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The Carolina Hurricanes began their five-game Western Conference road trip with a win tonight, defeating the San Jose Sharks 2-1.
The Hurricanes iced a similar lineup to their season opener on Wednesday, with the change being Stefan Noesen drawing in for Ondrej Kase, who was out with a possible concussion. Antti Raanta also got his first start of the season.
The game also marked the first time Brent Burns and Steven Lorentz played their former teams, following the trade between the Hurricanes and Sharks this summer.
BATTLED 👊 pic.twitter.com/95bkWJz2hd
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 15, 2022
Carolina followed up by dominating most of the second period, outshooting San Jose by a 17-4 margin. They were getting their chances but just couldn’t manage to beat James Reimer. With under 30 seconds to go in the frame though, Andrei Svechnikov made a great play to strip Kevin Labanc of the puck and got it to Martin Necas, who beat Reimer to tie the game before the intermission.
Carolina continued to look good in the third period, despite taking more penalties. Just as it looked like the game may be headed for overtime though, Brett Pesce’s point shot was deflected in by Sebastian Aho, putting Carolina ahead with only about two minutes to go. San Jose pressed right at the end and Tomas Hertl had a great chance to tie the game in the dying seconds, but Raanta made a great save to secure the 2-1 win.
It was a pretty complete effort from the Hurricanes, generating the better chances throughout most of the game and outshooting San Jose 35-19 overall.
Carolina’s forwards were having a lot of success beating defenders with their speed and driving to the net for chances. Defensively, the Hurricanes really weren't giving up anything off the rush and did a great job preventing the Sharks from sustaining much zone time.
Among quite a few other players, Martin Necas has looked really good through his first two games of the year. He’s engaged just about every shift and while we know how dynamic he can be offensively, hopefully this is the season he’s able to put it together consistently.
The Hurricanes did take a lot of penalties but at the same time, the penalty kill was great. Carolina killed off all five of San Jose’s power plays and for a lot of them, the Hurricanes were getting almost as many chances while shorthanded as the Sharks were generating on the man advantage.
It was a really well-rounded performance for the Hurricanes and despite it only being a 2-1 game, they really took the play to San Jose for most of the matchup.
Carolina’s next game comes on Monday against the Seattle Kraken, as they continue their road trip.
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