Games like these have haunted Canes fans in seasons past; scoring one goal on 39 shots on goal like they did against the Penguins is a story that is getting old for the Raleigh crowd. In a game Carolina could have won against the second-to-last team in the Metropolitan division, the Canes dropped the ball, losing 4-1.
Following the game in Pittsburgh, the Hurricanes (45-21-7) now have less than 10 games left in the regular season. Each game becomes more important than the last, especially when the race for the President’s trophy is as tight as it is. The loss to the Penguins (31-30-10) brings Carolina’s point streak to an end at seven games giving it its first regulation loss in a little over a month.
Center Jake Guentzel in his return to Pittsburgh played well but wasn’t able to get on the scoresheet. Although he is a relatively new addition, he has certainly carved out his place on the top line with the number of scoring chances he creates. The forward tallied a team-leading six shots on goal in the loss.
In the first period, the Canes came out relatively flat to their usual high-intensity starts. Establishing five-on-five play wasn’t helped by being on the penalty kill for four minutes including a cross-checking penalty getting assessed to right wing Andrei Svechnikov.
Svechnikov has looked like a shadow of his former self in this last stretch of games. He has 1 point in his last five games where he has accumulated 10 penalty minutes and a -5 rating. The Russian’s game seems to have gotten away from him, and it’s clearly causing him frustration while out on the ice.
Although they got off to a slow start in the first, the Canes followed it up with their best period of the night. In the middle frame, the Hurricanes outshot the Penguins 15-5. The one downside is that they gave up two even-strength goals on just five shots.
Just under three minutes into the game, former Hurricane right wing Jesse Puljujarvi jumped onto the ice and after receiving a drop pass from center Lars Eller, he fired a shot through the legs of Pittsburgh defenseman Ryan Graves. Graves set a perfect screen in front of netminder Pyotr Kochetkov blocking his vision on a perfect shot.
Carolina’s lone goal came halfway through the second thanks to defenseman Dmitry Orlov. Taking advantage of an injured Pittsburgh player, the Hurricanes established offensive possession in an unofficial powerplay scenario, and Orlov wristed a shot from the point that went off a Penguin and past goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.
Nedeljkovic, another former Cane, stopped 38 shots to earn his 11th win of the season. Although the shots he faced weren’t of great quality, he did his job and did everything he needed to do to put his team in a position to win.
The game-winning goal came from right wing Bryan Rust just before the second period came to a close. With less than two minutes left, off a won faceoff from center Sidney Crosby, Rust fired a shot on goal that took a hop off Canes defenseman Brett Pesce’s skate and past Kochetkov.
On both goals, Kochetkov had no chance of making the save. For the past couple of months now, Kochetkov has put this team on his back. The young goaltender has cleaned up the majority of the Canes’ defensive mistakes, which is one of the main reasons they are competing for the best record in the NHL.
For the second period in a row, the Canes put 15 shots on goal as they totaled 30 in the final two periods alone. In this case, it was clear quality, not quantity, was going to be needed to find a tying goal. That never came for the Hurricanes, and the theme in the postgame was that a needed net-front presence was nowhere to be found.
In the final two minutes, Pittsburgh left wing Drew O’Connor and Crosby each recorded an empty-net goal to claim a much-needed two points for Pittsburgh. With his empty-net goal being his third point of the night, Crosby sits just six points shy of guaranteeing a 19th point-per-game season to tie Wayne Gretzky for the most all-time.
The Hurricanes will return to Raleigh to take on a struggling Detroit Red Wings team battling for the last wild card spot in the east. The game is scheduled for Thursday, March 28, with a puck drop at 7:30 p.m.
