Game Recap: VGK vs Carolina Hurricanes

 www.FranchiseSportsMedia.com

 

As the Golden Knights (28-21-7) returned home from a 7-2 route of the Florida Panthers, an intense feeling of anticipation filled the entire arena.

 

You could feel the wheels beginning to turn as the Knights edged closer to first place in the division. After being four spots down from first only a month ago, the Golden Knights sat in a position to tie for first place with a win over the slow-starting Carolina Hurricanes (31-20-3). The Canes are coming off a win over Arizona after going down early 2-0. Carolina rattled off three consecutive goals to take the lead in that game, never relinquishing it.

 

That dramatic, come-from-behind win would be followed a repeat performance for the Hurricanes

 

In front of a sellout crowd at T-Mobile Arena, Golden Knights fans were supercharged up to see Coach DeBoer’s home debut with his team, who has gone 5-2 with him leading the charge. As the game progressed, only one word could describe what fans where seeing over the course of it, and that word is “meltdown.” The Knights, on three separate occasions, had a multi-goal lead over the visiting Hurricanes. Each time the Hurricanes found a way to place themselves right back in the center of the game.

In the first period, the Golden Knights dominated the game both physically and schematically, scoring two back to back goals in the closing minutes to take a 2-0 lead over Carolina. However, a Trevor Teravainen goal with under a minute to go in the period kept the Hurricanes in the game. A quiet second period by the Hurricanes saw them fall 3-1 behind the Knights after they where held to two shots on goal for over nine minutes in the period.

All of the momentum going into the third period was heavily flowing on the side of the Golden Knights, that was until the period actually started. After an opening goal by Carolina’s star player Sabastian Aho, who leads their team in goals this season, the Hurricanes found a way to exploit technical breakdowns in the Golden Knights’ defense and outscored them 4-2 in the third period.

The Hurricanes took a 5-4 lead into the final moments of the third period until Golden Knights’ veteran center-man Cody Eakin, charged the net of the Hurricanes goalie James Reimer to tie the game 5-5 and send it to overtime. With both sides charged, focused, and ready to end the game, both teams played inspired hockey, with both goalies saving the day on multiple occasions. None more so than a final second shot by star defenseman Chandler Stephenson.

With less than 10 seconds to go in overtime, James Reimer deflected and covered a long slap shot by Stephenson that would have ended the game. With the save, Reimer sent the game to a shootout period. The Hurricanes finished the game with two consecutive scores on the open ice by Andrei Svechnikov and Justin Williams, closing the game 6-5 and capping an incredible comeback.

 

The Knights headed to their locker rooms with questions of what went wrong.

 

Other than spoiling coach Peter DeBoer’s home debut, the Golden Knights again lost a game in which they dominated the shots category. The Knights found a way to keep the Hurricanes from being able to get a shot on goal for over a third of the second period, but that stellar defense broke down in the third.

Vegas stopped playing the shot lanes and intercepting passes on goal, allowing the Hurricanes to find a way to open up their offense, which sent the game to overtime, and ultimately ended it in the shootout period.

The Golden Knights next game is against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday the 11th at 5:00 P.M. PST. The Wild are another team struggling to finish games this season. With this stretch of the Golden Knights’ schedule being primarily at home for the next month, the Knights enter it in second place behind Vancouver, looking for that win that could set them atop the division.

 

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Vegas! If you want another great place to watch the game, head to Al’s Garage in Summerlin. There are multiple televisions to watch all the games. On the weekends, Al’s has “Happy Hour” starting at 9 AM and ending at 9 PM. Al’s Garage is located at 11760 W. Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas, Nevada 89135. Tell them, “The Franchise sent you!!”

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