dangled his way into the offensive zone, utilized the threat of defenseman Brady Skjei joining in on the rush, and then ripped a shot under the glove of Hellebuyck. With how tight the Canes were playing this goal gave a lot of confidence to the rest of the team who promptly delivered.
Just over five minutes later, Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers rang the post which was followed by Svechnikov clearing the zone. Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho then outworked Winnipeg center Sean Monahan to get to the puck first creating a two-on-one with linemate left wing Teuvo Teravainen.
Receiving the pass from Aho, Teravainen patiently maneuvered into the slot where he wristed a shot that snuck through the pads of Hellebuyck. On Hockey Day in Finland, the two Finns connected once again, doubling the Canes’ lead.
With a secondary assist on the play, Svechnikov reached the 300 NHL-point mark and was met with an ovation from the crowd. Svechnikov didn’t have to wait long to accumulate his 301st NHL point either.
Three minutes later, on the power play, Svechnikov went back and forth with left wing Michael Bunting, but as he moved towards the goal line he found Aho open at the back post who tucked home his 24th goal of the season. With his two points on the day, Aho recorded his 17th multi-point game of the season which leads the team.
With two periods down it appeared as if the Canes found a groove and would cruise to their first win of March but Winnipeg had other ideas.
After going scoreless through 40 minutes, it only took 1:36 for the Jets to notch a goal. On a one-timer from the blue line, left wing Kyle Connor beat a sleeping goalie Pyotr Kochetkov through the five-hole. A mere minute and a half later, Winnipeg scored again, this time when an unmarked right wing Nino Niederreiter trailed the play and beat Kochetkov with his backhand.
At the 5:40 mark, the Jets scored on the power play courtesy of center Mark Scheifele who was unmarked in the slot and went to his backhand side to make the Canes pay. Even though a timeout was called before the game-tying goal, it wasn’t stopping Winnipeg from finding the back of the net.
Carolina temporarily kept its heads above water, but the third period saw its lowest shot total of the night as the offense struggled to get chances once Winnipeg got back into the game. It wasn’t a matter of if but a matter of when the Jets would score next, and with three minutes left in the game, it finally happened.
While coming out to stop a potential breakaway opportunity, Kochetkov dove for a poke check, but the effort proved to be unfruitful as the rebound came straight back to Monahan who scored on a yawning net. Kochetkov, NHL’s February Rookie of the Month, looked to try and make up for the earlier mishap but ended up costing the Canes another goal.
The nail in the coffin came from ex-Hurricane Niederreiter who notched the fifth straight goal for Winnipeg on an empty net with 11 seconds left.
“Every goal had something silly that we did,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “When you play good teams that’s what they do, they’re going to capitalize and that’s what happened.”
This is a loss that will sting the Hurricanes in the days to come. Carolina will have to sit on this loss until Thursday, March 7 when they take on the Montreal Canadiens in Raleigh at 7 p.m.
