Fortune favors the Canes with win in Vegas

The Carolina Hurricanes took care of business against a Vegas Golden Knights squad decimated by injuries and absences as they pulled out a 4-2 win helped along by a two-goal third period.

The name of the game tonight was scoring off of rebounds as three of the Hurricanes’ four goals were scored off of second chance opportunities.

The first 10 minutes of the game featured a fairly even match between two fast-paced teams with each exchanging chances, but with neither side finding the back of the net.

However, the Canes were the first to strike as Tony DeAngelo broke the ice with his third goal of the season off an excellent cross-ice feed by Martin Necas.

From there, the Canes started to take over the game, generating chance upon chance, and with the period nearing a close, Vegas took an offensive zone penalty which Carolina capitalized on.

Fortune has a way of finding the lucky in Vegas and Sebastian Aho hit the jackpot as he was in the right spot at the right time for an easy tap in after a Teuvo Teravainen one-timer rebounded straight to him.

But luck is a fickle thing and after one period of good looks, the tides swayed and soon the fortunes were favoring the Golden Knights.

The start of the second period was disastrous for the Hurricanes who decided that defense was going to be optional for a little bit.

The first strike for the Knights came after Brett Howden simply outmuscled Brendan Smith to get a chance in alone with Antti Raanta, which he roofed.

And then the second strike came just over a minute later after Shea Theodore was allowed a clear shot from the blueline, which was saved by Raanta, but Theodore then followed up that rebound for another unimpeded chance, which Raanta saved again, but then that loose puck was there for Theodore to pounce upon and tuck into the net.

So within five minutes, the game was tied.

Raanta was left out to dry on the first two goals against, but he kept his composure and made some huge saves to keep the game tied.

The Hurricanes started to right the ship from there, but Robin Lehner was an absolute wall for the Knights, stopping 19 shots in the second period alone.

However, that kind of momentum is hard to keep at bay and eventually the floodgates reopened and Seth Jarvis was there to — finally — collect another goal.

It was another play off of a rebound and this time it was an Ethan Bear shot that pinballed straight to Jarvis for the put back.

The Canes started buzzing from there and after even more pressure, they pushed the lead back up to two.

You’d never have guessed it, but the goal was another chance off of a rebound as this time Vincent Trocheck was there to pop it in.

Teravainen and Martin Necas each registered two assists on the night and Raanta turned aside 18 shots for the win.

The Canes will continue onto game two of the six game road trip as they play the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night at 10 p.m.