They say the house always wins when it comes to Vegas. Although, what if the house comes to Raleigh, NC and they do not win? That is what happened as the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night. When all was said and done, the house did not win. The Hurricanes would welcome Vegas to Tobacco Road and let them leave with only an overtime loss point. How did that happen? Let’s jump in to see how we got there.
Hurricanes Wheeling and Dealing Well
The first period wasn’t a usual first period that you would see for a Carolina Hurricanes game. The period would end in a 0-0 tie with Carolina up 10-5 on shots against Vegas. Two of those five Vegas shots came within the last three minutes of the period. The second period though, that period saw a fair amount of scoring.
Carolina’s Nino Niederreiter would get the scoring started at the 4:44 mark of the second period. He took a pass originally from Jordan Staal that was stopped by Laurent Brossoit. Jesper Fast would take the rebound and attempt a shot but also got stopped. That in turn led to a rebound opportunity that Niederreiter took advantage of and made it 1-0 Carolina. They say to fight for the loose garbage, here is why they say that.
Pucks. On. Net. pic.twitter.com/izfQSRXjH1
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 26, 2022
That would end up being Niederreiter’s 10th goal of the season and Fast’s sixth assist along with Staal’s ninth. Although, that wouldn’t be Carolina’s only goal of the period. Not even a full minute later, Vincent Trocheck would add his name to the scoresheet at the 5:41 mark of the period. He will bury it off of a tap in one-timer set up by a gorgeous pass from Andrei Svechnikov to get it past Brossoit to make it 2-0 Carolina. Svechnikov stole the puck at the blue line, goaded two Vegas defenders to go near him, and just put it right on Trocheck’s stick on the far side of the net. What Trocheck did was just beautiful to end the play.
This is beautiful hockey pic.twitter.com/NMXUnqAjjp
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 26, 2022
Have a Night Sebastian Aho
What else is there to say about Sebastian Aho? It seems like week-in and week-out, game after game, this guy keeps showing why he is the face of the franchise. After the second period finished 2-1 with Nolan Patrick scoring for Vegas, Aho would deflect a shot from Tony DeAngelo that would make it 3-1 Carolina at the 8:32 mark. That goal was even on a power play, which lasted all of five seconds.
When you wish upon a Fish pic.twitter.com/vfubeCvHo3
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 26, 2022
Unfortunately, Brett Howden (13:08) and Nicolas Hague (17:30) would tie the game up to force overtime at 3-3. Hauge’s goal came with only 2:30 minutes left in the game. The overtime started as a mad frenzy where both teams had an opportunity to seal the game. Although, someone was finally able to do it at the 3:49 mark of the overtime period.
Who scored the overtime winner? That goal was scored by none other than Sebastian Aho who came in the clutch to seal the win and the two points for the Hurricanes. Alex Pietrangelo would try to pass to the sideboards in the Vegas zone, unfortunately for him but fortunate for the Hurricanes, it was played off lazily and soft.
Andrei Svechnikov read the play well, stole the puck, and raced to the red zone at the bottom of the zone. He once again goaded all of the Vegas defenders to leave a teammate wide open. Unfortunately for Vegas, that teammate was Sebastian Aho. Aho would take the pass from Svechnikov wide open in the slot and just put it past Brossoit to end the game with a 4-3 Carolina win.
The Sensational Sebastian Aho pic.twitter.com/pvRx8YLm5N
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 26, 2022
What’s next for the Hurricanes?
The win would be Carolina’s 28th of the season putting the team 28-9-2 with 58 points on the season. They are currently two points back of the New York Rangers with four games in hand for first place in the Metropolitan division. The team still has the best points percentage in the Eastern Conference at .744. Their next opponent is the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa on Thursday night.
