On a remarkable night in the Lenovo Center, the Carolina Hurricanes completed one of the most amazing comebacks that you will see. Trailing 4-2 late in the third, they scored three goals in 1:29 seconds to just stun the Utah Mammoth 5-4.
How amazing? It’s only the third time in NHL history that a team has come back to win in regulation when trailing in the final two minutes when trailing by two goals.
After their longest layoff of the season—not including the Olympic Break—there were of course some
concerns about rust going against one of the hotter teams in the league. Utah entered the night solidly in the first wild card spot and with work to do to slide up to third in the Central. They were also playing their third road game in four nights and missing leading goal scorer Dylan Guenther, and the Canes looked to press that advantage. The top line especially excelled, and it showed just three minutes in. Andrei Svechnikov was able to pinch and get possesion of the puck in the zone, eventually getting it back and going to the opposite corner and feeding it to a pushing Jalen Chatfield. Chatfield put it on net, and Karel Vejmelka was able to make the stop, but gave up the rebound right at Svechnikov. Clayton Keller’s stick was right there with Svechnikov’s as he was shooting, and the puck ended up in the back of the net, giving the WhalerCanes an early 1-0 lead.
As the period continued, the rust of the Canes showed in terms of passes that weren’t that crisp and a few failed clearing attempts. However, Carolina also laid out a few hard hits indicating they wanted to press their advantage. In the final minute Utah had their best offense of the period, but Brandon Bussi was able to make the saves when needed, and it was 1-0 at the end of the first with the Canes holding a 9-8 shot advantage. In a sign of just how on the top line was, Sebastian Aho was a perfect 7-0 in faceoffs for the period.
Utah seemed to remember there was a game being played in the second period while the rust for the Canes really showed up. Carolina would get an early power play that would be feeble, complete with returning defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere just completely losing control of the puck. Shortly after its conclusion, Gostisbehere was in position to take the puck near the red line, but just fell to the ice. Utah was able to recover with Kailer Yamamoto going in all alone on Bussi to knot the score. A few minutes later, the Canes felt they should have gotten another Power Play when the stick was slashed right out of Sean Walker’s hands. Play didn’t stop and Utah just skated the puck with only Walker back to defend. Bussi was able to make one save but Yamamoto was able to tap in the rebound for a 2-1 lead.
The Canes would answer on their third power play of the period. The second went much like the first did, however near the end of it Kevin Stenlund just blatantly cross checked Logan Stankoven, continuing a trend of increased physical play by the Mammoth that period. The whole power play started when Mikhail Sergachev cross-checked Jesperi Kotkaniemi into the boards. While the 5-on-3 produced nothing, Gostisbehere was able to atone for his mistakes with a blast from the blue line that beat Karel Vejmelka to knot the score at two.
Unfortunately, Utah was able to immediately answer when Jalen Chatfield tried to dump the puck in deep and just bounced it off a Barrett Hayton, who skated the puck in, passed it to an open JJ Peterka and was able to get a soft one past Bussi giving the Mammoth a 3-2 lead at the end of the second. Utah outshot the Canes 13-10 in the period, and honestly the way Carolina played they were lucky to have only been down one.
The magic seemed to be gone in the third as the Canes did manage to kill a Power Play, but gave up the fourth goal to Utah when Hall and Gostisbehere went into the corner, but it was taken by Yamamoto, who fed it over to Jack McBain, over to a wide open Michael Carcone. Carolina still had a little under 13 minutes left on the clock, however they weren’t able to muster much offense until Utah committed a dumb penalty.
Nikolaj Ehlers and Barrett Hayton were going for the puck in the Canes’ offense zone when Hayton made zero play on the puck and just swung he stick up into Ehlers’ face. The official called a four minute double-minor on the play, and the Canes would get to work eventually.
The first part of the power play was as lifeless as most others, but once the first minor expired, Carolina was able to get established into the zone. Eventually, Gostisbehere shot it past the goal, and it took a great bounce behind the goal, off the board, right into an open Svechnikov who burried the puck to give the Canes a chance at 4-3 with 1:59 left.
A Lenovo Center that really hadn’t had much of a chance to get excited started lighting up knowing that the Canes would have two minutes to tie it with Bussi on the bench. They just needed 32 seconds as the Canes won the faceoff, got into the zone, pulled Bussi, and Jackson Black would feed a perfect pass up to Gostisbehere at his sweet spot. Similar to his first goal, he buried the shot to knot the score with 1:27 left.
Lenovo Center erupted, and a place that had sounded like a sleepy midweek game all of a sudden sounded like it was the Stanely Cup Playoffs. Utah sensed this, wanted to make sure they at least got a point, and called timeout to settle the troops and hold on for the part of the period. The Canes’ momentum was just too much. Carolina once again gained possesion of the puck and instead of settle for the point, pushed their advantage again with the bump up shift. With 30 seconds left, Jalen Chatfield would whip a shot to the net that Jordan Martinook got a stick on, sailing it wide but also right into the blade of Jordan Staal, who tipped it in for the 5-4 lead and the game winner.
Carolina improves to 31-15-5 on the season, keeping their six point cushion over Pittsburgh who crushed Chicago Thursday night. After a day off, the Canes hit a back-to-back that starts Saturday afternoon in Washington before coming back to Raleigh on Sunday—assuming weather isn’t an issue.
