RALEIGH — The Hurricanes came up on the wrong end of a goalie duel, losing 2-1 in the shootout to the visiting Blues when Brayden Schenn scored in the fifth round to give St. Louis the extra point.
Teuvo Teravainen and Nathan Walker scored the lone goals for their teams in regulation, and Carolina extended its point streak to six games and got their 49th point of the season (22-13-5).
Three observations
1. The Hurricanes power play continued on its roll. Carolina scored on its only chance when Teravainen’s shot from the high slot off a Jack Drury faceoff win trickled through Jordan Binnington (29 saves) at 13:17 of the first period.
It extended the Hurricanes’ streak of games with a power play goal to seven and snapped Teravainen’s five-game point drought. The power play inched up to No. 3 in the league at 28.7% with its 1-for-1 night, but Teravainen didn’t have an answer for why it’s been so good the past month.
“It’s kind of tough to say,” he said. “We don’t really have one thing we’re doing better. It’s just kind of all over. Winning some battles, being ready mentally for the power play to be good.”
Brind’Amour remains a proponent of the officials letting the players play rather than a parade to the penalty box despite the team being on such a run.
“I like that they let the guys play and it wasn’t a ticky-tack foul at the end of the game that made the difference,” he said. “I think they could’ve had one either way. They probably could’ve called some more, but don’t get involved and let the boys play it out, and I thought that’s what happened tonight.
2. The Hurricanes continued their struggles in the shootout, losing for the third time in three weeks and falling to 1-3 on the season.
Sebastian Aho — who, along with Andrei Svechnikov, saw his six-game point streak come to an end — had the lone goal in five chances for Carolina, while Jake Neighbours and Brayden Schenn scored for the Blues.
“We lost the skills competition,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s a tough way to lose because you feel bad that you lost the game, but it was a pretty good game, really, overall.”
Three of Carolina’s four failed shooters have not scored in the shootout this season: Teravainen (0-4), Svechnikov (0-2) and Brent Burns (0-2) were all stopped, while Jordan Martinook is now 1 for 2 on the season.
3. When it was announced Friday that journeyman goalie Aaron Dell had signed a professional tryout with the AHL’s Ontario Reign, it put to an end the chance that he would sign with Carolina. Dell had been on a PTO with the Hurricanes, watching one Carolina game from the PNC Arena press box, before playing for Canada in the Spengler Cup.
On Saturday, I confirmed that Dell had chosen to join the Reign — the Kings’ top affiliate who are in Ontario, California, not Canada — because his wife is pregnant and they live in California.
Los Angeles also just announced that Pheonix Copley will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery, meaning the Kings are down to Cam Talbot and David Rittich in net.
With Raanta seemingly regaining form and Frederik Andersen cleared to resume skating, The Hurricanes’ need to add another goalie isn’t as much of a priority as it was a couple of weeks ago, so missing out on Dell isn’t a tremendous blow.
Number to know
3 — Points in the last 16 games for Teravainen until he scored in the first period Saturday. Teravainen’s point drought was curious because he’s been playing with the NHL’s two hottest players, Aho and Svechnikov. Teravainen now has 14 goals on the season, which puts him on pace for 28. His career high is 23 from the 2017-18 season.
Plus
Antti Raanta, Hurricanes goalie — You could put both teams’ goalies here, but I’ll focus on Raanta. His 21-save performance looked more like the goalie that has been so good over the past two seasons in Carolina, and he seems to have moved on from his dreadful start that led to an AHL assignment.
He gave a long answer when I asked if his performance was a reminder of the goalie he has been in his career.
“You have a couple of bad games and you kind of forget what you’ve been doing for 15 years, 20 years,” he said. “It’s easy to forget that because you want to win and when things are not going your way you take it by the heart. Sometimes you should just let it go and just look forward, but sometimes, as a goalie, that’s your responsibility to make those saves, and when you can’t make those saves it’s really tough.
“So obviously playing a couple of games in Chicago, that was different. But you kind of felt again like, ‘Hey, it’s just hockey.’ You can’t take it too seriously and just go out there and enjoy it. When I got back up here and then played against Montreal, the home fans were, you know, you almost got a little bit emotional there in moments where you make the save and they were just yelling your name and screaming, and it was unbelievable.
“It’s great to be back here and play today, and one more save and we could’ve celebrated the win. But I think one step at a time, one game at a time and just try to keep it simple and enjoy it.”
Minus
Dmitry Orlov, Hurricanes defenseman — After an emotional return to Washington the night before during which he had a goal and an assist, Orlov and defense partner Jalen Chatfield had a tough night.
They were on the ice for St. Louis’ only goal when Orlov was unable to paw down a high flip, allowing Nathan Walker in on a breakaway. In all, Orlov and Chatfield were on the ice for just 33.3% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 (14-7 Corsi in the Blues’ favor), had a scoring chance deficit of 7-3 and a high-danger deficit of 4-1.
Orlov did nearly win the game in the third period, but his slap shot from the left point hit the crossbar.
They said it
“For me it’s pretty easy. I’m single and young.”
— Hurricanes center Jack Drury on if it’s true the mantra of the first game back from a long road trip is difficult.
