The Carolina Hurricanes earned their first win of the season last night, defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-2 at home.
The Hurricanes went with the same skater lineup as the loss to Tampa Bay on Friday, with the only change being Pyotr Kochetkov getting his first start of the year. The game also marked Stefan Noesen’s return to Carolina, while Brett Pesce remained injured for New Jersey.
Carolina looked good to start the game, and while it was a fairly even frame, the Hurricanes seemed to generating more high-danger chances. There was some offensive zone pressure early, and a few good rush chances throughout the period, courtesy of Seth Jarvis, Eric Robinson/Jackson Blake, and Andrei Svechnikov. The frame ended scoreless, but the Hurricanes looked sharp, carrying the momentum through most of the period.
However, only about a minute into the second period, Jack Hughes came in on a rush and cut to the middle, then beat Kochetkov five-hole to open the scoring for New Jersey.
Carolina did have some great chances shortly after, off chances for both Jack Roslovic and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but Jacob Markstrom made a couple of good saves. The Hurricanes then had the first power play chance of the game about seven minutes in, but while they did get set up, they couldn’t generate much in the way of opportunities. Just after the power play though, William Carrier had a great chance on a partial break, but was stopped as well.
But with about nine minus to go in the frame and the puck in New Jersey’s zone, Seth Jarvis won a battle in the slot to get possession, spin, and fire a perfect shot past Markstrom, tying the game.
The Devils did come right back down ice with a great chance for Jesper Bratt from the slot just after the Jarvis goal, but Kochetkov was able to make a big save.
But as the period wore on, with just 37 seconds to go, Shayne Gostisbehere took a pass and wired a great shot through a screen to beat Markstrom, giving the Hurricanes their first lead, heading into the second intermission.
It was another strong period for Carolina, outshooting New Jersey 13-7 in the frame. After allowing the first goal, the Hurricanes never really took their foot off the gas and kept pressing, to outplay the Devils through much of the frame.
Jordan Staal had a good chance on a partial break to open the third period from there, but he was stopped by Markstrom. Carolina then went on to build a lot of momentum through the first half of the frame, spending some long stretches in New Jersey’s end, and not giving up a ton the other way.
Then at the midway mark of the period, the Hurricanes finally managed to break through again, with Dmitry Orlov putting a shot on goal that was tipped in by Jackson Blake for his first NHL goal, extending the lead to 3-1.
However, Carolina got into a bit of penalty trouble afterwards, first with a penalty on Blake, before Jordan Martinook put the puck over the glass. Then on the ensuing power play, Nico Hischier got a pass at the side of the net to beat Kochetkov, pulling New Jersey back to within one with about five minutes to go.
But the Hurricanes managed to kill off the remainder of the power play, and then as New Jersey pulled the goalie to press for the tie, Sebastian Aho buried an empty netter, leaving Carolina with a 4-2 win.
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It was a much, much better performance for Carolina, coming off a disappointing season opener. Right from the jump, the Hurricanes were a lot more engaged on the forecheck, causing issues for the Devils’ defense. Carolina was able to limit a pretty high-powered New Jersey offense to just 25 shots as well, with just 14 of those coming in the first 40 minutes.
It seemed like just about every line was rolling. The fourth line looked great, with quite a few really good opportunities, before Blake scored the third goal. I think bottom line was a little uninvolved in the loss to Tampa Bay, but they were much more noticeable last night, and Eric Robinson in particular had more of an impact.
Pyotr Kochetkov looked pretty good in his first start of the season as well. He made 23 saves in the win, and was good when he needed to be. So far, goaltending has been steady for the Hurricanes through two games.
Shayne Gostisbehere also looks like he’s going to be a great addition, as expected. He can add a lot of offense once set up in the offensive zone, but he’s also quietly been pretty reliable defensively.
It’s a big win, with the Hurricanes looking much more like what we’ve come to expect in past seasons. Carolina will be back in action on Friday, when they begin a six-game road trip in Pittsburgh.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Canes could regress this season, but remain set up for long-term success
- Hurricanes open season with 4-1 loss to Lightning
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