It had been almost two years since goaltender Dustin Tokarski made an NHL start. The 35-year-old veteran thought about hanging up the skates for good but ultimately decided to hang around and wait for an opportunity.
Tokarski had played five games with the Chicago Wolves — Carolina’s AHL affiliate — before signing a contract with the Canes and getting called up to the main squad two weeks ago. Relishing in the opportunity, Tokarski prepared for this like any other game and made the most of it, leaving with a 27-save win.
“I’ve been going day-to-day for the last 30 days and I want to keep doing that,” Tokarski said. “Grateful for the opportunity, grateful for the belief … can’t complain one bit. I tried to keep [retiring] out of the mind just because I feel like if you start thinking that way, that’s what might come your way. So I just kept working back home, doing the process, waiting for an opportunity and a pretty fortunate one came.”
Despite tending the net behind one of the league’s best defensemen groups, Tokarski’s first game was certainly not a gimme. The Hurricanes spent six of the first 10 minutes of the game on the penalty kill where Tokarski had to make crucial saves.
Tokarski, who was drafted in 2008, had only played in 80 games before tonight. Although game-wise at the NHL level he doesn’t have that experience under his belt, he has all the tools. Making plays to settle the puck behind the net for his teammates or himself, he did the little things that only a veteran knows how.
“We understand how hard it is to get in this league and then to stay around,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I didn’t realize it has been that long, that’s a testament to him to hang in there. … He was the difference tonight.”
The Canes came out of the gates full of energy, almost leading to an opening shift goal from center Jordan Staal’s line. The juice brought to the opening puck drop looked like it would get an early goal against a team playing the second half of a back-to-back but Carolina had to wait.
An illegal check to the head and a double-minor high-sticking penalty put the Hurricanes on the backfoot, but it didn’t inhibit their offensive threats.
Centers Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis combined to disrupt a zone entry from Columbus by forcing a turnover with their sticks. Going the other way in a two-on-one, Jarvis made the easy pass to Aho who patiently outwaited netminder Elvis Merzlikins. It’s the second time this season the pair have combined on a shorthanded goal.
“We go tire everybody out and then they come out and reap the rewards,” said left wing Jordan Martinook. “That’s good for them.”
Along with Martinook and left wing William Carrier, the Staal line set the tone with each and every shift but was finally rewarded in the final minute of the first. As Staal faked going strong to the net, Carrier weaseled his way into the slot, putting a backhand on the captain’s pass to double the Canes’ lead.
The Hurricanes were inches away from making it a 3-0 lead in the second, but center Martin Necas and right wing Andrei Svechnikov were just on the wrong side, hitting the side net and the crossbar. Instead of being up three, the Canes were up just one after Blue Jackets left wing Dmitri Voronkov wristed a shot under Tokarski’s glove from the slot.
The final three minutes of the middle frame were plagued with coach’s challenges that required everlasting reviews. On a tip-in goal from Martinook that changed the direction of a Staal slapshot from the point, Carrier had brushed Merzlikins, warranting enough question for Columbus to challenge for goaltender’s interference.
“Yeah I had no clue, to be honest with you,” Carrier said. “Normally you can tell when you’re in there and when I got to the bench I knew right away that it was a good goal.”
As the Lenovo Center crowd chanted “GOAL” with their arms pointing to the center dot, the referees agreed rewarding Martinook and a team that has been on the other end of that call a handful of times.
A minute later, on the ensuing power play from a failed challenge, center Jack Roslovic looked like he had scored his 14th goal of the year, but the Blue Jackets tried again, this time getting the challenge right for a hand pass.
Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi rounded out the scoring with the third period’s only goal as he fired a wrister to beat Merzlikins high to the glove side.
For the first time in the last handful of games, the Hurricanes played a complete game with everyone pulling their weight. An uptick in performance for a team that had struggled to get over one of those regular season bumps in the road.
Now it’s about putting one good performance after the other and with the New York Islanders coming to town on Tuesday, the Canes have a chance to earn two key Metropolitan division points. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.
