Hurricanes down Sharks in high-tension match

Desperate for not only scoring but wins too, the Carolina Hurricanes proved hungry enough as they toppled the San Jose Sharks 3-2 in a shootout victory Thursday night in PNC Arena.

After being shut out in two of their last three games, the Hurricanes had found themselves in a bit of a rut. However, thanks to a jumpstart from some new line combinations, the Canes were able to refind that energy they once had.

“It was pretty stressful coaching it, I can tell you that,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I’m sure the fans enjoyed it. At least they went home happy. It was a good game overall. Obviously two points is what we were after so we’ll take it.”

One of the biggest factors for the Canes was their start. Only 50 seconds in, Andrei Svechnikov went top shelf off a backhand to beat Sharks netminder Aaron Dell and give his team the lead. 

Helped along by strong forechecking from new linemate Warren Foegele who picked San Jose defenseman Brent Burns’ pockets and found Svechnikov streaking in alone, Carolina now found themselves rewarded for their efforts.

“We talked before the game about chemistry,” Svechnikov said in relation to Foegele. “We actually talked about that spot or like, I find him or he find me, and he found me and it was a great shot.”

The Sharks responded soon after though, as Joe Thornton found Marcus Sorenson for an easy bang in goal. The third defensive pairing for the Canes got victimized on the play as the 40-year-old Thornton blew by Haydn Fleury to make the pass across to Sorenson who also blew past Jake Gardiner to get positioning for the goal.

While Gardiner has been struggling since his arrival in Carolina, he made amends for at least the last goal, as in the second period he netted his second goal as a Hurricane, joining the rush and slamming home a feed from Foegele in the slot. 

“More importantly it’s the guys,” Brind’Amour said on helping Gardiner. “The guys have his back and they support him. We keep putting him out there and that’s really all you can do. A goal like that I hope will let him relax, cause I know he’s trying. We’ve all been there, I’ve been there, and it’s tough when you’re in a rut and you just can’t get out of it, but hopefully, this will springboard him out of there.”

An ecstatic Gardiner pumped his fist and jumped into the boards showing his obvious relief to have finally gotten another on the scoresheet. The former Maple Leaf, who the Canes signed in the offseason as a potential power play specialist, had been scoreless since game number two of the season where he scored the overtime winner in Washington.

“Originally I was going to one-time the puck, but it wasn’t exactly my wheelhouse,” Gardiner said. “I gave it back to [Foegele] and he made a great pass back… It’s been tough lately but just got to stick with it and eventually it will go my way. It was good tonight. I think we played a good team effort.”

The tensions rose to a boiling point later in the second however, as Thornton laid a cheapshot on Hurricanes netminder Petr Mrazek. Mrazek had froze the puck under his glove and Thornton came in and took an extra jab at Mrazek’s glove, which Mrazek took exception to and he swiped at Thornton. 

Mrazek then skated out of his crease to jaw at Thornton who immediately socked him in the mask near his throat. All mayhem then broke loose as both Gardiner and Jordan Martinook went straight for Thornton and it took a while for the mob to break apart.

“I never want to see that,” Gardiner said on his goalie getting punched. “It doesn’t happen too often to be honest, but like I said, you never want to see that and you just have to step in and try to back him up.”

“It was a cheapshot by him,” Mrazek said after the game. “But we got a penalty for it.”

Adding insult to injury, the Sharks grabbed a tying goal as the second period expired as Logan Couture blasted one through traffic and in. Even worse was that it was a blown call sequence as Sharks’ Evander Kane had slashed Teuvo Teravainen’s stick out of his hands on San Jose’s entry essentially giving them a mock power play and allowing them to set up the goal.

The third period saw a myriad of chances for each team as well as an escalation of the physicality, but the score remained tied at two after the final 20 minute period. 

Into overtime, the Hurricanes looked like the dominant team, but Dell stood on his head like he had all night stoning multiple chances from Carolina including a one-timer blast from Sebastian Aho.

The game finally came down to the shootout where the first four shooters all failed to net goals coming down to the third round. Svechnikov hopped over the bench and skated his circles before grabbing the puck. 

Svech took it up the middle, shoulder faked and went to the backhand, but quickly pulled it back to forehand and shot it in past Dell.

Now with all the pressure on Couture, it came down to Mrazek to seal the game and he held strong, stoning the final shooter to win the game for the Canes 3-2.

“I like shootouts,” Mrazek said. “It’s fun and fans enjoy it and I think for the goalies it’s fun too.”

“I like to battle.”

The Hurricanes will return to PNC Arena for their next game Saturday Dec. 7 as they take on the Minnesota Wild.