Canes Corner

<p>The Canes finished off a hat trick of blown leads as they closed out the pre-Christmas schedule with a 5-2 loss to the Panthers.&nbsp; They led 3-0 with 10 minutes to play on Friday night in South Florida before losing in a shootout.&nbsp; The next night in Tampa they scored 3 times in the 1st period only to give it all back in the 2nd en route to a 6-4 loss to the Lightning.&nbsp; Tonight, they took a 2-0 lead into the 3rd period only to see the Panthers erase that in 7 minutes.&nbsp; Florida scored three times in a 3:07 span and with 13 minutes remaining, it was 3-2 and the Canes flatlined.&nbsp; &nbsp;Frederik Andersen lost his 7th straight start and hasn't allowed fewer than 3 goals since November 1st.&nbsp; His save percentage is .869, .024 under the league average.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Canes scored 3 times in the 1st period, but like the night before in Florida, they could not hold the 3-goal lead.&nbsp; Pyotr Kochetkov was great over the first two periods, but he wasn't in the 3rd and the Hurricanes weren't good enough to carry him through it like he'd done for them most nights.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Canes had a 3-0 lead with 10 minutes to play and a 2-goal advantage with under 2 1/2 minutes left.&nbsp; But, the Panthers taught Carolina a lesson about playoff hockey in December, rallying with Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart goals to force overtime.&nbsp; They would eventually win the game in a shootout.&nbsp; Jordan Staal scored his 10th goal of the season and Sebastian Aho had 2 goals for the second straight game as the Hurricanes built that 3-goal lead.&nbsp; But, Brad Marchand went into his bag of tricks, whacking Brandon Bussi in the jewels before scoring over top of him for a 3-1 score with just under 10 minutes remaining.&nbsp; The Hurricanes gave up an astounding 24 high danger chances to the Panthers in the loss.&nbsp; Bussi did make 38 saves, but his 9 game winning streak came to an end.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Sebastian Aho had his first 2-goal, 3-point night of the season, Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 25 shots -- 14 in the 3rd period -- and Jaccob Slavin looked like his old self as the Canes beat the Predators, 4-1 in Nashville.&nbsp; Carolina sweeps the 2-game season series having won the first one earlier this month in Raleigh.&nbsp; Aho's 10th goal, on the power play, early in the 3rd period doubled the lead to 2-0.&nbsp; Then he set up Seth Jarvis for his 19th of the year to make it 3-0, before icing the game with an empty net goal with 45 seconds left in the 3rd.&nbsp; Jackson Blake was stellar again.&nbsp; He had the game's first goal, in the 1st period, banging home a rebound of Logan Stankoven's shot.&nbsp; And, Blake also had the primary assist on Aho's power play goal.&nbsp; The Canes have won 5 straight and lead the Metro by 5 points.</p>

<p>For the third straight game the Hurricanes won in the shootout.&nbsp; Brandon Bussi was the story -- again.&nbsp; He's now 11-1-0 on the season.&nbsp; William Carrier and Taylor Hall each scored goals for the Canes and Andrei Svechnikov recorded the game deciding goal in the shootout.&nbsp; It's the first time in franchise history that they've won three straight games via the shootout.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>