The Carolina Hurricanes’ red-hot seven-game win streak just slammed to a halt, bruised and battered after a wild 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames. Talk about a tough road trip, especially when you’re already missing key players and things just keep getting worse.
Injury Bug Bites Hard Before The Puck Even Drops
Man, the Hurricanes were already limping into that Sunday night contest against the Flames. They were playing the second half of a brutal back-to-back weekend set, and it showed. Jordan Staal and Taylor Hall were out of the lineup before the game even started. Then you had Mark Jankowski, who’d been centering Staal’s third line, also sidelined with a lower-body injury. After the game, head coach Rod Brind’Amour confirmed Jankowski was already on his way back to Raleigh to get that injury checked out. Losing that much firepower, especially in a tough road game, is just brutal, no two ways about it.
From Deadlock To Drama: A Second Period Explosion
The game against Calgary honestly felt like a rerun of their Saturday win against the Winnipeg Jets, with the first period ending in a tight 0-0 tie. Things finally broke open in the second, though. Jesperi Kotkaniemi lit the lamp first for Carolina, ripping a slick wrist shot with help from Nicolas Deslauriers and Eric Robinson. That was Kotkaniemi’s second goal in as many games, and a big one for Deslauriers, who snagged his first point of the season on the primary assist.
But then, the final 90 seconds of that second period? Absolutely wild, folks! A trio of goals just erupted. First, the Flames’ Matvei Gridin scored fresh off the bench with only 1:30 left on the clock. Then, disaster struck for Carolina. Mike Reilly got tagged with a delay of game penalty for sending the puck over the glass. Coach Brind’Amour decided not to challenge it, and just over a minute later, Morgan Frost capitalized for the Flames, grabbing the lead. Talk about a gut punch! But hang on, Carolina wasn’t done yet. With a mere four seconds remaining in the frame, Jalen Chatfield found the back of the net for his first goal of the season, somehow tying things back up at 2-2. You couldn’t write that drama.
Unfortunately, the third period was all Calgary. Yegor Sharangovich potted the only goal of the frame for the Flames, making it the game-winner. Carolina fought hard, pulling their extra attacker in the waning seconds, and got incredibly close to tying it up again to force overtime. But it just wasn’t in the cards this time. And to add insult to injury, it looked like Jackson Blake took a rough hit from Yan Kuznetsov during the game and spent some time on the bench getting assisted by the athletic staff. Devin Cooley, presumably the Flames’ goalie, was super sharp and definitely earned that first star honor after the game. What a brutal night.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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