The Carolina Hurricanes secured a 5-4 shootout win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Thursday, despite missing several key players. The team was without half of its regular defensemen and lost two forwards to injury during the game.
Eric Robinson opened the scoring for Carolina early in the first period, but Colorado quickly responded with a goal from Valeri Nichushkin. The Hurricanes then scored three more goals in just over six minutes, including a shorthanded breakaway by Seth Jarvis, a deflection by Sebastian Aho, and a close-range effort from Logan Stankoven.
Colorado narrowed the gap with two goals in the second period and eventually tied the game in the third, forcing overtime. Both teams had power-play chances in overtime but failed to score. In the shootout, Jarvis scored the only goal while goaltender Frederik Andersen stopped all three Colorado attempts after making 44 saves during regulation and overtime.
Defenseman Joel Nystrom made his NHL debut for Carolina, skating over 16 minutes and taking two shots. He became the third Hurricane to debut this season, joining Brandon Bussi and Charles Alexis Legault. This marked the first time since April 2016 that Carolina has used three rookie defensemen in one game.
Seth Jarvis’ shorthanded goal was his ninth career shorty, moving him into fifth place on the franchise’s all-time list. He leads Carolina with seven goals through seven games this season. Both Jarvis and Aho extended their point streaks to seven games; they are now only the third duo in franchise history to achieve this feat in each of the team’s first seven games.
Frederik Andersen’s 44 saves set a new single-game high for his time with Carolina. The Hurricanes went 7-for-8 on penalty kills throughout the final two periods and overtime.
Carolina scored four goals in a first period for just the first time since January 2022. Forwards William Carrier (lower-body) and Eric Robinson (upper-body) both left Thursday’s game due to injuries. K’Andre Miller was also absent due to a lower-body injury. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the game that Carrier and Robinson are expected to be out “for an extended period,” while Miller’s status remains uncertain.
Brind’Amour commented on Andersen’s performance: “He was the reason we got two points, for sure. I don’t think we’ve ever given up that many shots or Grade A chances. It wasn’t even the shots. It was great scoring chances. He was phenomenal, and even in the shootout. He got us the two points.”
Andersen reflected on his night: “One (save) at a time. Just try to give us a chance for the next one, and obviously, we did a hell of a job on the penalty kill today. And obviously, it was nice to be in the driver’s seat for a bit in terms of goals. They battled their way back, but we stuck with it and got the two points.”
Brind’Amour also praised his team’s penalty killing: “The penalty kill was what did it for us tonight. They got one, but when you hold that team to one with the talent that’s out there, and we actually got a shorty to basically make it even, that’s one of the other reasons that we got the two points.”
Jalen Chatfield spoke about playing without several regulars: “At the end of the day, just go out and have fun and play the game. We’ve got a great team around – Charles and a few of the new guys coming up and playing some pretty tough teams over the last few days. I’m proud of those guys. I’m happy to have them and happy we know we have guys who can step up when we’re down guys like that. We’re missing some big players, but it shows our depth. It shows that in our organization, we have some really good key players.”
The Hurricanes will travel next to Dallas before finishing their six-game road trip at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
