Only having the lead early into the second period, the Hurricanes allowed the Avalanche a huge five-goal period and could never regain control. All Avalanche goals were scored in the middle period, aside from the empty net goal from right wing Mikko Rantanen that secured the win.
Losing 6-4, the Carolina Hurricanes (10-3-0) succumbed to the Colorado Avalanche (7-8-0), putting an end to their eight-game win streak.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour had an unsuccessful challenge to what he thought was a delay of game penalty and ended up sending center Martin Necas to the box for two minutes. Only a little over a minute later, defenseman Jalen Chatfield joined Necas in the box for high-sticking, giving the Avalanche a five-on-three opportunity.
The Avalanche could not find a way to capitalize on the five-on-three but were able to get the game-winning goal with a quick wrist shot just seconds after Necas came out of the box.
Hurricanes center Jack Drury and left wing Jordan Martinook helped give the Canes a solid start, giving them a two-goal lead, but it wasn’t enough to fend off the Avalanche who never put their heads down.
After a turnover from defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere on the Canes powerplay, defenseman Cale Makar skated the puck across all three zones and opened up the scoring in the second period for the Avalanche with a short-handed goal that netminder Spencer Martin couldn’t stop.
Martin was put in between the posts tonight for his first start of the season. Recording 23 saves and a .821 save percentage, he couldn’t quite give the team what they needed to succeed.
Center Nathan MacKinnon put up one goal and two assists in the second period proving why he should be one of the alternate captains. Including MacKinnon, nine Avalanche players recorded at least one point in the second period.
Recording a goal and an assist, Necas continues to climb to the top of the leaderboard with another multi-point game extending his point streak to nine games. He sits at number four on the leaderboard for most points in the league, tied with Tampa Bay right wing Nakita Kucherov and Florida center Sam Reinhart.
Defensemen Sam Malinski took a penalty against right wing Andrei Svechnikov, putting the Canes on the powerplay for the fourth time that night. Putting the special teams to work, Necas, Svechnikov and Jarvis were able to skate and pass through the defense and set up Necas for a perfectly timed snapshot that netminder Alexandar Georgiev couldn’t get in front of.
Necas went for his second goal of the game but was blocked by the pads of Georgiev, causing the puck to bounce into Martinook’s stick who slipped it into the back of the net, tallying a second for the night.
After three periods of back-and-forth scoring, the Canes could not find the strength to gain back the lead, giving the two points to the Avalanche.
The Canes continue their road trip to Las Vegas and take on the Golden Knights on Monday, Nov. 11th at 10 p.m.
