11.26.22 Recap

RALEIGH, NC. -The Carolina Hurricanes got a little bit of everything they needed on Saturday, breaking their five-game winless streak with a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.

Three Things

Getting First Blood Again Early

For a second consecutive contest the Canes opened the game's scoring, today capitalizing on a bad decision by Calgary in their own end.
After a beautiful rush chance for Carolina just missed the net, an attempt at clearing the puck for Flames did not go as planned. Defenseman Brent Burns jumped up into the play and intercepted a pass, then setting up Seth Jarvis to give their club an early advantage.
For Jarvis it was his first goal since November 3.

CGY@CAR: Burns, Jarvis link up to kick off scoring

Power Play Momentum

Held without a power play goal from November 12-23, the Canes have turned the page from their six-game skid to now producing multiple times in back-to-back bouts.
During today's second period Rod Brind'Amour's club earned the go-ahead goal by way of some wonderful deception from Stefan Noesen. One of the goal-scoring parties in yesterday's first period, Noesen kept his head directed toward his passing options in the slot and at the point before slipping one to Martin Necas on the back door for his 10th tally of the season.

CGY@CAR: Necas finishes off nifty passing play in 2nd

Then, again amid a tied game in the third period, the man advantage struck again.
A near break-up of the Carolina zone entry looked as if it may have interrupted the attack, but Jesperi Kotkaniemi saved the effort by locating an unmarked Brett Pesce atop the blocker-side circle of Dan Vladar. Pesce, quarterbacking the second power play unit again, used two Flames defenders as screens before depositing a well-placed shot for the go-ahead goal.

CGY@CAR: Pesce beats Vladar to put Hurricanes ahead

Father Finn Back Healthy

Scratched from his scheduled start on Wednesday after being banged up at morning skate, Antti Raanta returned to the crease this afternoon.
His first outing since last Thursday's overtime defeat against Colorado, Raanta stopped 18 out of 20 en route to a victory.

They Said It

Rod Brind'Amouron how relieving it is to finally get a winning result after the recent stretch...
"I told the guys, we've been playing well. I was actually getting worried because at some point you think you're going to have a game that's not so good. We've played well all throughout this stretch and just haven't got any bounces. That's what it's felt like. Obviously there are areas where you can be better, but the games haven't been poor. The effort's been great. Tonight it looked just like that after the period too. Like, how did we not get more out of that period? But I love the fact that we didn't really change our game."
Brett Pesceelaborating on how hard the last few games had been, but finally coming out with a victory today...
"We trust our system. It's worked for how many years now since Rod has been the coach. We know what we're capable of and every team goes through adversity over the course of the season. The biggest thing for us is sticking to our game plan and we've continued to do that. Today we got bounces and obviously had our power play and special teams going."
Antti Raantatalking returning to action after backing up the last few games due to a lower-body injury suffered Wednesday morning...
"It was kind of where you find yourself thinking that maybe you're good to go but at the same time you're a little hesitant. Every time I went down I wanted to get back up as quick as possible. It was a process. Obviously you always want to play when it's your turn, but we thought things through and that was the choice. With the way [Pyotr Kochetkov] has been playing too, you can trust him as much as anyone. He's been playing really well."

Bonus Notes

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