Goaltender Frederik Andersen suffered his third loss of the season as the Carolina Hurricanes came up short in Seattle, losing 2-1 to the Kraken on Wednesday, Nov. 24.
Seattle (6-12-1) rode a great performance by goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who held the Canes (14-3-1) to just one goal on 36 shots. Even when quality chances came up, Carolina simply could not get it done.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour made several changes to his lineup after Monday’s overtime loss at San Jose and it showed. The Hurricanes came out of the gate looking disjointed, never quite gelling together at any point in the night. Combined with the fatigue of the fifth game in a six-game road trip, Carolina struggled to put together quality shifts.
The one counterexample to the Canes’ lack of cohesion was seen in the opening goal. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo made a beautiful pass to set up defenseman Brendan Smith who fired away to give Carolina a 1-0 lead late in the first.
Overall, plays like that were the exception rather than the rule for the Canes. After failing to convert on a pair of power plays, the Hurricanes’ frustration came to a head with right wing Andrei Svechnikov hastily dropped the gloves on Vince Dunn midway through the third period.
The impact of Svechnikov’s time spent in the box rather than on the ice was not lost on him; his squad sorely needed an impact play down the stretch but Svech prevented himself from making that difference by earning a trip to the box.
“Obviously it happened too fast,” Svechnikov said. “I’m not a fighter. I know I got to be on the ice and helping my team win games. I probably shouldn’t do that.”
Seattle, on the other hand, made good on its chances. A Jared McCann goal early in the second period prompted a 1-1 deadlock that lasted 32:36, only to be broken on a game-winning goal for Seattle scored by Marcus Johansson. Andersen saw Johansson wind up for a shot up close on the short side but Johansson simply beat Andersen with just over three minutes to go.
The Kraken also pulled a page from San Jose’s playbook, blocking 20 shots over the course of the game to deny Carolina of any additional goals. After a scorching start to the season, teams are starting to adjust to how the Hurricanes play and succeeding in stifling their offense.
“Teams are selling out to make those blocks and they’re really competing,” Smith said. “We’re going to get our [opposing] team’s best. We want that that way. We want to be prepared all year so when it comes time in playoffs, we’re going to be prepared for that.”
The Canes will make a detour on their way back to the east coast, stopping in Philadelphia to take on the Flyers. The game is set for Friday, Nov. 26 at 3:30 p.m.
