Canes squander Raanta gem, fall in OT to Wings

The Carolina Hurricanes saw their five-game win streak come to an end Tuesday night in Detroit, as the Canes couldn’t take advantage of an unbelievable effort in net from Antti Raanta in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

Raanta was the Canes’ best player from start to finish Tuesday, making big stop after big stop in a 37-save effort. Raanta was mesmerizing in the overtime period, standing on his head before a weird bounce and scramble let Lucas Raymond score the winner with just eight seconds left to play and the Red Wings on the 4-on-3 power play.

As for regulation, the Hurricanes weren’t very sharp in a game where Raanta had to do more than his fair share to keep Carolina in it. Sebastian Aho, Jesper Fast and Jordan Staal all scored goals for the Canes, who surrendered an early 1-0 lead and a late 3-2 lead to drop a point.

For the Red Wings, Carter Rowney, Michael Rasmussen and Dylan Larkin scored in regulation, with the captain equalizing things late in the third period to set up the Raymond winner. Former Hurricane Alex Nedeljkovic was pretty good in the Detroit net as well, stopping 27 of 30 shots faced.

The Canes didn’t start this one out on the best foot, as Carolina struggled to really find its rhythm early on in the first period.

A big part of that was two quick penalties, as Carolina’s league-leading penalty kill was put to work twice in the first seven minutes of the game. The first PK was shaky, as Raanta made four huge saves to keep it scoreless. The second was much more characteristic of what the Canes have done all year down a man, with Detroit mustering little.

Things settled down after the second penalty kill, with Carolina going to the power play itself as Larkin dragged Brady Skjei down in the offensive zone.

That one paid off quickly for the Hurricanes, as a beautiful Teuvo Teravainen to Vincent Trocheck to Aho connection made it 1-0.

The second period wasn’t the best for the Canes, as Detroit outworked the Canes for a lot of the middle frame to jump back into the game.

The Red Wings evened the score on such a play, as Rowney outbattled Jordan Staal in front of Carolina’s net and put a really good redirection through the legs of Raanta, who was spectacular the rest of the period to keep it tied.

Despite a brief moment of aggression and togetherness late in the second period for the Canes, it was more of what we saw during most of the second period early in the third as Detroit made it 2-1.

Rasmussen just outskated the Canes into the offensive zone, firing a quick shot low past Raanta who was hung out to dry.

It took Carolina over six minutes to get a shot on goal in the third period, a stretch of time where Raanta had to come up with a couple huge saves, including a one-on-one for Larkin, to keep it 2-1.

But once the Canes finally did find a shot, they were able to tie it shortly after thanks to some incredibly fortunate bounces. Nedeljkovic failed to clear a puck, and a good bounce for the Hurricanes put the puck on the stick of Fast, who wristed it off of the stick of Rowney and into the net to make it 2-2.

The Canes took the lead late in the third period, as Staal, who had originally been credited for Fast’s goal, got his by winning a battle. The Canes won an offensive-zone faceoff and Staal did work in the slot, spinning and backhanding a shot past Nedeljkovic to make it 3-2.

That lead was very, very short lived though, as Larkin extended his point streak to 10 games with a goal off an ugly Skjei turnover just 38 seconds after Staal gave the Canes the lead.

The overtime period looked a lot like some of regulation, with Raanta coming up with some absolutely massive saves to keep the Hurricanes alive.

Carolina took a penalty for too many men on the ice, though, and Detroit capitalized with just eight seconds left in overtime, winning it after a flurry of initial saves from Raanta.

The Hurricanes will be back on the ice Thursday night in the nation’s capital for a meeting with the Caps.