The Hurricanes came up short in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Blues in PNC Arena Saturday.
Carolina (22-13-5) thoroughly earned its point amid a goalie duel between Antti Raanta and Jordan Binnington. St. Louis (20-17-1) enjoyed a lights out performance by Binnington, but Raanta continued to his recent run of form all night, going toe to toe with the Blues netminder all night.
Raanta, a long time fan favorite, got sent down to AHL Chicago back on Dec. 17 after a nightmare start to the season. For the __-year-old to earn his way back to the NHL level and have PNC Arena lavish him in praise once again despite the loss was a moving occasion for the veteran goalie.
“Since the Montreal game they’ve been fantastic,” Raanta said. “You make a normal, easy save and the whole crowd keeps yelling your name. They get behind you. Big thanks to them. A couple of tough outings at home so you want to build the trust again with the home fans. They support you. Can’t be more happy to have that support there.
“One more save and we could have celebrated the win, but that’s hockey sometimes.”
Both Raanta and Binnington benefited from sturdy efforts in front by each defense. The Canes and Blues combined for 38 blocked shots and 22 hits while making frequent stick checks and jostling for position at the net front, making life all the more difficult to offensive players trying to get shots through.
“Both teams weren’t giving too much,” said Rod Brind’Amour. “It was obvious what was going on. Trying to stay above the park and wait for your opportunities, and we did. We had a couple in the third, we didn’t capitalize. That’s the way it goes.”
Teuvo Teravainen scored the lone Hurricanes goal of the night on a first-period power play. Jack Drury won the faceoff and the puck trickled right to Turbo, who quickly buried the chance in the back of the net. For a guy that started the season with eight goals in 10 games, notching his first goal in six games marked a welcome boost to his recent production.
The shootout — or as Brind’Amour calls it, “the skills competition” — saw the two white-hot goalies make stops in each of the first three rounds. Sebastian Aho finally broke the seal on the net in the fourth, but Jake Neighbours even things right back up again. After Jordan Martinook fired wide, Brayden Schenn secured the extra point for St. Louis.
Though the Blues ultimately snapped Carolina’s five-game win streak, the Canes still extended their point streak to six on the second half on their seventh set of back-to-back games of the season. All things considered, getting the one point was pretty darn good.
“Both goalies played really well,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought our third period was good. Had a couple chances, a couple of almosts. Had a weird crossbar there. Bounces didn’t go our way tonight, but overall I thought it was a solid game. Especially coming off a tough game last night, too.”
The Hurricanes will get a four-day break in their schedule before hosting the Ducks on Thursday, marking game two of a six-game homestand. Carolina will hope to take advantage of the extra rest to come back with full force against Anaheim. Puck drops at 7 p.m. in PNC Arena.