Carolina collapses in the third, loses to Utah 4-1

For the second out of three games on this road trip, the Carolina Hurricanes had a period where they completely collapsed. This time, it was a wild third period that saw the Utah Hockey Club score three goals in 2:19, and the Canes failing to convert on a 8:30 stretch of penalties when Michael Carcone committed one of the dirtier acts you’ll see in the modern NHL.

It’s possible the ping-ponging the Canes have been doing from east to west coast over the past month plus two of three games in high altitude caught up to them in Salt Lake City. You could see it as they got off a bit of a sluggish start in the first period. You wouldn’t know it looking at the 15-8 shot advantage the Canes got, but the majority of the period saw both teams just bounce back and forth between the zones. Utah got one power play when Aho was called for a slash, but Pyotr Kochetkov stood tall and the Penalty Killers did their job.

Unfortunately for the Canes, the new boards in the Delta Center helped provide the first goal of the game for the Utah Hockey Club. Later in the first, a shot bounced right back to the stick of Nick Bjugstad, and he was able to slap it past Kochetkov for the 1-0 lead. The goal did seem to wake the Canes up for the rest of the period, as some pretty solid saves from Karel Vejmelka kept Utah in the lead going into the first intermission.

That momentum carried into the second period, one that was completely dominated by Carolina. They pummeled Vejmelka with 17 shots on goal to just five allowed by the Canes, the problem was the Canes only scored one goal. While Kochetkov didn’t give any up, it was a bad omen for what was ahead.

The goal scored by the Canes was an absolute beauty by the volcanic lava-hot Martin Necas, after Ian Cole got caught…committing a penalty. About 45 seconds in, Shayne Gostisbehere was all alone at the point, and reared up like he was going to slap it on goal. However, it was a pump fake, and instead he passed it over to Necas alone in the left circle. Everyone, including the goalie, bought the fake and Necas blasted it in.

Unfortunately for the Canes, another Power Play later in the period from another ilicit act by Cole came up empty. The Canes just dominated the period but as happens to them from time to time, they got goalied. Fortunately for the Canes that period, Kochetkov didn’t suffer from the lack of action. He made a stop near the end of the period off another funky bounce from the boards to keep it knotted at one after the second.

The third period is when things just got completely out of hand. Jack McBain was able to take a pass from Michael Kesselring on a 2-on-1 rush and not only get it past Kochetkov, but in the process of trying to defend, Sean Walker went down to block a shot and ran right into Kochetkov, who stayed on the ice in pain. He took his time and stayed in, but he was clearly hampered. After almost giving up a goal that was actually just off the top cross bar, Mikhail Sergachev was able to get a shot past Kochetkov when a pass hit and took out Andrei Svechnikov’s blade, creating another odd man rush.

Rod Brind’Amour pulled Kochetkov after that play, and cameras showed him clearly upset with the situation. Spencer Martin came in and immediately gave up a goal to Bjugstad 17 seconds after the face off. At that point it felt over.

However, just 30 seconds later Utah was feeling it and Carcone inexplicably just out and out attacked Jack Drury, who really didn’t put up much of a fight.

Carcone is likely looking at a suspension for that one, as he got the rare 17 minute triple-decker: Fighting (five minutes), Instigator (two minutes), and game misconduct (ten minutes). A review confirmed the call, and the Canes ended up with seven minutes of power play time to crawl back in the game.

They couldn’t score a single goal.

To add a little salt in the wound, Maveric Lamoureux hooked Jack Roslovic near the end of the major penalty, creating 30 seconds of a 5-on-3. Still nothing.

Vejmelka was other-worldy for Utah, as tends to happen occasionally for the Canes, as he made 49 saves on 50 shots.

The Canes now hop a plane back to Raleigh and thankfully will stay in the eastern time zone for the next two months. Their next road games outside of that time zone are a Chicago/Dallas back-to-back on January 20 and 21. Their last Pacific time zone stretch isn’t until mid-march. Meanwhile, they’ll use the next two days to check on both Seth Jarvis—again missing in action—and Kochetkov who seemed to be OK after getting hurt on the second goal, but also wasn’t the same for the two minutes he stayed in after the injury. They’ll also prepare for their first back-to-back of the season this weekend against Ottawa on Saturday and Saint Louis on Sunday.