There’s an adage among old school ACC basketball coaches: You have to give the other team credit.
Vancouver deserves a lot of credit tonight because they took advantage of every mistake by Carolina.
However,
the Hurricanes maintained their composure and kept to their game. This was despite holding sole possession of the lead for just four minutes of game time.
The Canucks were opportunistic in the first period, with Max Sasson and Elias Pettersson capitalizing on poor positional play and errant passes.
Andrei Svechnikov had another fantastic game, tallying two goals and one assist, including a power play marker in the first.
Svechnikov tied the game off a turnover forced by Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis.
Svechnikov’s power play goal is exactly what the Canes have needed on the man advantage. A clean faceoff win leads to a beauty of a one-timer off the smooth pass from Shayne Gostisbehere. The set play worked to perfection, and Carolina made it look easy.
The second period could have deflated the Hurricanes.
Carolina finished with an 18-8 shot advantage and controlled the play. However, the Canes took the only two penalties of the period, and Sean Walker’s slashing penalty led to a Conor Garland power play goal to give Vancouver the lead.
At the break, alternate captain Jordan Martinook said that he “liked [their] game,” and insisted that if they keep it up, the team will find a way to win.
The third period was typical for a Hurricanes team led by Rod Brind’Amour.
Vancouver had just four shots in the third period. The Canucks went eight minutes between their third and fourth shot, and the Hurricanes held them without a shot for the final five minutes of the game.
The Hurricanes controlled the play throughout the third, and you could feel that the Canes were on the cusp of tying the game. Birthday boy Taylor Hall netted the game-tying goal after some dominant passing and puck possession.
Carolina forced overtime, but Vancouver held the advantage for nearly the entire extra period. Despite possessing the puck for over three straight minutes, the Canucks only managed one shot on Pyotr Kochetkov.
Once the Canes took control, it seemed like a goal was inevitable.
Jackson Blake got the first real opportunity for Carolina with 52 seconds left in overtime. In the next 20 seconds, Gostisbehere and Nikolaj Ehlers got their chances before Aho sniped it blocker side from above the dots to win it for the Canes.
Who else but the Hurricanes’ all-time leading overtime goal scorer?
According to MoneyPuck.com, Carolina had a “Deserve to Win” percentage of 89.3 percent. The Hurricanes dominated shots, possession, and the number of quality scoring chances.
It could have easily gone the other way, but this team stuck to their game in the third and made it happen.
Unfortunately, the injury bug continues to bite. Jarvis was struck by an inadvertent high stick and Jesperi Kotkaniemi left the game with an ankle injury.
Stay tuned to Canes Country for tomorrow’s game preview, including injury updates.
