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The Carolina Hurricanes split their set of back-to-back games, defeating the New York Rangers 6-3 last night, before falling 7-4 to the New Jersey Devils today.
Against the Rangers, the Hurricanes got off to a great start, outshooting New York 11-4 in the first period with Vincent Trocheck and Seth Jarvis tallying to put Carolina up 2-0 after the first period. Jesper Fast extended the lead early in the second period and while Mika Zibanejad did get one back for New York and the Rangers did build a bit of momentum, Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter both scored in the second half of the frame, putting Carolina up 5-1 after 40 minutes. While some early third period goals from Chris Kreider and Greg McKegg made things interesting, Tony DeAngelo made it 6-3 with a late power play to secure a Hurricanes’ win.
Then tonight, Jack Lafontaine made his first NHL start against the Devils.
The Hurricanes took an early lead, as Andrei Svechnikov picked a corner with a great wrist shot. Then a few minutes later Ian Cole teed up a shot and beat Jon Gillies, making it 2-0 Hurricanes.
The Devils did bounce back though as later in the frame, Nathan Bastian whacked at the puck after it bounced back off the boards and beat LaFontaine. Then later, Ryan Graves managed to get a point shot through and it deflected in off Bastian, tying the game after 20 minutes.
Josh Leivo scored his first goal with the Hurricanes early in the second period, driving toward the net and roofing a shot past Gillies. However, the Devils tied the game once again when LaFontaine couldn’t handle a rebound and Michael McLeod buried the loose puck. Then just a few minutes later, Andreas Johnsson got the puck on a rush and fired a nice shot past LaFontaine, giving New Jersey their first lead of the game. Brady Skjei managed to tie the game yet again with a nice shot on the rush, but the Devils responded, as Jesper Bratt got to a loose puck to score, making it 5-4 Devils after 40 minutes.
While the Hurricanes did manage to get some chances in the third period, Jack Hughes extended the lead to 6-4 on a power play about 12 minutes into the frame. Then just after that, Pavel Zacha got to a rebound to make it 7-4 Devils, which ended up being the final.
It was far from a great game for the Hurricanes, who didn’t play with as much intensity as we’re used to seeing. They weren’t first to pucks and while they scored four goals, they didn’t sustain a ton of pressure in New Jersey’s end at times.
While it’s impressive that Jack LaFontaine has now already started an NHL game, this was a rough one. He really wasn’t able to come up with many key saves and his rebound control and reaction time were both subpar. Between his relief appearance in Carolina’s loss to Columbus and tonight, he’s allowed nine goals against on 41 shots. The team didn’t help him out much tonight but I’m also not sure LaFontaine is ready to be getting into NHL action.
Carolina’s next game comes on Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
In other news, the Hurricanes have also re-signed defenseman Jalen Chatfield to a two-year contract. Chatfield has played seven games with the Hurricanes this season, registering one assist, and the deal will carry a $762,500 cap hit.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM JANUARY
Hurricanes storm back from four-goal deficit to beat Blue Jackets
Seth Jarvis exceeding expectations with Hurricanes
Hurricanes extend winning streak, beat Flames 6-3
Hurricanes' winning streak snapped in overtime loss to Panthers
Hurricanes sign goaltender Jack LaFontaine
Hurricanes/Flyers game postponed, Brind’Amour to coach in All-Star Game
Sebastian Aho and Frederik Andersen selected for NHL All-Star Game
Hurricanes get back on track with 4-1 win over Canucks
Hurricanes score five in first period, pick up 7-1 win over Bruins 
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