*Photo from TheScore*
They needed to snap a skid, and they took to the road and did it. Brock Boeser scored the tying goal, Elias Pettersson won the game, and the Vancouver Canucks rallied to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes with a 4-3 shootout win on Sunday afternoon in Raleigh.
Vancouver won just their second game in their last 9 and 3rd in 10 games, sitting at an 18-22-3 record and 6th place in the Pacific Division. Andrei Kuzmenko was the only two point scorer, posting a pair of assists. 7 other Canucks registered a point in regulation.
Canucks captain Bo Horvat gave his thoughts on the recent stretch, saying that "It's been pretty much one-goal games this whole time. We fought our way back and at least made it interesting in a lot of games. To finally get rewarded tonight definitely feels good."
Paul Stastny got the Hurricanes started early, scoring 2:25 into the game to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. With 34 seconds left in the first period, Jordan Martinook scored for the Hurricanes, doubling the lead to 2-0. The only goal of the second period came from Ethan Bear, getting the Canucks on the board to cut the deficit to 2-1 after 40 minutes.
In the 3rd period, JT Miller tied the game 7:35 into the period for the Canucks, with Quinn Hughes getting the only assist. Sebastian Aho scored at the 17:08 mark of the period for the Hurricanes to give them a 3-2 lead. Boeser then scored to tie the game for the Canucks with 17 seconds to go in regulation, with Horvat and Kuzmenko assisting.
The first round of the shootout saw Kuzmenko score for the Canucks and Brent Burns getting stopped. Andrei Svechnikov scored for the Hurricanes in the second round, while Pettersson provided the winning goal in the 3rd and final round.
Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau said of the win that "I think they earned that. They've been coming so close. Even in the third, I thought we were playing really good, and they score with three minutes to go. But again, they said, 'No, we're not giving up,' and they went out there and scored and we got the shootout win. So it's great."
Getting the start in goal for the Canucks was Collin Delia, who had another solid night in goal to get the win. Delia stopped 29 of the 32 shots the Hurricanes had, which was good for a .906 save percentage as his record improved to 4-2-0 in 6 starts.
Starting opposite Delia was Carolina's Pyotr Kochetkov, who got an overtime loss to drop his record to 10-4-5 in 18 starts. Kochetkov had the same stat line as Delia, saving 29 of the 32 shots he saw for a .906 save percentage.
Martinook said of the game that "We had spurts where we were really good and obviously we had spurts where we weren't. And it was noticeable. On the second half of a back-to-back you have to find a way to create your own energy. I know you're a little tired and it's a hard league, but you have to create the energy somehow. We were trying, it just wasn't 100% there tonight."
Up next, both teams get a bit of a break before resuming play. The Canucks welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning to town on Wednesday night, with Spencer Martin expected to start. The Hurricanes host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, with Frederik Andersen projected to start in net.
Comments
Post a Comment