Carolina Hurricanes Update
Wednesday night, the Carolina Hurricanes gave the fans at PNC Arena something to be thankful for. A sound defeat of the Edmonton Oilers. However, not even the “Caniacs” could have expected their Thanksgiving Eve to go like it did, especially in the first 15 minutes of the game.
Early in the first period, the Oilers tried to draw first blood, as (defenseman) Mattias Ekholm tried to score against (Hurricanes goalie) Antti Raanta. Over a minutle later, things would go bad for the Oilers, as (left winger) Zach Hyman was called hooking. The Hurricanes nearly made it a quick power play, as (left winger) Teuvo Teravainen got the puck past (Oilers goalie) Stuart Skinner, but it hit the left post.
The Oilers tried to take advantage of it, but a great hustle from Teravainen & (Hurricanes defenseman) Brent Burns prevented a goal. The game was temporarily halted, as Burns went crashing into the net, but he & Raanta were injury free. After a nice setup, Burns had a chance to score, but Skinner gloved the puck. Near the end of the power play, (left winger) Michael Bunting had a shot that went wide left. Shortly after the power play ended, the Hurricanes nearly had chances to score, thanks to (defensemen) Brady Skjei & Dmitry Orlov. The Oilers responded with a couple of scoring chances from (left winger) Evander Kane & Hyman.
After Raanta cleared a puck, (Hurricanes center) Seth Jarvis tried for a breakaway, but Skinner gloved his shot. The Hurricanes had another chance, as (left winger/alternate captain) Jordan Martinook had a shot that hit the post. The Hurricanes finally got a break, thanks to (center/captain) Jordan Staal recovering a puck that was poke checked away by (Oilers defenseman/alternate captain) Darnell Nurse. Staal passed to (defenseman) Jalen Chatfield, who fired at the net.
Chatfield’s pass deflected off of Martinook’s stick & to Skinner’s right. With an open net, (right winger) Jesper Fast scored the goal. Just 35 seconds later, the Hurricanes made PNC Arena get even louder. After Ekholm lost control of the puck, (center) Jack Drury & Bunting had (Oilers defenseman) Evan Bouchard. Drury passed to Bunting, who gave it back to Drury, who nearly skated past the goal, but was able to get the puck past Skinner, before Bouchard & Ekholm could bail Skinner out.
The Oilers tried to respond with (defenseman) Cody Ceci taking a shot, but Raanta snatched it out of mid-air. About a minute & a half later, the Hurricanes did to the Oilers, again. Jarvis poke checked the puck from (Oilers defenseman) Philip Broberg. Before it could get to (Oilers center) Ryan McLeod, (Hurricanes center/alternate captain) Sebastian Aho passed it to Teravainen, who scored. The Hurricanes tried to keep things going, as Orlov & Drury had shots on goal.
The Oilers responded with a shot on goal by (right winger) Connor Brown. A breakaway would chance would occur for (Hurricanes defenseman/alternate captain) Jaccob Slavin, but Skinner made a save. After Orlov’s shot was blocked by Ceci, he had another shot, but Skinner was able to deflect it. The Oilers tried to make something happen, especially with (center/captain) Connor McDavid. Chatfield took the puck away from McDavid, then passed it to Teravainen.
He saw Jarvis weaving on toward an open area, so he passed it to him. Jarvis evaded (Oilers defenseman) Vincent Desharnais & scored. After that goal, (Oilers head coach) Kris Knoblauch replaced Skinner with (goalie) Calvin Pickard. Bouchard had a shot on goal, but Raanta clutched it against his chest. With less than 3 minutes remaining in the period, (Hurricanes right winger) Stefan Noesen was called for interference.
After the Oilers won the faceoff, Bouchard passed to (center/alternate captain) Leon Draisaitl, who found Hyman. His 1st shot was saved, but his 2nd shot resulted in a power play goal that took only 5 seconds. Near the end of the period, (center) Jesperi Kotkaniemi blocked a shot by (Oilers center/alternate captain) Ryan-Nugent Hopkins. The Hurricanes led 4-1, at the end of the first period.
As the second period began, the Hurricanes made a goalie switch, as Raanta was replaced by Pyotr Kochetkov. The Hurricanes had blocked 9 shots in the game and they added 3 more, as Burns blocked Kane, then Slavin blocked Brown, twice. After Kotkaniemi took the puck away from Draisaitl, Svehcnikov tried to feed Skjei, but he just glanced the puck. Skjei passed it back to Svechnikov, who fed (center) Martin Nečas.
Like Hyman’s goal, Pickard saved 1 Nečas shot, but Nečas scored on the rebound. After a long battle for the puck, Kane tried to score, but Kochetkov made the save. McLeod had a chance to try & score, but Kochetkov poke checked the puck away before he shot. The Oilers were doing some shot blocking, thanks to (left winger) Mattias Janmark and Brown & Nurse. Kane had a shot that went over the crossbar.
Pickard had to glove a shot by (Hurricanes defenseman) Brett Pesce. Martinook also had a shot saved by Pickard. Kochetkov had to make a save of his own against (Oilers left winger) Warren Foegele, a former Hurricane. Nurse was called for cross-checking. Late in the power play, Bunting had Pickard beat, but he hit a post. The Hurricanes had no shots on goal, but they were about to get another power play, as Nugent-Hopkins was called for interference.
However, the power play would only last for 13 seconds, as Svechnikov called for tripping. Now, with the action being 4-on-4, the action really opened up the ice. McDavid & Draisaitl tried to work some of their magic, but Kochetkov snatched Draisaitl’s shot clean. It seemed like the Hurricanes scored another goal, when Aho got a puck past Pickard, but after a coach’s challenge, it was overturned, because Aho was offside. After the Nugent-Hopkins penalty was over, the Oilers had a brief power play.
When Svechnikov’s penalty ended, Aho picked Nugent-Hopkins, then launched a pass to Svechnikov, who was suddenly on a breakaway. Bouchard had to slash him to prevent the penalty. Midway through the power play, Kotkaniemi had a shot, but Pickard barely deflected the puck away. Bunting tried to pass to Nečas, but McLeod got to the puck, first.
He passed it to Foegele, who passed it back to McLeod. He saw Ekholm approaching & passed it to him. Despite Kotkaniemi being draped over him, Ekholm scored a short-handed goal with just over 2 minutes remaining in the period. Foegele blocked Teravainen, but Pesce responded by blocking Nurse & Hyman. The Hurricanes ended the period with a 5-2 lead.
As the third period began, the Oilers had 3 great scoring attempts in the 1st minute. Hyman’s 1st shot was saved by Kochaetkov, while a post stopped his 2nd. Then, Bouchard was stopped by Kochetkov. Brown had a shot deflect off of Kochetkov, then batted away by Pesce. Orlov had a shot gloved by Pickard. After the Hurricanes iced the puck, an Oilers face-off controlled by (center) Derek Ryan led to a goal. Ryan sent to Ekholm, who passed to Nugent-Hopkins.
A wrap-around found its way to McDavid, who passed to Hyman, who scored his 2nd goal of the night. Draisaitl nearly scored, but Kochetkov made the save. Nečas was called for holding Ryan’s stick, so the Oilers were going to have a big chance to bring this game to a goal deficit. Kochetkov had to make some big saves against McDavid & Nugent-Hopkins. Just after the penalty to Nečas expired, Orlov had a shot gloved by Pickard.
Both teams blocked shots in the middle portion of the period. With less than 8 minutes left in regulation, Ekholm had a shot go over the crossbar. Foegele tried to score, but Kochetkov poke checked the puck away. Bouchard had a shot deflected by Kochetkov. Burns had a shot gloved by Pickard. McLeod & Ryan both had shots stopped by Kochetkov. With over 4 minutes to go, Pickard headed for the bench, while the Oilers were in their offensive zone.
Just a few seconds later, McDavid was called for interference. McLeod nearly scored the 2nd short-handed goal of the game for the Oilers, less than 10 seconds into Carolina’s power play. Pickard made 2 big saves, late in the power play against Pesce & Kotkaniemi. After the power play expired, Svechnikov tried to score lacrosse-style, but Pickard made another save.
With less than 2 minutes left in regulation, Pickard returned to the bench. With 1:13 left to go, Pesce was called for holding. A face-off led to the final goal. Staal won & after a scramble, Slavin passed to Burns, who backhanded the puck into the empty net for a short-handed goal. After skating around, a final clear sealed a 6-3 victory for the Hurricanes. As customary, the Hurricanes let their fans know how thankful they are for the “Caniacs” with a storm surge.
