After winning the month of October with a three-game winning streak, the Carolina Hurricanes took a mini road trip for two games in New York. Their first game of the trip was on Thursday, Nov. 2 versus the Metropolitan Division leaders in the New York Rangers. Carolina finished the trip on Saturday, Nov. 4 versus the New York Islanders on Long Island. While both games were tough battles for the Hurricanes, they managed to win two out of a possible four points on the trip. The Hurricanes dropped a nail-biter on Thursday against the Rangers 2-1, however, the game on Saturday was one for the ages. They stormed back from down 3-0 to win in overtime 4-3 over the Islanders. After it was all said and done, what stood out from the road trip to New York?
Rangers Withstand Hurricanes
Going into the Thursday, Nov. 2 game versus the Rangers, the Hurricanes as previously mentioned finished the month of October on a three-game winning streak. They managed to dispatch the Seattle Kraken, San Jose Sharks, and the Philadephia Flyers to end the first month of the season with a 6-4-0 record.
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The Rangers were coming into the game riding a five-game winning streak after their West Coast road trip. Right away fans could tell that this game would be a tight one and in the end, it was very much so. New York took advantage of the power-play three minutes into the game on a Chris Kreider goal. That was the first goal the Hurricanes’ penalty kill gave up in three games. The Rangers, at the time, had the second-best power play in the league at 34.4 percent and they showed why that was the case. Unfortunately, the Hurricanes were caught puck-watching, and Kreider snuck behind the defense to make it a 1-0 game.
Despite being behind early, the Hurricanes before the halfway mark of the period scored a power-play goal of their own by way of Seth Jarvis. The play was set up beautifully as Sebastian Aho from the Hurricanes’ blue line was able to find Jarvis at the Rangers’ blue line to spring him for a semi-breakaway. Staying calm and composed, he was able to snap the puck onto the net and beat Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin to tie the game. It was his fifth goal of the season and it was ultimately the lone goal the Hurricanes scored in the game.
In the end, the Rangers won the game 2-1 after a third-period goal from Will Cuylle. There was some controversy as the referees missed a very obvious icing call at the end of the game. There might have not been very much time left for the Hurricanes to tie it up, but they should have still gotten a chance. However, the Hurricanes’ winning streak ended at three games after a solid effort from netminder Frederik Andersen who stopped 24 of 26 shots.
After that, they had Friday, Nov. 3 off to travel to Long Island and get a skate in before facing the Islanders on Saturday.
No Long Faces on the Island for Hurricanes
The Hurricanes on Saturday, Nov. 4 had a rematch with their first-round opponents of the 2023 NHL Playoffs in the Islanders. There was a sense of tension between these two teams especially how the first round went in the playoffs back earlier in 2023. Right away it seemed that both teams were evenly matched. However, the Islanders took the 1-0 lead with under three minutes left in the first period. For the fourth time in 12 games, Carolina gave up a late-period goal. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, most of the second period did not get much better.
In a span of 3:35, the Islanders scored a pair of goals from Simon Holmstrom and Mathew Barzal. Holmstrom scored his shorthanded after a blocked pass in the Islanders zone sprang him and Jean-Gabriel Pageau for a 2-on-0 break. The third goal from Barzal put the Hurricanes in a bad spot with a tad over 12 minutes left in the second period.
As luck would have it, not even a minute later, the Hurricanes took their first trip to Chatmandu as Jalen Chatfield scored his first goal of the season at the 8:18 mark of the period. What started the play off was Jordan Staal keeping the puck in the Islanders’ zone and dumping it deep to Martinook who wrapped the puck back up top around the boards to Chatfield.
He ended up having plenty of time to set his shot up and ripped the puck toward the net through traffic past Ilya Sorokin to get the Hurricanes on the board. It was a huge goal for him as he is in the final year of his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent (UFA) at the end of the season. That goal could give him a boost to make a case to stay in Carolina past this season.
The second period ended with a 3-1 Islanders lead and a little bit of life for the Hurricanes. The latter half of the third period will forever be embedded in the minds of Hurricanes fans as the possible comeback was truly on. At 12:19 of the period, Dmitry Orlov scored his first goal as a Hurricane when he snapped the puck on the net and used the screen of Jarvis to bring his team back within one.
It seems like there cannot be a game where Jesperi Kotkanimei is not mentioned. Through 11 games of the season, he came into the Islanders game off to a roaring start. He was the first player on the Hurricanes to reach 10 points on the season after 10 games. During the game, he already secured a point on the Orlov goal but he was clearly not done making an impact in this one.
The assist on the Orlov goal was his seventh of the season which is tied for first on the team along with fellow defenseman Brady Skjei. Just over three minutes after the Hurricanes made it 3-2, Kotkaniemi scored the game-tying goal with five seconds left in a power play. He won the faceoff to the right of Sorokin and the puck slid to the end wall behind the Islanders’ net where Andrei Svechnikov was able to collect it. While keeping his head up, Svechnikov found Kotkaniemi in front of the net and with the smallest of windows was able to pass it right onto his stick which resulted in the puck going into the back of the net.
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Svechnikov was able to get his second assist of the game on Kotkaniemi’s second point of the night and the game-tying goal to force overtime and complete the comeback for the Hurricanes. It goes to show that there is no quit in Carolina as they stormed back from trailing 3-0 before the end of the second period to scoring two in the third to at least get a point and force overtime.
The overtime did not last long as Antti Raanta was able to make a huge save that caused the Hurricanes to go the other way toward the Islanders zone. While in the zone, Skeji, Martin Necas, and Sebastian Aho were able to set up a play to give themselves a chance to score. Necas was able to draw in a couple of Islanders players and give Aho some room to skate toward the net. He took his time and snapped a shot that ended up beating Sorokin and the Hurricanes claimed the second point and the 4-3 win to complete the full comeback.
There are games for teams that might define a season and this one was it for the Hurricanes. They did not quit and came back from down 3-0 to force overtime and ultimately win it 4-3 to get both points. Any other team might have folded and thrown this game away but that is not what this team does. This team game in and game out tries to give it their all and teams know to never count them out. It was a needed bounce-back win from the loss on Thursday from the Rangers. A huge division win that could springboard a run for the Hurricanes as the month of November rolls along. Hurricanes fans will remember this game for a long time.
What’s Next for Hurricanes?
Carolina will have two days off before facing the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at home in PNC Arena. The Sabres are 6-6-0 after winning their last game 6-3 versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. This will be the first matchup between the two teams in the 2023-24 season.
