The NHL champion favorite opened his season victoriously.
Teuvo Teräväinen’s season started with a goal. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
The goalkeeper who moved from Los Angeles to Ottawa during the summer Joonas Korpisalo couldn’t stop the Carolina Hurricanes in both teams’ season opener. The Hurricanes, who entered the 2023–2024 season as champion favorites, won 5–3.
Suomalaisvahti started his career well, when he stopped his first job Jesper Fastin penalty kick. In the same set, he also made a save By Jordan Staal kick from the open spot and took the Senators to the break with a 1–0 lead.
After the first part of the season, the Hurricanes got their machine started properly. Michael Bunting and Teuvo Teräväinen turned the advantage over to the home team. Sebastian Aho had the pass hit by Bunting.
Teräväinen’s goal came with a bang with one timer at the end of the batch.
There was enough activity even for the final round. In the very first situation, Hurricanes captain Staal slipped to score and surprised Korpisalo with a knuckle lift.
The struggling Senators still managed to equalize the scores Parker Kelly’s and Tim Stützlen with goals.
In the end, Carolina was saved by the team’s strong group of defenders. One of the NHL’s best defenses seems to know how to score when needed, when first Brady Skjei passed Korpisalo and later Jacob Slavin finished the Final Readings underpowered. Both goals slipped past Korpisalo from the front corner.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi initiated Slavin’s goal, so every Carolina Finnish player seen on the field got a taste of a power point in the match. Antti Raanta this time guarded the hatch of Carolina’s bench.
Korpisalo blocked 37 shots in his debut.