The Carolina Hurricanes hosted the San Jose Sharks back-to-back in the second half of the weekend. The Hurricanes played their first of two games over the next three days, honoring the 2005–06 Stanley Cup team’s 20th anniversary celebration. They earned their 6-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday evening (December 6). The Sharks were looking to break their two-game losing streak against the Dallas Stars and Washington Capitals. After the last horn sounded, the Sharks defeated the Hurricanes 4-1.
Summary of the game
Goals were scored by both teams in the first period. The Sharks took an early 1-0 lead after just 33 seconds. Collin Graf scored after a poor Hurricanes clearance attempt was intercepted at the blue line. Will Smith managed to keep the puck in the Hurricanes’ zone, who then found Macklin Celebrini between the dots. Celebrini passed the puck to an open Graf near the goal, which led to him tapping the puck past Pyotr Kochetkov.
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Jordan Staal got the Hurricanes back on the board and tied the game with less than five minutes left in the first period. It came on the power play, giving the Hurricanes three power play goals in their last two games. It was also Staal’s first power-play goal in four years. After the first period the score was tied at 1-1, with the Hurricanes defeating the Sharks 8-6.
The second period was all Sharks as they scored two goals in that period. John Klingberg scored just eight minutes into the period after receiving a pass from Celebrini, who was behind the net. Klingberg dumped the puck behind the Hurricanes’ goal, where Celebrini found it during a sort of give-and-go play with the defenseman between the dots. Klingberg wasted no time and scored his fourth of the season.
Less than eight minutes later, Alexander Wennberg scored on the power play to make the Sharks lead 3-1. After an initial shot from William Eklund was saved, Wennberg found himself all alone on Kochetkov’s left to convert the rebound. There was nothing Kochetkov could do on all three Sharks goals between the defensive failures and just a slow second period from the entire team.
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Only one goal was scored in the third period, and it came from Celebrini to cap his three-point night with an empty net. His 15th of the season was a tap-in goal after receiving a pass from Wenneberg, who found him between the circles to ice the match with under two minutes remaining.
The Hurricanes fall to 17-9-2 after their 4-1 loss to the Sharks. Their next game is on Tuesday, December 9 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It comes the day after their alumni game against the North Carolina State IcePack, which will feature members of the 2005-06 Cup team and other alumni. The Sharks snapped their two-game losing streak and are now 14-13-3 on the season. Their next game is on Tuesday, December 9 against the Philadelphia Flyers.
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