Hours before the puck dropped, bad news broke. Jets star goalie Connor Hellebuyck will miss the next four to six weeks as he undergoes arthroscopic knee surgery. That meant Eric Comrie got the start, while Thomas Milic suited up for his first-ever NHL game, a pretty cool moment for the young netminder.
Carolina wasted no time getting to the plate. Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal cut into the slot and lofted the first shot of the match over Comrie and inside.
Josh Morrissey tied things up a few minutes later when he drove into the Canes zone and took a feed from Mark Scheifele on the left side, beating Brandon Bussi low on the blocker side.
We don’t call him Josh Norrissey for nothing š
Midway through the middle frame, on the power play, Gabriel Vilardi forced a ball that bounced off his shin pads to Cole Perfetti. Perfetti and Vilardi left on a partial 2-on-0, and Perfetti set up Vilardi for his seventh of the season.
Shoutout to Gabe’s shin guards šŖš¤£
The Jets took a 2-1 lead in the first intermission, but Staal struck again in the second period. Jalen Chatfield fired a point shot looking for a tip, and it found the Canes captain’s stick and beat Comrie to make it 2-2.
Just over three minutes later, the Jets turned the puck over as the top power play unit attempted to enter the Carolina zone. Sebastian Aho broke in alone, Comrie made the first save, but Winnipegger Seth Jarvis buried the rebound to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead.
There’s nothing like scoring in the shed of your hometown
Early in the third, Andrei Svechnikov added another for Carolina on the power play. Vilardi responded with his second of the night thanks to a lucky bounce. His pass attempt to Kyle Connor was deflected off Chatfield’s skate and fooled Bussi, cutting the deficit to 4-3.
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Carolina held on to beat the Jets 4ā3 in regulation, ending Winnipeg’s two-game winning streak.
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