The Carolina Hurricanes started their second half of the season push on a back-to-back road trip in Ontario, Canada. They were set to face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators. The team is looking to continue their hot start to the season. They went into the road trip with a 31-9-2 record. Unfortunetly, the team only came away with one point from both games.
Carolina Fall to Tortonto in Overtime
The first game back for the Hurricanes was against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Carolina beat Toronto earlier in the season on October 25th in Raleigh. They defeated the Maple Leafs 4-1 in that game. Unfortunately, Toronto welcomed Carolina to their own version of home-ice advantage.
At the 13:08 mark of the first period, Carolina’s Nino Niederreiter would start off the scoring after a brilliant pass from Ian Cole. Furthermore, Niederreiter put himself in the right place for the pass as it was tape-to-tape right in front of the net. All Niederreiter had to do was put his stick in the right place, and he did. That would give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead in the first period. Also, that would become Niederreiter’s 14th goal of the season along with Cole’s 10th assist and Martin Necas’ 15th.
This was BEAUTIFUL pic.twitter.com/jliq4nBe8D
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 8, 2022
Auston Matthews Takes Over the Second Period
That would be the lone goal of the period, so after 20 minutes it would be a 1-0 Hurricanes lead. Unfortunately, the second period wasn’t so nice to the Hurricanes. In the second, we saw three Maple Leafs powerplays and one would end up converting. At the 16:16 mark of the second period, Auston Matthews would score on the powerplay tying the game at 1-1. That would be the only powerplay goal of the game. Plus, that was one of four powerplays Toronto had in the game to Carolina’s one. There were a ton of missed calls in the game. Matthews would end up doubling up his goal total at the 19:37 mark to make it 2-1 Toronto after 40 minutes of play. Also, those would be goals 30 and 31 for Matthews.
What Was That Third Period?
Although, the third period started off in a wild way. It only took eight seconds for Carolina’s Tony DeAngelo to tie the game up at 2-2.
Carolina would win the faceoff, a puck would bounce off winger Jesper Fast in the neutral zone, and flipped it over to a streaking DeAngelo. DeAngelo would streak into the Toronto zone and snipe it past goaltender Petr Mrázek to tie the game up. Furthermore, that would end up being DeAneglo’s eighth goal of the season along with Jesper Fast’s seventh assist and Jaccob Slavin‘s 21st.
Just 8 seconds in! pic.twitter.com/02rimn6RaV
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 8, 2022
That wouldn’t be the only goal for Carolina in the third period as Derek Stepan would pick up the loose change after Mrazek stopped an initial shot from DeAngelo. Stepan was just in the right place at the right time to bury in the rebound to make it 3-2 Carolina at the 9:23 mark. That was Stepan’s seventh goal followed by DeAneglo’s 27th assist and Steven Lorentz‘s fourth.
Step for the lead! pic.twitter.com/vI58WTR1qx
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 8, 2022
Although, that would be it for Carolina in the goal department for the rest of the game. At the 14:12 mark of the third period, Mitch Marner would score his first of two goals off of a missed interference call in the Carolina zone. That mishap out by the blue line would give Marner an easy lane to Frederik Andersen and the Hurricanes goal. He would bury it to make it 3-3 in the third. The game would go into overtime with the score staying at three-all.
Overtime Heartbreak
Overtime didn’t go the Hurricanes way as there were some chances for both sides throughout the first half of the extra frame. Unfortunately, the Maple Leafs would get a lucky break as Mitch Marner would get his second of the game and 16th of the season at the 2:51 mark. That would ultimately end the game 4-3 in favor of Toronto. Carolina would end up getting a point in the game but that is one where they would like to have both points.
Although, they wouldn’t have to wait long for their next opportunity to play again and secure that second point.
Ottawa is Carolina’s Kryptonite
Right from the puck drop, it seemed that it wouldn’t be Carolina’s night. At the 1:11 mark of the first period, Senators captain, Brady Tkachuk would make it 1-0 Ottawa. Tkachuk was trying to center a pass out front from the corner but it bounced off of a Carolina player and into the net. That was Ottawa’s first shot of the game. Alex Formenton would double the Senators lead at the 8:27 mark of the period. The Carolina defense was caught napping and Formenton tucked it home to make it 2-0. Sebastian Aho almost made it a 2-1 game, but was beaten at the buzzer by .1 second left in the period. The first period would end with a 2-0 Ottawa lead.
Unfortunately, the Senators would add another eight seconds, that’s right eight seconds, into the second period. Brady Tkachuk would score his second of the game to make it 3-0 Ottawa. He would pick up a rebound and bury it in the net while getting behind the Carolina defense. Just 2:14 seconds later, Chris Tierney would make it a 4-0 Senators lead. He would steal the puck in the Carolina zone off of a weak pass attempt. He easily skated between the faceoff circles and sniped it in off the post.
Carolina Tries to Claw Back Into Game
Fortunately, the Hurricanes wouldn’t be shut out, due in part to Andrei Svechnikov. At the 2:07 mark of the period, Svechnikov would pick up a loose rebound in front of the Ottawa net after a Jaccob Slavin shot from the point. That was something Carolina needed desperately. The goal would be Svechnikov’s 17th of the season and Slavin’s 22nd assist.
Needed that first one pic.twitter.com/WhgORtYY0H
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 9, 2022
Brendan Smith would get onto the scoresheet in the third period at the 13:54 mark of the third period. He would even score on his birthday. Smith would accept a pass that was fanned on by Jesper Fast and blast it from the point to make it a 4-2 game at the time. That would be Smith’s third goal of the season along with Nino Niederrieter’s ninth assist and Jordan Staal‘s 10th. Happy Birthday Brendan Smith.
Right place, right time for Brendan Smith, as he cranks one up after Jesper Fast fans on a golden opportunity in the slot.
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) February 9, 2022
A very well placed shot through traffic. pic.twitter.com/gAcK7pGkh0
So Close, Yet So Far
Carolina would add one more goal from Vincent Trocheck at the 18:48 mark of the third period. Trocheck was all around the net all night, but was finally able to cash in during the dying moments of the game. Carolina had an empty net with six attackers and were able to capitalize.
Trocheck got a pass on the sidewall, skated closer to the Ottawa net and snipped it home to make it a 4-3 game. Carolina was down 4-0 to start the period but brought the game within one. That would be his 12th of the season and DeAngelo’s 28th assist on the year.
That’ll work!
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) February 9, 2022
(May have hit something on the way, but that’s not important right now.) pic.twitter.com/WVaRtqnb5l
While the Hurricanes tried to comeback in the third period, the 4-0 deficit after the first two period was just too much for Carolina to overcome. That would give the Hurricanes their 10th loss of the season and would take their season record to 31-10-3 after 44 games.
Whats Next for Carolina?
The Hurricanes play the Boston Bruins on Thursday in Boston. After that they’ll face the Minnesota Wild on the road on Saturday night. After their recent trip to Ontario, Canada, Carolina needs to get some wins if they want to stay up top of the Metropolitan division. They cannot slack off with the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins being so close to them. Hopefully, Teuvo Teräväinen will be back because Carolina needs him back badly. There’s no reason to panic since the Hurricanes are still a top five team in the league with a record of 31-10-3. Although, they cannot afford to drop points with how close the division race is right now.
My name is Zach Martin, the Carolina Hurricanes beat writer for Belly Up Hockey and Belly Up Sports. Check out my Carolina Hurricanes podcast called The SurgeCast on Twitter and all podcast platforms. Follow me on Twitter for the most up-to-date Carolina Hurricanes content and news
