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The Carolina Hurricanes battled back to pick up two points against the San Jose Sharks last night, earning a 6-3 win.
Sebastian Aho was out with an upper-body injury, so the Hurricanes opted to go with 11 forwards and seven defense, as Jalen Chatfield came back into the lineup.
Things didn’t start great for the Hurricanes, as Fabian Zetterlund snuck behind Carolina's defense and took a stretch pass for a breakaway, where he beat Frederik Andersen with the Sharks’ first shot of the game. However, Carolina responded quickly on a power play, with a shot taking a bounce in front and dropping down right to Seth Jarvis in-close, who buried it to tie the game.
Continuing with an eventful first stretch of the game, Andersen then took a puck to the head on a San Jose power play only about a minute later and had to leave the game, as Antti Raanta entered in relief.
The Hurricanes then had a great chance to take the lead soon after, with Jordan Martinook getting a great pass from Brady Skjei on a 2-on-1, only to be denied on a save by Blackwood. Carolina continued to press and had all kinds of chances on a power play a little later, but Blackwood kept the game tied, despite Carolina outshooting San Jose 18-5 in the opening period.
The Hurricanes had a couple more power play opportunities early in the second frame, but it was shorthanded where they were able to extend the lead, as Jaccob Slavin went down ice on a breakaway and beat Blackwood on a second attempt, to give the Hurricanes the lead. However, only 17 seconds later, Filip Zadina managed to beat Raanta with a good shot on the same power play, as the Sharks evened the game on their first shot of the period.
Then later in the frame, the Sharks took advantage of another power play, as William Eklund got to a bounce off the end boards and beat Raanta in-close, giving the Sharks a 3-2 lead.
Carolina managed to tie the game on a power play midway through the third period though, with Stefan Noesen squeaking a puck through Blackwood.
That seemed to crack the game open, and only minutes later on yet another power play, Seth Jarvis one-timed a shot past Blackwood off a pass from Martin Necas, giving Carolina the lead.
The Hurricanes weren’t done there, as Martin Necas entered the offensive zone with a ton of speed and beat Blackwood with a wraparound, to create the first multi-goal lead of the game. Then only 15 seconds later, Brett Pesce just threw the puck on net from the point, and it managed to get through Blackwood as well, putting the game out of reach at 6-3, capping off a four-goal third period for the Hurricanes on route to the win.
For a while, it seemed like this may be another one of those games where the Hurricanes can dominate an opponent, but just fall short on their inability to capitalize (by the end of the night, Carolina had outshot the Sharks by a massive 42-16 margin). But Carolina continues to find ways to score, and even without Sebastian Aho, others were able to step up.
Speaking of Aho, it seems like his injury isn’t serious, but with him not quite at 100 percent, the Hurricanes kept him out of the lineup. Hopefully, he’s back Thursday.
Special teams obviously played a huge factor as well, and it’s great to see the Hurricanes having some success on the power play, going 3-for-7 last night. That’s also not to mention Jaccob Slavin’s goal marking their fourth shorthanded tally in just four games. While the penalty kill has been a huge strength in recent years, Carolina’s power play showing improvement this season would go a long way to addressing the existing scoring issues.
Jalen Chatfield getting back into the lineup was also a win. At one point, Tony DeAngelo took a needless unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (and 10-min misconduct) for arguing with the ref behind the play, and despite DeAngelo carrying huge offensive upside, it's visible that Chatfield should be the go-to option on the bottom pairing. The Hurricanes already have enough offense coming from the rest of the blue line, with Brady Skjei already at six points in four games, and the team’s top-four group having combined for five goals already. Chatfield can provide more stability to the blue line, and hopefully, he remains in the lineup going forward.
Moving to center also did not seem to faze Teuvo Teravainen, who played 19 minutes and won 56 percent of his faceoffs. Currently leading the Hurricanes’ forward group in points, Teravainen is helping to carry the load with Andrei Svechnikov (and Sebastian Aho) out of action.
One thing to track though will be the team’s goaltending. Andersen left the game last night and while he was at practice today per the Hurricanes, the team also recalled Pyotr Kochetkov. Carolina is also currently riding an .848 save percentage across their four games between Andersen and Raanta, so if Andersen did miss any action due to injury, Kochetkov may very well get starts.
Regardless, it’s a big bounce-back win for the Hurricanes, putting together a more complete effort than prior outings. Carolina will return to action tomorrow, when they face the winless Seattle Kraken.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- 3 questions for the Hurricanes’ lineup heading into the season
- Hurricanes set season-opening roster
- Hurricanes trade Caleb Jones to Avalanche
- Could this be the Carolina Hurricanes’ year?
- Hurricanes open season with home win over Senators
- Hurricanes split weekend back-to-back with win over Kings, loss to Ducks 
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