RALEIGH — The Hurricanes’ eight-game point streak came to an end with a 5-2 loss a home Monday to the Kings.
Jordan Martinook and Jack Drury scored for Carolina, which lost in regulation for the first time since Dec. 23.
Three observations
1. The game slipped away from the Hurricanes in the first 5:20 of the third period.
With the game tied 1-1, Carolina killed off the balance of a penalty on Jesperi Kotkaniemi that carried over from the middle frame, but just as Kotkaniemi entered the defensive zone after coming out of the box, a point shot hit the end boards and kicked back in front where Phillip Danault forked it over Antti Raanta (20 saves) to give the Kings a 2-1 lead.
“Kind of a weird bounce off the boards or whatever, but that’s kind of where the momentum flipped,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
Los Angeles struck again just 80 seconds later when a failed clear by Kotkaniemi eventually wound up on the stick of Alex Laferriere, who snapped a shot off the short side post and in to extend the league to two. That was followed just under three minutes later by an uncovered one-timer from Pierre-Luc Dubois at 5:20 of the third.
“We had a few bad shifts, like bad shifts,” Brind’Amour added. “And it was like ‘Boom, boom, boom’ and the game was over.”
2. After Los Angeles’ fourth goal, Brind’Amour lifted Raanta — “nothing on Rants,” the coach said after — and put Yaniv Perets, the first-year pro who was recalled for the second time this season from the ECHL on Friday when Pyotr Kochetkov suffered a concussion the day before against Anaheim.
Perets — who played with Brind’Amour’s son, Skyler, on Quinnipiac’s NCAA championship team last year — faced just one shot in 7:52 of ice time, stopping Dubois on an odd-man rush.
Yaniv Perets gets his first NHL save on an odd-man rush for LA, coming off the tape of Pierre-Luc Dubois.
That's a good one to remember. pic.twitter.com/PmaLsiyOgk
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) January 15, 2024
The 23-year-old, who signed as an undrafted free agent last summer, was all smiles following the game.
“It’s all kind of just a blur,” he said. “It’s just, I don’t know, just a smile on my face. Just looking up in the stands, seeing the beautiful crowd. Everyone’s just — a beautiful atmosphere. It’s just the moment that you dream of as a kid.”
There’s no guaranteeing Perets will see NHL ice again — making the jump from the ECHL to the NHL is pretty uncommon, and Perets faces an uphill climb as an undersized, undrafted goalie — but for a night his dream of making it to the NHL was realized.
3. The Hurricanes honored Justin Williams by making him the fifth member of the team’s hall of fame, joining Brind’Amour, Ron Francis and Glen Wesley (who were all charter members since their numbers are retired), and last year’s inductee, Cam Ward.
Williams played a combined 497 regular season and playoff games with the Hurricanes, one of four teams — along with the Flyers, Kings and Capitals — he played for in his 19-year NHL career.
He won three Stanley Cups, including his first with Carolina in 2006, and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in one of the two seasons Los Angeles won with him.
It was fitting that the Kings — who still have a few players from those championship teams on their roster — were the opponent Monday.
Williams, who made a career out of being calm, cool and collected regardless of the situation, admitted the moment had him emotional.
“I thought I’d be fine,” Williams said to the media during the first intermission. “I think everybody probably says that, (that you) thought you’d be fine up there. And then you look at the people and you see all these players and everybody’s saying nice things about you and then you just get rolling in the wrong direction there. It gets a little emotional. It was great. It was great.”
Number to know
22 — Goalies in NHL history with a perfect 1.000 save percentage, with Perets being the 22nd after making a save on the only shot he faced on Monday. Two other players in franchise history — Mike Murphy (nine saves in two appearances with Carolina in December 2011) and Corrie D’Alessio (three saves in 11 minutes on Dec. 11, 1992, with Hartford — are also on the list.
Plus
Jordan Martinook, Hurricanes forward — Through 37 games this season, Martinook had scored just once — a goal in a 4-3 loss at Vancouver on Dec. 9 — but he now has four goals in his last six games, including Carolina’s first Monday that gave him goals in three straight.
Martinook converted a 2-on-1 when Jarvis saucered a pass over the stick of Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and onto Martinook’s for the goal.
His hot streak has coincided with Brind’Amour shuffling the Hurricanes’ lines and putting Jarvis with Martinook and center Jordan Staal.
“Jordo’s line always seems to be a good line and now add Jarvey there,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s playing well. Obviously, a nice play on the goal.”
Martinook wasn’t ready to take a victory lap after a loss.
“I could score zero goals all year, and if we win every game, I’m gonna be happy,” he said. “So yeah, it is what it is.”
Minus
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Hurricanes center — Kotkaniemi created several chances in the opening two periods but was then on the ice for two of the three goals in the third. The first came after he exited the box after serving a penalty, but the other was a direct result of his failed cross-ice pass in the defensive zone.
They said it
“I hate that we lost it being on Willie’s night. Yeah, that’s gonna eat me up for a little while here.”
— Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour on the team losing the same night Williams was honored
