So....last night in Raleigh.....eventful & strange........
To start, Jordan Staal set the record for the most games in a Carolina Hurricanes uniform @ 910. He soon got into his 1st fight since 2017. More on that later........
...The Wild scored the 1st goal. Soon after,
D Jalen Chatfield got rocked by a hit from Pitlick (sp?). Timing was fine. But it looked like his shoulder hit Jalen's chin 1st. Before he landed on the ice, Chatfield's head went into a Minnesota knee. Chatty was laid out on the ice & knocked out for the night.
That is when Staal went after Pitlick & bloodied his nose. Pitlick received a game misconduct, Staal penalties for roughing & instigating, 10 minutes.
Jack Blake got the next score on a brilliant solo rush.. Thirty-one seconds later, the Wild retook the lead. Minny had 2 shots, 2 goals. Carolina stayed behind for all of 21 seconds. Svechnikov hit one from long distance. That was the 2nd quickest back-to-back goals of the night. About 3 minutes before the 1st period ended Walker hit one from the blue line just after a power play ended. It was Walker's 2nd goal in as many games.
2nd period, the flurry continued. Boldy got his 2nd of the evening on the power play. Just half a minute in. This tie didn't last 10 seconds. Literally. Ehlers got his 2nd in as many games on a nice feed from Blake. Nine seconds after the Wild had tied it. Twenty one minutes, 7 goals on 11 shots, a game misconduct and a fight.
What more could you ask for?
It would have been good if that was satisfactory for you. Cause nothing happened in the final 39 minutes. None of the next 40 shots found the net.
Just weird.
Carolina 4, Minnesota 3.
What makes the Chatfield injury so disappointing is the fact this was K'Andre Miller's 1st game since the West Coast trip. So they lose one defenseman after gaining one back. Glad we are still early in the year. But you'd like these guys to start building some chemistry w/whoever they are paired w/. Hard to do when groupings are constantly in flux.