Dominant stretches, bizarre bounces, and goaltending woes tested Carolina in a nail-biting 6-4 victory over Vancouver.
The Carolina Hurricanes are back in the win column thanks to a 6-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks Wednesday night, but it was not as easy a victory to come by.
There were certainly times were the game certainly looked like what you'd expect to see when a top-3 team goes against the league's worst, but there were also quite a few ugly moments too.
At least off the rip, the Hurricanes looked like they should and were all over the Canucks.
They had piled up 11 shots on goal in less than six minutes of game time and were outchancing the Canucks 20-2 at one point and after an early penalty call, Carolina took the lead.
It was the top unit coming through once again as Seth Jarvis fed Andrei Svechnikov in the slot for the go-ahead goal.
The Hurricanes kept the pressure on, but late in the period some bad fortune struck.
On the penalty kill, Carolina was the victim of an own-goal as Jaccob Slavin redirected a cross-crease passing attempt through Brandon Bussi's five-hole and then right after that, Bussi missed on a shot from out at the blueline from Filip Hronek.
The Canes had had a dominant opening frame, but a bad bounce and some poor goaltending and they were all of a sudden trailing.
But the team came out with a fire to start the second period and in the span of 4:19, they were back in the lead.
First, Sean Walker found a loose puck and snapped it over Kevin Lankinen's glove hand and then Nikolaj Ehlers did the exact same just a few shifts later.
Carolina wasn't done there though as Sebastian Aho made his mark with a sweet, solo-effort and then Ehlers picked up another, snapping one post and in on the first shot that rookie netminder Nikita Tolopilo saw after coming in in relief.
"Yeah, I mean obviously I don't know, but I would think it's pretty tough coming in during a game when you've just been sitting and not thinking that you're gonna play," Ehlers said. "I think every team thinks that you just shoot a lot and try to make him scramble a little bit.
But things just seemingly aren't coming easy for the Hurricanes as of late and that also runs especially true whenever they play the Canucks.
Because even with that sizable lead, the Canes quickly found themselves back on their heels.
"It's one of those games where I thought we were in control early and then we just let off the gas," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Give them credit, they fought back."
Late in the second period, the Canes took a pair of quick penalties and on the ensuing 5-on-3, Vancouver got a goal in the final minute of play as Brock Boeser put home a backdoor feed from Marco Rossi.
Then before the halfway mark of the third period, Elias Pettersson fed Nils Hoglander on a 2-on-1 following a broken stick for Jaccob Slavin and the game was all of a sudden close again, when, really, it never should have been.
"We started out really well and then we kind of put ourselves in holes a few times and they were able to capitalize," Brind'Amour said. "Then we got ahead and just thought we were gonna cruise through at the end and so it made it interesting."
The Hurricanes were hanging on for dear life as the clock wound down, but got a little relief as Teddy Blueger took an undisciplined boarding penalty on Svechnikov.
But even despite the man advantage, the Canes struggled against Vancouver's pressure, but eventually, they came out ahead as Ehlers found the back of the empty net for his second hat trick as a Carolina Hurricane.
The win also made Brandon Bussi the fastest goaltender in NHL history to reach 25 career wins, doing it in just 29 appearances.
"In this league, you just have to find ways to win games," Bussi said. "I think I got better, but it was good enough tonight. The team was really good in front of me offensively. Putting up six is really nice and we'll take the positives out of it."
The Canes won't be back in action until after the Friday trade deadline, so it will be interesting to see if this team changes at all before they face the Edmonton Oilers.
Recent Articles
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
Stay updated with the most interesting Carolina Hurricanes stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.