The Canes help out Spencer Martin with a dominant Third
If you’re going to pick a game to broadcast across free TV in the Carolinas, you probably couldn’t have picked a better one.
You have a returning hero scoring a shorthanded goal, your third goalie making some great stops, and the home team roaring back in the final period to overwhelm a Dallas Stars team and take a 6-4 win.
Sebastian Aho led the team with four points—including one goal, Seth Jarvis tallied a total of three points, the Canes had a perfect night on special teams by going 2-2 on the Power play and killed all three of the Dallas chances, and Spencer Martin was good enough to help the Canes earn the win.
For two periods it didn’t look like it was going to go this way for Carolina. In fact, a mere 18 seconds into the game Tyler Seguin put the Stars up 1-0 thanks to some bad puck management in the Stars zone. The momentum continued for Dallas thanks to near back-to-back penalties on the Canes for too many men on the ice and then sending the puck over the glass. It was on this penalty that Seth Jarvis announced he was back.
It all started with a wonderful defensive play by Jarvis in the defensive zone, knocking the puck down and then starting a rush with Aho. A little give-and-go and the Canes had it tied at one.
Unfortunately it wouldn’t last for long, as the bad puck management again plagued the Canes, leading to the Stars retaking the lead on a shot that Spencer Martin probably would have liked to have back. Thomas Harley boomed a shot that went bar down over Martin, and the sound rang across Lenovo as the Stars took a 2-1 lead.
The second period saw the Stars extend the lead by one on a huge swing of emotions. Jackson Black came within a whisker of knotting the score, but instead Jake Oettinger made a great save, which lead to a Dallas rush and the tying score seconds later. Mason Marchment took a sick feed from Seguin, repaying a favor from the first period. The Canes would end the second on their third penalty kill and down 3-1.
Whatever someone said in the locker room during the second intermission, though, apparently created a spark that set an explosion.
It started with more quality work on the penalty kill, and as the penalty was ending the Canes forced a turnover that allowed Aho and Jarvis to rush two-on-one down the ice since a man would be coming out of the box. This time it was Jarvis who was able to feed Aho, and the Lenovo Center crowd roared to life as the Canes were just down 3-2.
The kill and the immediate goal portended a Canes team that had a different jump for the rest of the game. It started with more line juggling, as Jarvis and Aho stayed together along with Jackson Blake, while Jack Drury centered a line with Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas. The move paid immediate dividends as the normally tight defensively minded Stars were stuck on their heels most of the period, and soon enough that work produced the tying goal.
A zone entry and aggressive move to the goal collapsed the entire Stars defense, leaving room for the puck to get to Brent Burns. Burns shotgunned the puck past Oettinger, getting his first on the season and knotting the score at three.
A few minutes later, on a night where the Canes argued that there were several missed calls on the Stars—including on the first goal of the game—the Canes finally got their first power play of the night. Wade Minter wasn’t even finished reading out the Power Play script before the puck found Shayne Gostisbehere with a clear shot to the net. He placed a perfect shot over Oettinger’s glove, and the Canes took their first lead of the game 4-3.
The Canes would keep the pressure on for the rest of the period, and when the Stars were able to get shots on Spencer Martin he was able to come up with some outstanding saves, as if the momentum from the Canes run got into him as well. It seemed like the comeback was done, but the Stars complicated this with one more goal right after the final media timeout. Miro Heiskanen was able to blast a shot past Martin off a Stars faceoff win, and the Stars had tied the score back at four each.
At that point most fans were thinking to just get to overtime and the point, where they would take their chances with the stars of Aho and Necas. However, Necas was able to draw a high-sticking penalty and help sell it by collapsing to the ice. On the ensuing Power Play, he would show just how hot his goal scoring is by putting a shot that deflected off a Stars player, then off Oettinger’s skate, and into the back of the net. It turned out to be the game-winner as the Canes retook the lead at 5-4.
Svechnikov would close the door with the net empty a few minutes later, as Aho decided to spread the goal scoring wealth around instead of taking it himself.
The Canes will bank these two points and next welcome the Rangers into Lenovo on Wednesday Night, a team that was predicted by many to win the division and while is solidly in the playoffs, have been scuffling as of late and have stories of trades swirling around the team. It’ll also be their first visit since the painful end to the playoffs last season, so there will be a lot to soak up when the puck is dropped.