Hurricanes’ point streak intact despite shootout loss. Takeaways from Canes’ loss to Blues
With a five-game win streak and six straight games at home, the Carolina Hurricanes appeared well-positioned.
Win at home, keep piling up points, keep moving up in the standings … that was the Canes’ plan headed into Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues at PNC Arena.
The Canes did pick up a point, but the Blues got away with the two, winning a shootout 2-1 on Brayden Schenn’s goal in the fifth round.
Sebastian Aho had a shootout goal for the Canes in the fourth round, but Jake Neighbours answered for the Blues and Schenn then beat Antti Raanta to win it.
A night after blowing out the Washington Capitals with a five-goal third period on the road, the Canes (22-13-5) were stymied by goalie Jordan Binnington and the Blues (20-17-1) at home. It was more of a grinding, tight-checking game, with both teams helping their goalies with blocked shots — Jaccob Slavin had six blocks for the Canes and Nick Eddy seven of the Blues’ 25.
The Canes’ Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, as dynamic as any two forwards in the league the past few weeks, both had six-game point streaks end.
Teuvo Teravainen did beat Binnington with a quick release and nasty power-play shot in the first period. Binnington made some high-quality saves in the second to keep it a 1-1 game, had 27 stops in regulation and 29 for the game.
Raanta was the Canes’ starter in net and did his part. He faced just 12 shots in the first 40 minutes as neither team could produce a quantity of scoring chances and had 21 stops for the 65 minutes.
“It was a good team effort tonight and ‘Rants’ played unbelievable,” Canes forward Jack Drury said. “It was tough to drop a point, but I think we liked the way we played.”
Raanta lost his stick at one point in the overtime but then made a blocker save on Brandon Saad with 2:33 left in the OT.
“He gave us a chance to win the game,” Teravainen said. “We didn’t score enough goals, so that’s on us.”
Carolina had just one shot in the first 10 1/2 minutes of the third period as the Blues filled shooting lanes. Canes defenseman Dmitry Orlov hit the crossbar with an attempt with five minutes left in regulation.
“We played hard and had good chances to get more than one goal, but just didn’t get one in,” Teravainen said. “But we feel good about ourselves and are getting more confident in our game. There’s more and more good things in our game, so we’re going in a good direction.”
Takeaways from the game:
Power play clicks again
The Canes’ power play is still streaking, still smokin’.
The Hurricanes were trailing 1-0 in the first when Seth Jarvis drew a tripping penalty from Pavel Buchnevich eight minutes into the period. The first power-play group cou;d not convert but the second group did. Drury won a draw in the Blues’ zone and Teravainen whistled a shot from the top of the slot that beat Binnington to the blocker side.
The power-play score made it seven straight games with at least one goal with the man advantage. It also made the Canes 13 of 25 in that stretch. That’s 52%.
Why so good?
“It’s tough to say because we don’t really have one thing we’re doing better,” Teravainen said. “It’s kind of all over. Winning some battles. Being ready, like mentally, on the power play to be good.”
First home game for the rookie
Think of the past 48 hours Vasily Ponomarev has had.
Needed by the Canes on Friday with forwards Martin Necas injured and Stefan Noesen fighting an illness, the rookie forward flew to Washington, jumped in the lineup and made his NHL debut. It was a dream start: a goal and assist in a 6-2 win over the Caps.
It was a new experience Saturday — Ponomarev’s first home game at PNC Arena. Centering the fourth line with Noesen and Brendan Lemieux, he was on the ice when the Blues’ Nathan Walker scored in the first period and had just four shifts in the first, two in the second and 8:52 of ice time in all.
Before the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour called Ponomarev a “fearless kid” and said he expected another solid outing from him.
“He looks really good, to be honest,” Brind’Amour followed up after the game. “I didn’t get him out as much as I’d liked to, but that’s kind of the way the game went. But every shift he was making things happen and certainly looks like he belongs.”
“I don’t think he’ll change much,” Brind’Amour said. “I mean, he’s a pretty fearless kid. I don’t think the moment is too big for him. You can’t expect a goal and assist every night, but I think he looks like he belongs. We’ll see.”
Another start for Raanta
With goaltender Frederik Andersen still out, every start Raanta receives will now take on added importance. That was true again Saturday.
In the back-to-back set, the Canes went with Pyotr Kochetkov, now their workhorse, against the Caps on Friday. That left the Blues game for Raanta, who has been rebuilding his confidence after being placed on waivers and then having a short stint in the AHL with Chicago.
In Raanta’s last start, he stopped 18 of 21 shots Dec. 28 in the Canes’ 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens. He then added anofher quality start as Canes fans cheered him on during the game.
“Since the Montreal game they’ve been fantastic,” Raanta said. “You make a kind of normal save and the whole crowd keeps yelling your name and they’re behind you. One more save and we could have celebrated the win but that’s hockey sometimes.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2024 at 10:55 PM with the headline "Hurricanes’ point streak intact despite shootout loss. Takeaways from Canes’ loss to Blues."
