Rachel Barkley
Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes closed out their four-game Western Conference road trip against the newly-remixed Calgary Flames; however, it wasn’t in the way they had hoped.
The Hurricanes sorely lacked pressure and ultimately fell 5-4 against the Flames in a game that simply forwent luster and coherence for Carolina.
Seth Jarvis got things started early, which certainly was welcome for the ‘Traveling Jarvies’ who made the trip to Calgary, but that was all the zest that the Hurricanes could muster for the first and second frames, even as the Flames lost top-pairing defenseman Zach Whitecloud early to injury.
In the second period, they fell behind by two as the Flames scored three in a row – outshooting the Hurricanes 13-7 in that frame alone, and 19-16 in the two periods combined.
The final period saw a blending of lines, with Andrei Svechnikov and Taylor Hall being swapped, while Seth Jarvis landed on the Jordan Staal line, Jordan Martinook to the bottom line, and Eric Robinson to the top line.
Calgary opened the scoring in the third, getting their fourth goal of the game, but the Hurricanes clawed their way back on route to a comeback, even switching to a more aggressive, five-defensemen method.
However, a missed penalty call soon came to bite them.
Brandon Bussi, who had just dispensed the puck from behind the net, was skated into by Adam Klapka, resulting in the netminder hitting the ice hard and his stick being flung nearly into the neutral zone – a typical interference call, but one that failed to mount to anything.
Joel Farabee scored not long after that, which added some cushion, while the Hurricanes were unable to complete the comeback, only coming within one again with just under 12 seconds left in the game.
The Crease Was Not the (Main) Issue
It is no secret that Saturday was one of Bussi’s worst games statistically in the NHL. He only managed a .800 save percentage, and poor puck decisions directly led to Calgary’s fourth goal. While it is easy to write it off as simply a brutal goalie performance that resulted in the loss, it just wouldn’t be accurate to pin all the blame between the pipes.
Throughout the first two periods, when the most goals against were scored, the Hurricanes lacked any true offensive and defensive prowess. In those two periods, they were outshot 19-16, and allowed nine high-danger chances against their four, with the second frame lacking any high-danger chances whatsoever for the Hurricanes’ offense.
While it certainly was not Bussi’s night, it was not anyone else’s either.
