It’s become more apparent than ever that we’ve hit the time of year where the Canes can feel a little more secure in their positioning for the playoffs, and they underestimate the opponent that is fighting for their playoff lives. It was a problem against Washington on Saturday and it reared its head again against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday. Carolina dominated play in a chippy game, had a 2-0 lead and almost immediately surrendered it despite being the better team. Despite that, however, they were
able to win it in overtime as the march to the Olympic Break continues.
The first period reflected two teams that had played the night before. After giving up 19 shots to the Washington Capitals in the first on Saturday, the Hurricanes gave up just four to the Kings. Most of the play in the period was in the neutral zone, with little offensive zone time for either team. The period did start spicy, though, as Jordan Martinook was called for boarding Mikey Anderson just 30 seconds in. The Penalty Kill unit though easily dispatched of the two minutes, but the Kings tried to get even with a scrum started by Jeff Malott cross-checking Alexander Nikishin.
The scrum didn’t result in any penalties, but shortly after Jackson Blake was slashed by Kevin Fiala to give the Canes their first Power Play chance. Carolina took full advantage—Jordan Staal won the faceoff back to Shayne Gostisbehere, who passed across ice to a red-hot Andrei Svechnikov. Svechnikov did not hesitate to shoot it with the Kings still trying to get set, and the puck found Jordan Stall for his second straight home goal via a deflected shot.
There was one scary moment when Adrian Kempe went down with what looked like a slash from Sebastian Aho’s stick. He had to be helped off the ice, but fortunately it was to the team bench and he didn’t miss a shift. Anderson also came back from the locker pretty quickly after the boarding penalty, but didn’t return after the first.
The second period was scoreless but it wasn’t boring. The Kings decided they needed to avenge the hit on Anderson, and Corey Perry tried to engage Martinook in a fight on the opening faceoff. It appeared he declined the fight, but that didn’t stop Perry. It resulted in an extra minor to Perry, and later on in the period Joel Edmundson just pushed over Jackson Blake as he went in on goal. Neither penalty resulted in a converted Power Play goal, and while the Canes dominated play in that period—outshooting the Kings 14-4—the period ended with another scrum involving Martinook and the score still 1-0 Carolina.
The third period opened with more 4-on-4 play and urgency from the Kings as they are in a dogfight for position in the West and needed every point. Despite that, Carolina was able to tilt the ice in their favor and after several misses, they were able to finally finish. Chaos in front of the net led to a few more shots on Anton Forsberg, eventually the puck squirted right in front of Alexander Nikishin who snapped it by Forsberg to give Carolina a 2-0 lead.
With the way the Canes had played, 2-0 seemed insurmountable—however as has plagued the team in recent days, they also seemed to think 2-0 was insurmountable. Right off the faceoff the Kings attacked in front of their bench, forcing a Jesperi Kotkaniemi turnover. It created a quick 4-0n-2 for the Kings that they were able to convert with a goal by Samuel Helenius just 24 seconds after Nikishin’s goal. LA continued to push, and before they could even pull the goalie, Quinton Byfield cashed in on a pass from a skating Adrian Kempe to knot the goal at two. Carolina was able to hold on the rest of the period despite some scary moments, and force overtime.
It was the second overtime in a row for both teams, but once the puck dropped Carolina controlled the action. LA had one chance at the puck early on, but Carolina controlled it and never gave it up. Eventually Carolina was able to cash in. It started as Shayne Gostisbehere learned from Will Carrier’s mistake earlier in the season, and despite getting held, saw the puck was going out of the zone and skated across the blue line. Sebastian Aho was able to secure it, then he asked the official about the missed call. Play continued as Aho went unencumbered into the zone and snapped a shot past Forsberg to give the Canes the 3-2 win.
Brandon Bussi only had to make eleven saves on thirteen shots, as the Canes played the type of game that Rod Brind’Amour had been hoping for after the disappointment the night before. Forsberg made 30 saves in the overtime loss.
Carolina has just two games remaining before the Olympic Break—at home Tuesday against Ottawa and then up in New York against the Rangers on Thursday.
