Canes Return From Break With Loss To Canucks

"You've got to give some credit to that team. They came out and they knew what they wanted to do and they were doing it every shift."

By Walt Ruff

@WaltRuff Hurricanes.com

February 07, 2024

RALEIGH, NC. - Former Carolina Hurricane Elias Lindholm scored two power play goals at PNC Arena on Tuesday, a key factor in the Vancouver Canucks' 3-2 victory.

Here we go, fellas 👊 pic.twitter.com/tBot04XZaB
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 6, 2024

A Shorty To Start..

Ask any head coach in the league and most will admit they're nervous about their first team's game back after the All-Star break. The first game in 10 days for the Canes appeared to reflect why Rod Brind'Amour had concerns.

Although they got a shorthanded goal from Jordan Martinook just 4:25 into the first period, Vancouver was the better team in the opening frame.

Needing quite a bit of work from Pyotr Kochetkov, who was making his first start since suffering a concussion on January 11, the netminder did his part at even strength.

Unfortunately, the second penalty of the opening period on Carolina wound up being detrimental.

In his team debut, Lindholm redirected home a shot on the man advantage to send the game to intermission 1-1.

VAN@CAR: Martinook scores goal against Thatcher Demko

More Special Teams Tallies...

Lindholm's first goal of the night came with just 2:37 left in the opening frame, giving the Canucks the momentum as the game advanced to the second period.

After Carolina was held to just four total shots in the opening 20 minutes, Rod Brind'Amour's group had to try and create some pushback.

Arguably an even more tightly contested period than the first, the two teams showcased why they're two of the better defending teams in the league.

This time as Vancouver was held to just four shots, the two sides struck for two more special teams goals just 2:02 apart.

First, Lindholm's second power play goal of the evening gave the Canucks their first lead of the night.

But this time before they could take the lead back to the locker room, Sebastian Aho had a response.

⭐️ ALL-STAR SNIPE ⭐️

What a laser from @SebastianAho.#CauseChaos pic.twitter.com/wROWJheJ2y
— Bally Sports: Canes (@CanesOnBally) February 7, 2024

Tight Finish...

Moving to the third knotted at 2-2, the final frame of regulation was undoubtedly Carolina's best of the night.

Unfortunately, it didn't produce a goal.

Outshooting Vancouver 12-3, the home side maintained possession and put Demko to the test once more. The majority of those looks came after the Canucks had retaken the lead though, as a bad bounce on a routine dump-in allowed J.T. Miller to score what would go on to be the game-deciding goal.

After Kochetkov had come behind his net to stop the puck, the rubber took a strange hop off the glass and right out in front of his crease.

The high-scoring Vancouver forward was there to cash in.

Albeit Carolina had a quality pushback until the final horn, they weren't able to find an equalizer, falling 3-2.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour sharing his thoughts post-game...

"That was what I was afraid might happen. We were terrible to start. We got lucky to get out of that first period even. We got a little better and I could tell we were going to get to [our game] and we probably deserved better in the third. That was a pretty good period, it just didn't happen. If you would have come in here and said that we'd give up one even-strength goal on a bad bounce, you'd say, 'Okay, that's pretty good.' They did a nice job just floating a couple in on the power play. They got the bounces and it just didn't go our way tonight."

Sebastian Aho when asked if he felt his team could chalk tonight up to rust...

"I don't know about rust, that would just be an excuse. I thought they played really [well] in the first half of the game. I thought they were better off the start, but as the game went on I thought it was two really good hockey teams playing each other. There wasn't a lot out there, obviously special teams [was big]. They got a bounce at the end, but it was a pretty tight game."

Jordan Martinook offering his assessment of the contest...

"You've got to give some credit to that team. They came out and they knew what they wanted to do and they were doing it every shift. Give a lot of credit to them. We needed to have a little more urgency to be able to withstand some more pressure and go do what they were doing to us."