The Carolina Hurricanes head into Vancouver looking for a reset, and they need it quickly.
After Sunday night’s loss in Calgary, the Canes’ five-game road swing sits at 1-1, and the injuries are starting to stack up. Still, the standard in the NHL doesn’t change. The group available has to produce, and Carolina needs to kick off another winning streak before Thursday brings what could be the toughest stop on this trip.
The setback against the Flames came in frustrating fashion. Jesperi Kotkaniemi opened the scoring with his second goal in as many games, but Calgary answered with two goals 69 seconds apart late in the second period. Jalen Chatfield tied it back up before the end of the frame, only for Yegor Sharangovich to break the deadlock with fewer than five minutes left and hand the Flames the win.
Now the Canes get a rematch of sorts with a Canucks team that was in Raleigh just 12 days ago and got handled. Carolina jumped out to a 3-0 lead in that game behind two power-play goals from Andrei Svechnikov. Mark Jankowski added one early in the second, and Logan Stankoven took over from there with a natural hat trick at three different strengths in a 7-2 win.
Vancouver comes back home after a six-game trip that went nowhere fast. The Canucks opened that stretch in Raleigh and never recovered, losing all six games and sliding to the bottom of the division, conference and league. They scored two goals or fewer in every one of those games and collected just one point, that coming in an overtime loss to the Panthers.
Home ice hasn’t offered much relief either. Tonight is only Vancouver’s fourth game in its own building, and the club went 1-2-0 before leaving on the road trip.
The offense has cooled off badly after a fast start, but the defensive numbers are just as rough. The Canucks are giving up 4.50 goals per game, and their penalty kill is the only one in the league sitting below 60 percent.
There are still a couple of bright spots for Vancouver. Elias Pettersson is producing at a point-per-game clip and leads the team with 10 points.
Leevi Merilainen has also been solid in goal, with six appearances, four starts and just 12 goals allowed. Merilainen’s NHL debut came against Carolina in Raleigh in 2023, when the Hurricanes won 3-2 in overtime.
Carolina’s injury list took another hit with Mark Jankowski’s lower-body issue. He’s already headed back to Raleigh to be evaluated, and he looks likely to miss the rest of the trip.
That leaves Jankowski alongside Jordan Staal and Taylor Hall on the shelf. The encouraging note for the Hurricanes is that Seth Jarvis may be edging toward a return.
Vancouver is in a slightly better place health-wise than it was when it came through Raleigh. Filip Chytil made his season debut on Thursday in Florida and has picked up two points in two games since coming back. Marco Rossi missed the final game of the road trip on Saturday because of an illness, so his status is something to monitor before Tuesday night.
Jake DeBrusk is one of the Canucks worth watching after how he showed up in Raleigh. He scored both Vancouver goals in that 7-2 loss, and each came after Carolina had already seized control. Since scoring his first two goals of the season, he has just one goal and two points.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki also stood out in that game. The 22-year-old Swede was around the action constantly and picked up an assist on one of DeBrusk’s goals. He’s built a useful role for himself, with six points in 10 games this season - matching his total from 24 games two years ago and doubling last season’s output.
For Carolina, the spotlight naturally falls on Sebastian Aho and Logan Stankoven. With Staal and Jankowski unavailable, the Hurricanes’ center depth is thinner than usual, and that puts extra weight on the top of the lineup. Aho and Stankoven need to steady the first two lines against a Vancouver team Carolina is better than on paper.
Aho’s recent run has quieted a bit after his point streak ended in Winnipeg, followed by an assist in Calgary. The top line needs to rediscover the touch it had during the winning streak.
Stankoven, meanwhile, had that hat trick against the Canucks in Raleigh, but he hasn’t done much since. With his ice time rising, the Hurricanes need him to make every shift count.
In Other News...
Hurricanes Kept Grinding Through A Tough Road Night And It Paid Off
Rogers Arena opened the night with a tribute to late broadcaster John Garrett and his family, and the matchup that followed turned into a stubborn, physical road test for Carolina. Vancouvers penalty kill had the Hurricanes frustrated early, wiping out all four of their power plays, but Carolina kept grinding through the game anyway and stayed patient while the scoring tilted back and forth.
The payoff came in a 6-3 win that had the Hurricanes leaning on depth at key moments, with Nicolas Deslauriers, Nikolaj Ehlers and Logan Stankoven all finding the net. Vancouver got support from Linus Karlsson and Jonathan Lekkerimaki, but Carolinas ability to keep coming in a tough building, after so much special-teams frustration, was the difference on a night when the visitors could have easily let it slip away. [Read more 🡒]
Seth Jarvis Gives Hurricanes Fans A Reason To Watch The Lineup Closely
The Hurricanes finally have Seth Jarvis back on the active roster after the winger missed the start of the season while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. His return comes earlier than initially expected, which is a welcome development for a team that has been waiting to see how its forward mix would settle once one of its most dynamic pieces was ready again.
Carolina made the corresponding roster shuffle too, assigning Bradly Nadeau to the AHLs Chicago Wolves and recalling Skyler BrindAmour from there. The move adds another layer of intrigue to a lineup that has been in flux, and it gives the Hurricanes a chance to see how Jarvis fits as they sort through the rest of the forward group. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Suddenly Look Like A Real Threat In Dylan Larkin Sweepstakes
Dylan Larkins trade watch suddenly has a much broader map, with the Detroit captain now open to a list that has ballooned from three teams to 10. Carolina is in that mix, alongside clubs such as Colorado, Dallas, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Utah and Washington, but the latest wrinkle is less about the size of the field and more about which teams can actually make the math work.
For the Hurricanes, the interest matters because cap space can turn a speculative sweepstakes into a real one, and Detroits ability to take salary in a deal gives the Red Wings some flexibility in how they build an offer. If Carolina wants to stay involved, the next layer is figuring out whether it can position itself as a serious landing spot without having to gut the roster or get creative in ways that narrow its options elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]