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Recap: Carolina Hurricanes Collapse Again, Fall to Vancouver Canucks in OT

Whoops, they did it again. The Hurricanes blew a three-goal lead on Sunday night, leading to a 4-3 overtime loss in British Columbia.

NHL: Carolina Hurricanes at Vancouver Canucks Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

Well, that was something.

The Carolina Hurricanes looked to right their opening night wrongs on Sunday night as they took on the Vancouver Canucks on the road, but this game rendered the same results as Thursday and the 'Canes managed to blow another three-goal lead.

Carolina came out of the gate very slow. The 'Canes fell behind 9-1 in the shot column, but Eddie Lack kept the team in the game, which allowed Victor Rask to open the scoring in the second half of the first period.

Moments later, Teuvo Teravainen netted his first as a Hurricane and gave the road team a 2-0 lead late in period one.

The good times kept rolling in the early stages of period two. After an early powerplay expired, Justin Faulk charged into the zone on the rush and cleaned up his own rebound, seemingly putting Carolina in the driver's seat entering the second half of the hockey game.

Then, just like on Thursday night, things went bad for the Hurricanes. Vancouver rallied for three unanswered goals, led by 'Canes killer Bo Horvat who broke the ice for Vancouver at 12:03 of the second period, and ultimately pushed the game to overtime.

32 second into overtime, former Hurricane Brandon Sutter walked in on an odd-man rush and sniped one far side on Lack, giving the Vancouver Canucks a 4-3 overtime victory.

Game Notes

  • Hidden beneath the awfulness that ensued on Sunday night is a marvelous performance from Eddie Lack. In his 2016-17 debut, Lack single-handedly carried the Hurricanes into overtime, securing his team a point in the standings. He stopped 27 of the 31 shots he saw from his former team, many of those saves were of the marvelous variety.
  • Justin Faulk picked up a pair of points, including a second period goal. He had a costly turnover in the third period which directly led to Markus Granlund's goal which made it a 3-2 game.
  • Teuvo Teravainen netted his first goal as a Hurricanes late in period one. Faulk, Lee Stempniak, Victor Rask and Sebastian Aho all have posted points in two straight games to kick off the season.
  • The blame for Carolina’s knack of losing leads late in games doesn’t fall on one person, it falls on the entire team. They looked like an entirely different group in the second half of the game as they stopped pressing on the gas offensively and instead played too defensive. They need to learn how to play the full 60 minutes sooner rather than later. This is team has shown us how good they are, now it’s time to play like that all the time, not just in the first two periods.
  • The Hurricanes have kicked off their season with a 0-0-2 record. This team should be 2-0-0, but consecutive lackluster third periods of scared, defensive hockey has led this team to a start that is far less than ideal.
  • Thankfully, it’s not all bad for the Hurricanes. They have captured a point in both games to start their season and they have plenty of good things to build on as their road trip continues.

The Road Trip Continues

The Hurricanes will now set their sights to Edmonton for a Tuesday night clash against the 2-1-0 Oilers.

Edmonton swept a home-and-home set against the Flames to kick off their season but got embarrassed on home ice by the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night, losing by a final score of 6-2.

Rank the Performances

Here’s your chance to weigh in on how you think the team performed tonight. Upvote the players you think played well and downvote the ones who didn’t.