Gold: Another welcome back night at PNC Arena
Posted November 13, 2021 5:27 p.m. EST
Updated November 13, 2021 5:28 p.m. EST
The 2021 Carolina Hurricanes reunion tour continues tonight when the Canes host the St Louis Blues at PNC Arena. Justin Faulk will play his first game as a visitor in Raleigh after spending the first 8 years of his career anchoring Carolina’s back line. Thanks to the pandemic, the Blues’ visit to his old digs didn’t happen in the 2019-20 season, and last year St Louis was part of the reconfigured Pacific Division, so this will be Justin’s first time back in Raleigh.
After breaking in as a 19-year old, the Hurricanes’ second round pick in the draft that also produced Jeff Skinner, Faulk finally experienced playoff hockey in the spring of 2019, after 7 mostly futile seasons. While he wasn’t the offensive producer he was in years past, it was clear that Faulk’s best overall season was his last in a Canes sweater.
Faulk scored 85 goals for Carolina -- 40 on the power play -- in 559 games while never averaging fewer than 22:00 of TOI. Then, in his first taste of playoff hockey, he paired with Brett Pesce and was a massive reason the Hurricanes were able to advance all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
In that playoff season, Faulk averaged more than 26 minutes on ice -- including 35:00 in the double overtime Game 7 win -- and 25:25 in the sweep of the Islanders. In all, over 15 Stanley Cup playoff games, Faulk had 8 points (1g, 7a), was a +4 and averaged 25:29 TOI.
And, who could forget that he was part of the ill-fated, 2-headed captain monster during Bill Peters’ equally ill-fated head coaching tenure in Raleigh. I’m sure there will be a video tribute to him during the first TV time out.
By all accounts the Hurricanes should have beaten Philadelphia Friday night. They dominated the game in almost every way imaginable, yet lost 2-1 because, well, hockey. The Canes had a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes, outshot, outchanced and out justabouteverythinged the Flyers entering the third period. But, having just the one goal to show for it proved to be a problem. Philadelphia was outstanding the first 6 or 7 minutes of the final period and tied the game on a Joel Farabee goal about 5 ½ minutes in. Then a few minutes later, Zach MacEwen deflected a Justin Braun shot through Freddie Andersen and the Hurricanes were unable to find the equalizer.
Nevermind that Carolina continued to create outstanding scoring opportunities, Flyers’ goalie Carter Hart was up to the task every time. We can be bummed that the Hurricanes lost, that they were significantly outplayed for the first part of the final period, and that the power play was scoreless in five tries. But, the Canes played well last night, Philadelphia is a very good team and you’re just not going to dominate a good team for the entire 60 minutes.
The Hurricanes lost because Carter Hart played his best game of the season and instead of having 3, 4 or 5 goals, Carolina had just one.
The Blues started the season 5-0 and now sit 8-2-2 through a dozen games. They’re tied with the Wild atop the Central Division with 18 points, though Minnesota has played in 1 more game than has St Louis. St Louie is 2-1-2 in their last 5 outings and are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss at home to Nashville on Thursday night.
Alex Lyon will make his Hurricanes debut in goal tonight. The Minnesota native has started 15 games in parts of four seasons with the Flyers, going 6-7-2 with a 3.21 GAA/.893 SV%. Antti Raanta, who suffered a concussion in the loss at Florida is not yet cleared to return. Lyon made three starts for the Canes minor league team in Chicago going 2-1-0 with a 2.35 GAA/.891 SV% before his recall to the NHL.
None of the other injured or under the weather skaters is ready to return to the line up. So, that means another night to watch rookie Seth Jarvis skate on a line with Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov.
Storm Watch starring Alec Campbell rolls in at 6:30 on 99.9 the Fan. Opening face off for the Canes and Blues is set for just after 7:00 with Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. There’s a new episode the morning after every Hurricanes game.
