Early Saturday afternoon, the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Utah Hockey Club at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, and they were looking for revenge after Utah took the first game of this season series 4-1 back in November.
Game Recap
After coming out of the gates flying and applying pressure on Utah early in the first period, the Hurricanes scored a goal from Jalen Chatfield ten minutes into the game. Following the opening goal, the Hurricanes continued to pressure Utah, but Brent Burns went to the penalty box late in the period for a two-minute tripping minor. Utah converted on the ensuing powerplay on a tremendous individual effort from Josh Doan, who walked off the right wall, toe-dragged a Hurricanes defenseman, and then rifled a wrist shot into the back of the net.
Despite gaining momentum late in the first, Utah came out in the second period and gave up back-to-back goals. One six minutes into the second frame, when Seth Jarvis responded with a powerplay goal for the Hurricanes, then another just two minutes later where Sebastian Aho put the puck into an empty Utah net off a horrendous giveaway from Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka.
These two goals allowed the Hurricanes to jump out to a 3-1 lead, but that would not last long as the Hurricanes let Utah captain Clayton Keller walk in on a breakaway and make no mistake undressing Pyotr Kochetkov, beating him five-hole to bring the game back within one. However, the Hurricanes would respond again four minutes later—this time, shorthanded on Aho’s second goal of the game and 20th of the season.
The Hurricanes would add another goal in the final minute of the second period when Jarvis scored his second goal of the game on a very similar move that Keller used to score earlier in the period, giving the Hurricanes a 5-2 lead heading into the third period.
After five goals in the second period, the scoring slowed until Utah found themselves on a five-on-three powerplay with five minutes remaining in the game. While on the two-man advantage, Utah brought the game within two after Keller fired a wrist shot top-shelf.
The Hurricanes then iced the game with two more goals, one an empty-netter from Jordan Martinhook and the other from Jack Roslovic to make a 7-3 final score in favor of the Hurricanes. With the win, the Hurricanes can start their 4 Nations Face-Off break, whereas Utah has one more game on Sunday to bounce back before their tournament break.
