-Gabriel Dorris-
The Recap
The Overview
1st Period: Continuing a pattern we’ve seen frequently this season, the Canes came fast out the gate and put on 5 of the first 6 shots. Continuing another frequent trend, they began to fall apart, as Freddie was pelted with high-danger chances, and Oliver Bjorkstrand made a move around Burns to get goal #1 on shot #5 for the Kraken. But the Canes were still feeling very traditional, so they made their classic play of giving up a breakaway, as Devin Shore took a great pass from Bjorkstrand, and threw it in five-hole on Freddie to double the Kraken lead.
After this, Carolina began to absolutely pile it on Joey Daccord. They managed nine shots in the final five minutes of the opening frame and even got one past. Jesperi Kotkaniemi made a pass to Michael Bunting behind the net, who passed it to Martin Necas wide-open in front for the goal. This goal created a contrast with the last two games because now it was the Canes scoring late and taking all the momentum into the second after Tampa and Colorado had done the same to them Saturday and Tuesday.
2nd Period: Carolina came out strong in the second, and would hold that strength pretty much the entire period, leading shots 15-7 in the frame. Still, the Canes almost let Seattle restore their lead less than five minutes into the second, as 2022 Calder Memorial trophy winner Matty Beniers took a pass in the slot and slammed the puck past Freddie and square into the post. That was the best chance of the frame for either team, but there were still some other nice shots that Andersen and Daccord managed to keep out, ending the second period with the same score we saw at the start of it.
3rd Period: If the second inning was dominant for Carolina, then I’m not even sure what adjective would be able to describe the third. The Canes led shots 14-8, a smaller margin than in period two, but the disparity in quality was massive. The Hurricanes had a nice chance from Burns less than twenty seconds in, Aho threw on a great chance on a 2v1, Staal had a really nice tip that went just wide, and that wasn’t even the quarter of it. Raleigh had the ice tilted 90 degrees, but they still almost threw it away.
Seattle, who had struggled to put much of anything on Freddie up to this point, but a little over halfway through the period, Jaden Schwartz got into a good position, where he snapped a shot which Andersen made a great save on, and then gave up multiple rebounds to, all of which someone stayed out- the Canes were still in it. But with under five minutes left in regulation, they were still down one- Then, Brady Skjei made a great block, jumped up from his knees to skate the puck away, and sent it across the ice to Necas, who then gave a spin pass to the finisher, Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
Overtime was possession-based, and there were only four shots total, three for Seattle. But the one Canes shot, courtesy of Martin Necas with just nine seconds left until a shootout, was what mattered most. Burns picked up the puck after an incredible Andersen save and sent it to Sebastian Aho, who then dished it to Martin Necas, who threw one at DeAngelo, who faked a play before mailing it back to Necas in the slot with tons of time.
3-2 was all she wrote.
The Postgame
The Canes looked great this game, and the 3-2 score does not tell the full story. They essentially dominated for 55 minutes out of 65, and a 42 for 45 save exceptional showing by Joey Daccord was all that kept this match from being a blowout. The defense continues to improve, Freddie was more than solid on his first night back, and overall this game showed lots of growth after a poor start to the season. With Svechnikov expected back tonight and Brett Pesce in a few weeks, the hope is that we’ll finally see this team at their full potential, fully healthy and working as a unit.
Standout Players
Martin Necas, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Michael Bunting were a dominant unit. They scored both of the Cane’s regulation goals, and Necas had the OT winner. They were great in all three areas of the ice and had a combined 10 shots, 16 shot attempts, 3 goals, 3 assists, and 4 hits. Jesperi Kotkaniemi also took the second most faceoffs on the team (13) and won nine of them. Frederick Andersen put up a .922 save percentage, Jalen Chatfield was flying, Dmitry Orlov had a really solid game of his own, Tony DeAngelo had a great assist on the game-winner, Brent Burns put on six shots, and Brady Skjei made probably the biggest play of the game, but overall it was the second line that won us this game, which is why
My three stars (Canes players only, sorry Daccord) would be Michael Bunting, Jesperi Kotkaniemi (**), and Martin Necas (*).
The Preview
The Overview
Tonight at 7pm EST, the Canes will be diving into their second match in two days, both at home. Carolina is 4-4-0 after their win last night, while through six games the Sharks have become the only winless team left in the NHL. They aren’t pointless, however, with an OT loss putting them at 0-5-1. Their last game was a humiliating 6-0 blowout courtesy of Tampa. Kaapo Kahkonen is expected to start for the Sharks, while Raanta will be playing his first game since being pulled from Carolina’s game against the Kraken on the 18th. Kahkonen is 0-3-0 with a .897 save percentage and a 3.23 GAA, while Raanta is 1-1-0 with a 4.41 GAA and a .818 save percentage.
The Sharks have looked terrible this year in pretty much every part of the ice this season, as they’ve been scored on 28 times with only 8 lamp lightings of their own. They have a 13.6% PP, a 74.1% PK, and Thomas Hertl is the only player on the team with more than three points, and only two of his teammates have gotten two goals. The Canes have looked better, but still not up to their standards. They’ve scored 30 goals while giving up 35, and their game last night was their first of the season letting up less than three. They have a 22.9% PP and a horrific and unusual 69.7% PK. If they want the win tonight, they’ll need to make an offensively challenged team look like they’re offensively challenged and a defensively challenged defense look like they’re defensively challenged. They’ll also need to avoid letting a pretty bad goaltender look like prime Hasek.
Things to Watch
Antti Raanta has had an underwhelming season, and if he continues to play a similar game to what we saw in his first three starts, then he may find himself at risk of being replaced as backup by Pyotr Kochetkov, who has looked solid in his three games this year and was sent back to the AHL yesterday. The team’s defense played by far their best game of the season last night, and so did Tony DeAngelo, who had had a miserable start up to this point. Jalen Chatfield also had a great game, and these two are going to be duking it out for the permanent #6 spot when Brett Pesce returns from injury. Dmitry Orlov also had a really good game and is showing heavy improvement as a Cane, but I doubt he’s at much risk of being pushed to 7 on the depth chart with a $7.75 million cap hit.
Andrei Svechnikov will be returning to the team after missing the first 8 games due to an injury he took last season, and he’ll be great to see back. If Rod also lets the Svech-KK-Necas line play again, it will be interesting to see if Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Martin Necas, who have already looked great this season, can be pushed to yet another level. However, the projected lineup has Svech starting on the fourth line, which makes sense, as this will be his first game in months. Necas is expected to play with KK and Bunting on the second.
Prediction
The Sharks are bad this year; REALLY bad. The Canes have all the momentum in the world with Svechnikov coming back after a thrilling night against Seattle. If they can’t use this advantage in momentum and general huge one-up in skill to beat the Sharks, then… it wouldn’t be that surprising. This team has a thing for playing down to worse opponents (cough, cough, Anaheim, cough). Still, they’re -440 betting favorites, and Moneypuck has them as 80.7% favorites. With logic overwriting any gut feelings, I think Carolina has a pretty easy dub here.
Prediction: 5-2 Canes
Record: 5 (correct winner) – 3 (incorrect winner) – 0 (predicted OT/shootout loss and lost in regulation, or vice versa.)
Canes Express 
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