RALEIGH — The Hurricanes returned from the All-Star break and were handed a 3-2 loss to the visiting Canucks. J.T. Miller scored the lone even-strength goal of the game early in the third period off a pair of fortuitous bounces to give Vancouver its league-leading 34th win of the season.
Jordan Martinook and Sebastian Aho scored for Carolina, while Elias Lindholm had two power plays goals in his Canucks debut.
Three observations
1. The one even-strength goal of the game proved to be the difference, with Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers’ dump-in skipping past Pyotr Kochetkov (16 saves) and to the side of the net, where Brock Boeser fanned on the puck — with help from a Jaccob Slavin poke check — but it ended up in the slot. Miller backhanded the puck into the vacant net for the deciding goal.
It was one of just three shots on goal for Vancouver in the third period, but it found its way into the net.
“They were playing the style we want to play for the first two periods, and then obviously seeing the third, we do our push because we’re playing the way we play,” Martinook said. “And it kind of flipped. But obviously they get the bounce there in the third and so it’s in the back of your net.”
2. Carolina considered challenging on Miller’s goal. While the puck clearly enters the zone before Miller exits it, he does tag up before Pius Suter and Boeser reentered the zone. The question isn’t one of offside, but rather goaltender interference.
Suter entered the crease before the puck and made contact with Kochetkov as he tried to get across to stop Miller’s shot. This is probably what Brind’Amour was referring to with the answer to my question about challenging the play.
“You know our history with those,” he said. “So I wasn’t too keen on what the outcome may have been.”
3. The first two periods were all about special teams, with Martinook opening the scoring with his shorthanded goal.
After Aho was called for tripping, Teuvo Teravainen made a steal in the defensive zone and flipped the puck into the Canucks end. Martinook tracked it down and passed back to Teravainen, who quickly returned the puck to Martinook for a quick backhand that beat Thatcher Demko (22 saves) for a 1-0 lead just 4:25 into the game.
Lindholm — in his first game since being acquired from Calgary — scored the next two goals with redirections of Quinn Hughes shots on the power play.
Then Aho scored his 18th of the season with a beautiful wrist shot that beat Demko glove high for his fifth power play goal of the season.
No penalties, however, were called in the third period, with the most notable no-call being a Sam Lafferty hold on Martin Necas.
Number to know
7 — Shots of goal for the Canucks in the final 40 minutes after they registered 12 in the opening period.
Plus
Jordan Martinook, Hurricanes forward — Martinook got his eighth goal of the season — and seventh in his last 12 games — with his fifth career shorthanded goal and third with Carolina. His previous two with the Hurricanes were empty-net goals.
“Turbo (had a) good breakup there in the D zone and then he put it in a good spot for me to get it back,” Martinook said of Teravainen’s flip into the the Vancouver zone. “And then when he joined I thought we could make a play out of it, and it was a good one to get.”
Minus
Pyotr Kochetkov, Hurricanes goaltender — It wasn’t a bad night for Kochetkov, who couldn’t be faulted on Lindholm’s two redirection power play goals. But Miller’s game-winning goal sits on him.
Brind’Amour chalked it up to the poor bounce.
“This is what happens sometimes,” Brind’Amour said. “That was a tough one. It went right on their tape, and then it bounced again right to their guy and he taps it in.
They said it
“It was what I was afraid might happen. We were terrible to start and they were good.”
— Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour on Carolina’s sluggish first period during which it was outshot 12-4.
