It took five games and two disallowed goals, but Hurricanes rookie Seth Jarvis finally scored for the second time in his NHL career. For good measure, he made it a game-winning goal.
Jarvis banged home a shot past goalie Robin Lehner 71 seconds into the third period to give Carolina the lead, Antti Raanta returned from a concussion to make 21 saves and Carolina outshot the Golden Knights 42-23 in a 4-2 win Tuesday in Las Vegas.
“it’s how it probably should look considering they’re missing a lot of players,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I just thought we just stuck to our game the whole way.”
The Hurricanes won the opening 20 minutes only to squander a 2-0 lead in the second, setting up a winner-take-all third period. It didn’t take long for Carolina to seize control.
Sebastian Aho set up Ethan Bear for a shot that was blocked by Vegas’ Evgenii Dadonov and went right to Jarvis, who put the puck in for his first career game-winning goal. And he again got to the “dirty areas” of the ice to create his opportunity.
“I think that’s what we noticed even at training camp,” Brind’Amour said of Jarvis. “You could tell he was willing to get in there. … He’s earned every bit of opportunity that he’s getting.”
It was a long time coming for Jarvis, who scored in his second career game but had goals called off on both Friday and Saturday.
“I was scared for a second because they kind of paused a little bit,” Jarvis said. “But yeah, it was nice. I was pretty sure it was gonna count, but you never know. So I was just happy they dropped the puck after and I was able to celebrate.”
Vincent Trocheck then came off the bench and got a rebound goal of his own at 13:41 of the third, knocking in the puck after Lehner (38 saves) made a stop on a Teuvo Teravainen shot from between the circles.
“(Jordan Staal) made a very captain-like play there in the third,” Trocheck said of Staal maintaining possession before coming for a change that allowed Trocheck to enter the zone fresh. “He was a last forward standing on the ice by himself. He got the puck in, got the puck back, battled it out, made a change while we had possession still, and I was able to come on and kind of just finish it.
“I did all the easy work, he did all the hard work. … Whenever you’re coming off the bench, you can you see everything. So you know where the open areas are. So you’re licking your chops a little bit and hoping we can keep possession while you get in there.”
The Hurricanes did, and it gave them the cushion they need to close it out — a situation made possible by Raanta’s performance in net.
The 32-year-old goalie was playing for the first time since he came on in relief of Frederik Andersen in Florida on Nov. 6 and was knocked out of the game after a collision with Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg. Raanta was concussed on the play and missed Carolina’s last four games.
“Just go there and have fun,” Raanta said of his mindset entering Tuesday’s game. “Remember when you were a kid and you wanted to play hockey because hockey was fun. So that’s kind of the feeling that you want to get again. And behind this team, it’s a lot of fun to play.”
His return to the crease was his best showing in the young season. Despite allowing two second period goals, Raanta kept the Hurricanes from falling behind with several dazzling stops when the game was tied.
“Even though they scored a couple in the second period, I just felt like I was I was dialed in,” Raanta said. “I was pretty much ready to play. It just felt nice to get out there and play and, obviously, get the win.”
It looked like Raanta might have an easy night after the Hurricanes jumped on the Golden Knights in the final nine minutes of the first period, scoring twice to get out to an early two-goal lead.
On the first goal, Trocheck maintained possession at the left point and waited for Martin Necas to enter the zone before handing over the puck. Necas then passed to Tony DeAngelo inside the right faceoff circle, and the Carolina defenseman scored his third goal of the season with a short-side shot that beat Lehner at 11:07 of the first.
DeAngelo then drew a tripping penalty for the first power play of the game, and Carolina converted. Andrei Svechnikov set up Teravainen for a one-timer from the right point, and Lehner’s rebound went right to Aho in front for his fifth power play goal of the season and seventh overall to make it 2-0 with just under a minute left in the opening period.
The first five minutes of the second period were the polar opposite.
At 2:53 of the second, Brett Howden blew past Carolina defenseman Brendan Smith and beat Raanta to halve the lead.
Then Shea Theodore jumped in from the point and was stopped twice by Raanta before he tucked in a third attempt at 4:12 of the middle frame to tie the game 2-2.
That set up another tight third period — the fourth straight game and seventh time this season the Hurricanes have been tied during the final 20 minutes. They are 6-1-0 in those games and an NHL-best 12-2-0 overall.
“We had a few lapses there early in the second, but we got back to our game right after that and stayed with it the whole time,” Trocheck said. “So I think that’s the recipe for us, to just kind of stay with our game, staying simple, and I think we did that tonight.”
Notes: Trocheck was credited with seven hits in the game, including five in the first period. … Aho had a game-high seven shots on goal. … Necas had two assists in his first game after missing two games with an illness and now has points in four of his last five games. … Svechnikov had an assist and now has points in 12 of Carolina’s 14 games.
