Canes offense stays red hot as Carolina tops Calgary for its ninth win in 10 games
The Carolina Hurricanes have had a lot more practices than games the past few weeks, which coaches like and players generally loathe.
As Canes center Sebastian Aho said after Friday’s morning skate, “I hope all that practice is just building for better games in the future.”
The week of work translated into a 6-3 victory Friday night over the Calgary Flames, but only after a slow start at PNC Arena. The Canes found their rhythm and scored three times in the second period in winning on home ice for the first time in 2022 and picking up their fifth straight victory and ninth in the past 10 games.
Forward Andrei Svechnikov had a pair of goals and defenseman Brady Skjei, with another burst of offense, had a goal and two assists for the Canes (24-7-1), who moved into first place in the Metropolitan Division. Skjei, who scored twice Saturday in the 7-4 win at Columbus, has seven points in his past four games.
“I’ve just been lucky to take advantage of those opportunities and hopefully I can keep finding those spots and put the puck in the back of the net,” Skjei said.
Jesper Fast, playing his 500th career game, had the Canes’ first goal late in the first period as 13 players figured in the scoring. Derek Stepan and Tony DeAngelo also scored as the Canes beat the Flames for the second time this season, DeAngelo getting the eventual game-winner at 12:35 of the second.
Canes goalie Frederik Andersen had 20 of his 36 saves in the opening period in picking up his 18th win of the season. The Canes got out of the period with a 1-1 tie, then scored three times in the second.
“Freddie was outstanding,” Fast said. “It’s not acceptable to give up 21 shots the way we did in the first period.”
The Flames (17-10-5), ending a five-game road trip, made the Canes earn it. Trailing 4-1, Calgary got a goal from Matthew Tkachuk in the second and then a breakaway score from Johnny Gaudreau to pull within 4-3 midway through the third.
“We had a little momentum, we were right there, then we let the game get away from us,” Gaudreau said.
The Canes killed off a Svechnikov penalty to keep the lead — the Flames were 0-4 on the power play. Skjei then scored on an open shot from the top of the slot, and Svechnikov notched his second of the game on a power play after the Flames unsuccessfully challenged the Skjei score, claiming goalie interference.
Fast tied the score 1-1 in the first period with the redirection of a Brett Pesce shot from the point. Fast had tested goalie Dan Vladar with a backhander in the low slot on his previous shift, but beat him by getting a piece of the Pesce shot in the right circle or his eighth of the season.
The first 15 minutes of the game belonged to the Flames, who were beaten 4-1 by Tampa Bay on Thursday but had plenty of zip a night later. Calgary finished the period with a 21-10 shooting edge — the most shots allowed in a period this season by the Canes, who were giving up 26.8 in a game.
“I kind of figured that was going to happen,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the sluggish start. “Playing a real good team that plays quick and hard and we just came off that long break. As much as you talk about it you’ve got to be in the rhythm and it took us a while. Freddie kept us in it that first period.”
Calgary’s Blake Coleman sniped a shot past Andersen at 5:12 of the first after a Jordan Staal turnover and Matthew Tkachuk picked up his 15th in the second period.
The Canes piled up zone time in the second. Stepan took a pass from Steven Lorentz and scored for a 2-1 lead after a strong forechecking shift by the Canes’ fourth line. Svechnikov then made it 3-1 with a shot between the circles that got through defenseman Noah Hanifin and then trickled through Vladar’s pads.
DeAngelo had a second-effort goal. Vladar stopped a shot by the defenseman from the right circle, but Aho tipped the puck in front as DeAngelo circled the net and was in position for a second chance on the far side.
“The second period was the exact opposite (of the first) and it totally flipped and we had our legs and we took it to them the whole period,” Brind’Amour said.
The game was a matchup of two teams that have had their rosters and schedules altered and skewed during what has been a disjointed season. The Canes are back to full strength, able to sit forward Jordan Martinook and defenseman Brendan Smith as healthy scratches.
That depth could be tested Saturday when the Canes finish off a back-to-back with a game against the Florida Panthers.
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 9:42 PM.
