It’s not often you get a playoff-type contest in Game 36 of the regular season, but in the second act of a back-to-back against the New Jersey Devils, the physical play in the first game boiled over.
Devils right wing Timo Meier was ejected 6:28 into the third period for kneeing Canes center Martin Necas and six minutes later, Devils center Erik Haula and Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov went to the box for roughing following a check to the head that Orlov didn’t take kindly to.
“I think it was a dirty hit and I wasn’t happy with that,” Orlov said. “I didn’t think it was two minutes, I thought it should have been more than that. But we got even and I got two minutes too, but I didn’t hit him. I just grabbed him and told a couple of words.”
Despite playing the hard forechecking style that head coach Rod Brind’Amour likes, Carolina (22-13-1) fell down 1-0 and then 2-1 before mounting a comeback. Right wing Jackson Blake scored the game-winning goal on the power play while center Jack Roslovic’s 15th and 16th goals of the season rubbed salt in the wound for New Jersey (24-12-3).
Hurricanes defenseman Ty Smith made his team debut, his first NHL action since January 2023. Smith logged a team-leading 7:29 of ice time after he was instantly inserted into the team’s top power-play unit. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was ruled out before puck drop, giving the 24-year-old his first chance to play since he was acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade last March.
Once action resumed in the second period it didn’t take long for New Jersey to get on the board. Center Paul Cotter stole the puck from center Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the neutral zone and took it himself to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.
The Hurricanes controlled play and dominated the face-off circle but couldn’t crack New Jersey goaltender Jake Allen. Center Sebastian Aho had two grade-A opportunities while shorthanded which left him shaking his head when he didn’t convert.
The Devils were inches away from taking a 2-0 lead but Necas laid out on the ice and got a skate blade to deflect the puck from going in a gaping net.
With just 30 seconds left in the period, the Canes were looking down the barrel of 25+ shots on goal with nothing to show but Orlov unleashed a rocket to tie it. Orlov took a pass from defenseman Sean Walker and blasted a 92.2 mph one-timer past Allen.
“In my head as I was passing it, I was envisioning when he did it against Washington and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s going in,’” Walker said.
The Devils regained the lead 1:05 into the third when center Ondrej Palat separated himself in front of the net from defenseman Brent Burns and tapped in a pass from left wing Jesper Bratt. A goal that could have taken the wind out of the sails of Carolina but it fought back to tie the game 51 seconds later.
Getting denied twice earlier, Aho had some luck go his way when he took control of a puck that Roslovic knocked out of mid-air to keep in the offensive zone and fired a shot that squeaked under the arm of Allen to make it 2-2.
It was at this point when things began to unravel on the ice with each team looking to land the next big hit. Meier caught Necas off-guard at center ice landing a knee-to-knee hit that ended his night early.
Standing up for his teammate, Kotkaniemi quickly started a scuffle as Necas was clutching his knee and Canes fans held their breath. Necas skated off, unable to put any weight on his leg, but made his return to the bench before play resumed, seemingly alright.
After serving his two minutes for roughing, Kotkaniemi avenged his linemate and his own mistake on the game-winning goal. Firing the puck from the point, Blake deflected Kotkaniemi’s shot for his eighth goal of the year.
Held scoreless since Nov. 27, Blake was relieved he got back in the goal column.
“I’ve been waiting for a while,” Blake said. “I wasn’t even counting the games. Sometimes it takes a tip like that or a lucky bounce. … It feels amazing.”
A minute and a half later, Roslovic buried a pass from center Seth Jarvis on two-on-one to score his team-leading 15th goal of the season. On the ensuing play, Haula landed his high hit on Orlov, causing the game to spiral towards Wrestlemania.
Taking a minute to collect himself following the hit, Orlov got right back into the scuffle before being directed towards the bench. From there, Orlov got checked out and when the bleeding stopped, he jumped Haula on his way to the box.
Orlov was lucky to only get two minutes himself but the fans loved it as Haula became more and more of a heel to the Caniacs.
Rolsovic scored his second of the night on an empty net, sealing Brind’Amour’s 300th career NHL win. In 488 games, Brind’Amour became the fastest coach in NHL history to reach the milestone.
“I’ve been blessed,” Brind’Amour said. “I got a really good group. You can count the times on your hand when it wasn’t a solid effort. They give you what they can every night. That’s something that I think I take the most pride in.”
In a type of win that can pull the team together, the Canes look to use it to build out of a tough spell of games and cap off 2024 with a win. They play Columbus on New Year’s Eve with puck drop at 8 p.m.
