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The Carolina Hurricanes suffered a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers last night, ending their 11-game winning streak and 17-game point streak.
Pyotr Kochetkov made his first start for the Hurricanes in about two weeks, while the Hurricanes were also facing Vincent Trocheck, who signed with the Rangers this summer.
While Carolina was outshooting New York early, the Rangers had a good chance only about five minutes in, when Calvin de Haan bobbled a puck and Alexis Lafreniere got in alone, but put a shot wide. Soon after though, the Rangers couldn’t clear the zone after a good chance for Martin Necas and once the puck stayed in, a point shot from Jaccob Slavin ended up bouncing around in front, before being poked in by Brent Burns to open the scoring. Carolina was causing problems on the forecheck and were controlling much of the period, but after Sebastian Aho was called for hooking, a bouncing puck from the point ended up beating Kochetkov on the ensuing power play to tie the game.
However the Hurricanes responded right away, with Andrei Svechnikov getting the puck out to Martin Necas for a one-timer goal only 16 seconds later, cutting off any momentum for New York right away.
New York did bounce back in the second period though with some early opportunities, then continued to build momentum midway through the frame, with chances around Carolina’s net. Even on a Hurricanes’ power play in the back half of the period, Carolina couldn’t get anything going. Then late in the frame, New York managed to tie it with another man advantage, on what looked like a pretty terrible goal against Kochetkov. What I will say about that goal is that Kochetkov was almost certainly expecting Vincent Trocheck to take the puck in front as a pass and try to bring it to the side of the net, which would’ve required him to be able to push off his other foot, leaving the five-hole exposed. But still, it wasn’t the best goal.
Once again though, Carolina responded right away after Jalen Chatfield’s shot went in off Filip Chytil’s stick, only 29 seconds later. It certainly wasn’t the Hurricanes’ best frame, but they were back ahead through 40 minutes.
The back-and-forth continued under a minute into the third period though, as Artemi Panarin just managed to send a puck on net through traffic and it found its way in, off yet another low goal against Kochetkov. Then later in the frame, K’Andre Miller went to the front of the net to tip in a shot from the point, for New York to take their first lead of the game. The Hurricanes had a power play chance later, but couldn’t get much going. Then when Jordan Martinook was charged with a penalty for playing a puck with a broken stick with under three minutes to go, the Hurricanes were left with little time to try to tie it. Kochetkov did come up with a good save on Panarin during the penalty kill but Carolina pulled the goalie early and Filip Chytil was able to add an empty netter, leading to a 5-3 Rangers win.
After a promising first period, things went downhill for the Hurricanes. They managed only seven shots in each of the last two periods, being outshot 25-14 over that stretch.
They lost the special teams battle as well, taking penalties against a team with a dangerous power play, and it ended up costing them. Meanwhile, they really couldn’t get much going on their power plays, after finding a bit of recent success with the man advantage.
Pyotr Kochetkov also didn’t really look like himself. The first three goals were all low and ones that he could’ve probably had (even if the third one came through a screen). That said, the Hurricanes didn’t play well enough to win as is.
Stefan Noesen was hurt early in the first period and ended up heading to the locker room, then didn’t return to the game. He wasn’t participating in practice today, but hopefully it’s nothing serious. Noesen has been an important depth addition to the Hurricanes’ forward group.
Vincent Trocheck was held off the scoresheet against his former team, but is still in the midst of a productive first season with New York. I wasn’t tied to re-signing Trocheck, but based on Carolina’s lack of a legitimate second-line center right now, you do have to wonder if letting him walk and not going after a quality replacement was the right move.
One positive at least: less than halfway through the season, Martin Necas has already reached a new career high in goals, with 17 in just 38 games. He’s currently on pace for 37 goals.
It certainly wasn’t the Hurricanes’ best game, but after a stretch of great play, there’s zero reason for concern after an off night. The Hurricanes will be back in action tomorrow, when they face the Nashville Predators.
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Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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