The regular season is a long one and so many times there are games that come and go without much thought.
And then there’s Thursday’s game with the Hurricanes and the Avalanche.
You basically need Bill Hader’s
“Stefon” character from SNL to describe this one because it…had…everything—Throwback uniforms, a ton of penalties, old teammates reuniting, a touching ceremony, a big lead, a big comeback, overtime, a shootout, injuries, controversial goals, and in the end a 5-4 win by the Canes thanks to one shootout goal between the two teams.
The game comes with a huge asterisk for the Hurricanes as they lost three key contributors over the course of the night. K’Andre Miller was a late scratch as it would appear the injuries that bugged him in the preseason flared up, and then during the game the Canes lost both William Carrier and Eric Robinson. After the game Rod Brind’Amour didn’t give much of an update except to indicate that the two lost during the game would be out “for a while” and he wasn’t sure about Miller.
The wild night started with a ceremony for former Hurricane Brent Burns, who played in his 1500th game earlier this month. Colorado waited until the game against the Canes to celebrate the milestone, and the Canes were on the ice for the presentation.
Once the puck was dropped the game started at about 90 miles per hour. Just three minutes in, after the Avs threatened with a shot, Jesperi Kotkaniemi took a rebound from Mike Reiley, bounced the puck along the wall to a streaking Robinson who went in on goalie Scott Wedgewood and opened the scoring just three minutes in.
Just a minute later, the Avs were able to tie it at one thanks to a goal from Valeri Nichushkin. The Canes were unable to gather a loose puck in the zone and Nichushkin grabbed it, going in basically all alone and got by Andersen. The Canes would then stare down the first of eight penalty kills on the night when Charles Alexis Legault was called for a slash, however, Seth Jarvis would still manage to grab the lead back with the Canes’ first short handed goal on the season.
Ten minutes later the Canes top line all touched the puck to set up their third goal. At first it appeared that it would be Nikolaj Ehlers’ first goal with Carolina, however it would actually be a deflection by Sebastian Aho, his third on the season.
A minute later, Logan Stankoven would finish the scoring in the wild first period by hanging out with Jackson Blake off a face-off, and taking a feed that he eventually just physically pushed by Wedgewood to give the Canes a 4-1 lead going into the first intermission. That would be the end for Wedgewood as he was pulled and replaced with Trent Miner.
It was at this point, though, when things turned for Carolina and Colorado started to press their advantage. The Canes would be called for four penalties in the second period while Colorado was just whistled for one. The Avs would outshoot the Canes 16-5, but through all that their only goal was a controversial one.
Parker Kelly would get a glove on the puck and appear to redirect it into the net. Unfortunately no official on the ice saw that, and this is something that the Canes are unable to challenge. It was revealed a little later—no thanks to the communication by the officials—that Brind’Amour had challenged that the puck was hit with a high stick prior to this goal. The officials looked and determined that his stick was at the appropriate height. The Canes would kill off the subsequent Power Play and would go into the 2nd Intermission still up 4-2.
The barrage kept up in the third period, and while the shots were basically even at 12-11 for the Canes, the quality chances were easily shot by the Avs. Colorado was able to get to 4-3 thanks to the inevitable Martin Necas goal against his former team. Then after both teams had been held scoreless on the Power Play, Colorado finally converted with Nichushkin’s second of the night. The Canes would get a late Power Play to end the period but couldn’t convert. In the end, though, Freddie Andersen did what he could to keep Carolina in a game where they were down three regulars, two of them missing from the game, and with two Chicago Wolves call-ups playing minutes.
That strength continued in Overtime as the Canes failed to convert on yet another Power Play, and then Colorado would get their own chances—which would also come up empty. The game would move to the shootout, where Andersen finished his gem by stoning Nichushkin, Necas, and Artturi Lehkonen while Seth Jarvis was able to open up with a goal, but Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake were unable to seal it, requiring Freddie’s heroics.
It added up to a 44 save performance from Andersen, who very likely will earn a game off on Saturday thanks to the extra frame and short turnaround.
The game was played as part of a throwback night where the the Canes broke out the Hartford Whalers combo and Colorado wore their anniversary Quebec Nordiques uniform in celebration of thirty seasons in Denver. It was reminiscent of a matchup from the old Adams Division in the Wales Conference, and Hurricanes fans will be treated to this combo on January 3rd when the Avs come to town.
The Canes are now on to Dallas for the last game of their road trip, and we’ll see if the Canes call anyone up due to the injuries.
