RALEIGH — The Hurricanes picked up their second straight win behind a hat trick by Teuvo Teravainen and a shutout from Antti Raanta in a 3-0 win over the Sharks on Friday at PNC Arena.
It was the third hat trick of Teravainen’s career, and he’s tied for second in the NHL goals with seven. Carolina is now back above .500 at 5-4-0, and the Hurricanes are 3-0-0 at home.
Three observations
1. The second he touched the puck for the first time Friday night, Andrei Svechnikov was greeted by a roar from the PNC Arena crowd. It was Svechnikov’s first game since March 11, and more than seven months after knee surgery he returned to the lineup.
Svechnikov played mostly on the fourth line with Jack Drury and Stefan Noesen, finishing with four shots on goal, three hits and a questionable penalty for interference.
“Pretty good,” Svechnikov said about how he felt in his first live action. “I mean, the first couple of shifts I was kind of nervous, exciting, and all that stuff. But after a couple of shifts I was fine.”
His presence was definitely felt. The fourth line has struggled this season, but against the Sharks it was much better. The possession numbers were the best of any Carolina line (73.33% Corsi For), and they created three scoring changes despite playing just five minutes together.
It was a big step forward for Svechnikov, and he should only get better from here.
“He looked like he hadn’t missed a beat,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “He’s the type of player that every time he’s on the ice, you notice him. I mean, every shift it was like he did something.”
2. Teravainen continues to be a difference-maker for the Hurricanes after finishing with just 37 points last year. He has seven goals on the season — more than half of the 12 he scored in 68 games a year ago.
“I feel like it should be the other way, but somehow I’m the goal scorer,” Teravainen said of linemate Seth Jarvis setting him up for two of his three goals. “But I’ll take it, I guess.”
When Carolina gets fully healthy, someone who belongs in the top six is going to find themself on the fourth line. Many predicted that could be Teravainen based on how last season went. For now, he’s a lock to stay on the top two lines.
“It’s hard for a player when he knows he should be at this level and he’s here,” Brind’Amour said of Teravainen’s difficult 2022-23 season. “They care, right? They know how important they are to the team, and so hopefully, like I said, he’s in a good place.”
3. Carolina’s game appears to be rounding into form after a difficult road trip that saw them allow 30 goals in six games. In the home back-to-back, they gave up a total of two.
“It’s nice to be home,” Teravainen said. “There were a lot of road games to start there, but it’s a special place to play here. We feel like we needed that. We needed to come home and play a couple strong games here to get back on track.”
Scoring the first goal — just the third time that’s happened in nine games this season — also helps.
“There’s been a couple of games where it’s been, 3-nothing, 3-1, and it’s tough when you’re chasing the game the whole time,” Raanta said.
Raanta also praised the team’s play in the third period.
“That kind of showed us when you’re in the lead you control the game also.”
Number to know
7 — Goals for Teravainen in October, tied for the most he’s scored in a month during his career. He has twice previously had seven goals in a month (March 2018 and February 2019).
Teravainen also became the first NHL player to score three goals in a 3-0 win since Nick Bonino did it in Nashville’s victory over Chicago on Oct. 29, 2019.
The only other Hurricanes player to notch a hat trick in a 3-0 win was the late Josef Vasicek, just shy of 20 years ago.
The last Hurricane to score all three of his team's goals in a win: Josef Vasicek, one day shy of 20 years ago.
Vasicek scored three times in a 3-0 win against (you guessed it) the Sharks on Oct. 28, 2003.
— Cory Lavalette (@corylav) October 28, 2023
Mark Johnson also had the only three goals in a Whalers win, and the six other times a player in franchise history had all three of the team’s goals, but those were in losses.
Others to score all three of the team's goals in franchise history:
Mark Johnson (3-2 win, 1985)
Ron Francis (7-3 loss, 1983)
Jeff O'Neill (6-3 loss, 1997)
Jiri Tlusty twice (5-3 loss, 2013; 4-3 loss, 2014)
Jeff Skinner (4-3 loss, 2015)
Geoff Sanderson (4-3 loss, 1993)— Cory Lavalette (@corylav) October 28, 2023
Plus
Antti Raanta — The Carolina goalie really needed this one. Raanta entered the game at 1-1-0 with a bloated 4.41 goals-against average and dreadful .818 save percentage. On Friday, he stopped 20 shots for his 20th career shutout and seemed in control all night.
“When you don’t get that good game under your belt, it gets tough,” Raanta said. “You start thinking too much, you start overplaying situations, and then you’re not playing with your instincts anymore. … I don’t think that I was close to what I can be. I think there’s still some things that I can do better, but you take what you get and move on and keep working.”
Minus
First period penalty on Svechnikov — Svechnikov was called for interference in the first period after a big open-ice hit on San Jose’s Givani Smith.
Andrei Svechnikov has his first penalty of the year. 😅
He gets tagged for interference after blowing up Givani Smith. pic.twitter.com/gScMsgI0FS
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) October 27, 2023
It shouldn’t have been a penalty since the puck had just been passed by Smith, and Svechnikov did say he got an apology from the official.
“He thought I hit a different guy,” Svechnikov said, “but it’s OK, you know, that happens sometimes.”
They said it
“I guess so.”
— Teravainen when asked if he likes all the goal-scoring he’s done this season.
