Over the weekend, the Carolina Hurricanes traveled to Southern California to start their six-game, two-week road trip. The Hurricanes faced the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 14 and finished the second half of the back-to-back at the Honda Center the following night versus the Anaheim Ducks.
There were some bright spots in the two games, but there were also some things Carolina needs to fix before they face the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, Oct. 17. Here’s what went right and what went wrong over the weekend.
Raleighwood Takes Over Hollywood
On Saturday, Oct. 14, the Hurricanes faced the Kings, who are expected to make the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The team had some momentum heading into the game after their opening-night win against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 11. However, games between the Hurricanes and Kings always have surprises.
Related: Hurricanes Can Stake Claim as NHL’s Top Team on Road Trip
Last season, when the Kings visited PNC Arena, Martin Necas scored the overtime winner after Carolina scored two goals in under two minutes to tie the game and force the extra period. On Saturday, the Hurricanes won 6-5 in a shootout. However, the game was plagued by penalty calls and lasted longer than it should have.
There were eleven penalties in the game; the referees called everything, even when there were no penalties to be called – this seems to be a growing trend around the league. The first month of the season usually sees way too many penalties being called, and this game was one of them.
Despite the odd calls, the Hurricanes took the oddity of the game to another level, scoring two shorthanded goals. The first was from Sebastian Aho in the first period. Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook was called for tripping Trevor Moore – a borderline call, to say the least. In LA’s ensuing power play, Kevin Fiala was skating to the Hurricanes’ zone when he lost the puck, and Aho scooped it up for the breakaway. He slid the puck under Kings netminder Phoenix Copley for the team’s second goal of the game. It was the 17th shorthanded marker of his career to make him the franchise leader ahead of Eric Staal’s 16.
This was the Hurricanes’ second shorthanded tally of the season and the second in as many games.
The second shorthanded goal was scored by the team’s goal-scoring leader this season. Coming into 2023-24, Teuvo Teravainen was looking for a bounce-back campaign. In 68 games, he scored 12 goals, a dip from his usual 20 to 25-goal range. However, the recently turned 29-year-old Finn has been outstanding. He scored his second goal of the season on the penalty kill to give his team a 5-2 lead.
Related: Hurricanes’ Teravainen Shakes Off Last Year’s Struggles in Game 1
The sequence started with Brady Skjei swatting the puck back into the neutral zone from the defensive zone. Aho picked up the loose puck and gave the team a 2-on-1 opportunity with Teravainen in tow. Teravainen attacked the net and received Aho’s pass in his wheelhouse to slapshot the puck into the Kings’ net.
However, the Kings scored two goals late in the third period to force overtime. Neither team scored in the extra frame, and it took nine rounds in the shootout to determine a winner from Jordan Martinook, who scored on his first-ever shootout attempt.
It was not the prettiest game, but a win is a win. Carolina was outshot 30 to 19, which is rare. They have led the league in shots on goal the last couple of seasons. Also, the Hurricanes’ penalty kill was 5-for-7 on the night, while the power play was scoreless in four attempts. It was the team’s second win of the young season.
Uncessesful Duck Hunt in The Pond
After the game, the Hurricanes took a bus down to Anaheim to square off against the Ducks, who won both games versus Carolina last season (one in overtime). The NHL is known for its parity as any team can win on any given night, but there are always teams that give another team trouble no matter their place in the standings, and that is Anaheim for the Hurricanes.
Carolina dug themselves a hole early on a night when both teams had traveled the day before – Carolina by bus, while the Ducks flew home from Las Vegas after facing the Vegas Golden Knights. Anaheim scored three goals in the first period, including Frank Vatrano’s first [spoiler alert] of three in the game, and Pavel Mintyukov, Anaheim’s first-round pick in 2022, who scored his first NHL goal.
Antti Raanta got the start after Frederik Andersen took on the Kings, and there were a couple of goals in the first period that he would like to have back. However, it was clear that the defense was also out of sync at the start of the game.
Carolina finally scored in the second period as Teravainen spun around and snapped the puck over netminder Lukas Dostal’s shoulder, which cut the Ducks’ lead to 3-1. However, less than three minutes later, Vatrano countered with his second of the game to reclaim Anaheim’s three-goal lead.
Related: 4 Takeaways From Ducks’ Home Opening Win Over Hurricanes
The Hurricanes added two power-play goals in the third. Compared to their 0-for-4 effort against the Kings, Carolina went 2-for-6 on Sunday.
The Hurricanes were in the Ducks’ zone trying to set up. Brent Burns passed the puck off the sidewall as Teravainen skated into the zone. As the puck bounced off of the sidewall, Teuvo wound up and ripped a slapshot past Dostal to cut the Ducks’ lead in half for his fourth of the season. He has come out flying this season, and he could beat last season’s 12 goals by mid-November, if not sooner.
Necas scored the second power-play goal for his first of the season, and that was it for the ‘Canes. Anaheim added two goals empty-net goals – Cam Fowler scored his first of the season, and Vatrano secured his hat trick on the Ducks’ sixth goal.
Carolina lost the game 6-3 and is now 0-2-1 versus the Ducks dating back to 2022-23. Anaheim finished had 29 blocked shots (compared to the Hurricanes’ nine), clogging the lanes despite Carolina outshooting them 35-25. The Hurricanes’ special teams came up big again, and the penalty kill went 2-for-2 on the night.
The Road Trip Continues
The loss versus the Ducks was the Hurricanes’ first defeat of the season. They did not have a morning skate on Monday, Oct. 16, as the team travels to Northern California to face the Sharks on Tuesday.
Teravainen ranks in the top five in goals in the league with four. Coming into a contract year, this is huge for him, if he is looking to stay in Raleigh long-term. Carolina also has three shorthanded goals in two games, which should put the league on notice. The defense needs to gel, but that will get better with time. Up next is the Sharks, and the team will have their eyes set on getting back into the win column.