About Last Night: Marty Party!

Dec 2, 2022 - 4:00 PM

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The Carolina Hurricanes picked up their third straight win — a great way to follow up the five-game skid — Thursday night in St. Louis, as a Jordan Martinook (yes, Jordan Martinook) hat trick led the way to the 6-4 win.

Martinook led the way in the victory, which also featured three goals from Carolina in just 64 seconds in the second period that turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead.

The Canes seem to be suddenly feeling it again, a great sign for a team that just last week looked so far from figuring it out.

About last night:

Marty Party!

Remember when the Hurricanes waived Jordan Martinook before the season?

Well it’s a good thing nobody claimed him (yes, that was expected when they waived him, I know), because he’s having a pretty strong year which was highlighted by one of his best games as a member of the Canes against the Blues Thursday.

With his three goals in St. Louis, Martinook is up to seven goals and 12 points so far this season. In 59 games in 2021-22, he had just six goals and 15 points. He had four goals in 33 games in 2020-21 and only two goals in 45 games back in 2019-20.

So with seven goals in 24 games this year, with his second-ever NHL hat trick to boot, Martinook is proving a whole lot of doubters wrong, even if he’s maybe not quite worth the price still.

And when Martinook registers a point, the Canes generally do well. Cory Lavalatte has been ringing this bell for a little while, but Carolina’s record in games where Martinook gets a point is kind of staggering.

Add one win to that. It’s pretty baffling.

Here’s all three of Martinook’s goals:

Wanna see me score a goal? Wanna see me do it again?

The Canes turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead in the blink of an eye.

Down two early on in the second period, Brent Burns scored his fourth goal of the season to pull the Canes within one. Just 21 seconds later, Martinook got his first of the game to tie it. Then 43 seconds after that, Seth Jarvis laced one in to give the Hurricanes the lead.

It was pretty ridiculous and completely shifted the game, and even though the Blues brought it back level the Hurricanes won the game in just over a minute.

Hockey can be crazy. Sometimes you get a hat trick out of the guy who really hasn’t scored goals over the last three years. Sometimes you get three goals in a minute.

Sometimes you get both.

Other Thoughts

• Antti Raanta left the game, and Pyotr Kochetkov did a strong job of coming in cold to help secure the win for the Canes.
• Along with Martinook’s performance, the Canes’ grinder line of Martinook, Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast was awesome. They created five high-danger chances, scored a pair of 5-on-5 goals, had a 73.68 CF% and just dominated when they were on the ice.
• Seth Jarvis is finding his mojo. Watch out, league.