Hurricanes Prospects Take First Game in 2024 Showcase

The Carolina Hurricanes kicked off the 2024 Prospect Showcase on the right foot as they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-4 in their first game in Nashville.

It was a strong offensive showing for the mix of draftees and invitees.

Here's how the team lined up per team reporter Walt Ruff who is on-site for the showcase:

Bradly Nadeau - Felix Unger Sorum - Noel Gunler
Gleb Trikozov - Skyler Brind'Amour - Jackson Blake
Luca Testa - Justin Robidas - Zakary Lavoie
Antonin Verreault - Connor Lockhart - Sahil Panwar

Ronan Seeley - Scott Morrow
Domenick Fensore - Charles-Alexis Legault
Anttoni Honka - Aleksi Heimosalmi

Yaniv Perets
Ruslan Khazheyev

Carolina wasted little time to get the party started as camp invitee Antonin Verreault, a 20-year-old forward from the QMJHL, flicked home a backhander off of a rebound created by an Anttoni Honka shot.

The Canes gave up the equalizer just a bit later as a Bolts player got loose and deked out goaltender Yaniv Perets on the breakaway, but that was the only thing to get past Perets.

The 24-year-old netminder stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced in his time on ice, which was about half of the game with Ruslan Khazheyev taking over after that.

The Hurricanes would respond before the end of the first period though as Justin Robidas was the recipient of some good fortune.

A rim around the boards took a favorable bounce off the stanchions and found Robidas alone in front of the Tampa net and he lifted a backhander past the Lightning netminder.

Robidas kept up his strong showing by setting up the next goal, forcing the turnover and then finding camp invitee Zakary Lavoie, a 20-year-old forward from the OHL, on a 2-on-1.

However, from there, things started to tip the opposite way.

Khazheyev came in to the game, but was beaten on the first shot he saw, a one-timer from the slot on an unchecked man.

Then not long after, he was beaten on a high-tip and as the period came to a close, Tampa banged home another rebound to take a 4-3 lead.

The second was definitely the Canes' weakest period defensively as they struggled to keep their coverages and get pucks out and it showed on the scoreboard.

However, luckily for them, things tightened up in the third period.

That and they got the offense going again.

The Hurricanes' top line went to work and a pretty passing sequence went from Bradly Nadeau to Noel Gunler to Felix Unger Sorum who buried the feed into the yawning cage.

The top line followed it up with Unger Sorum once again cleaning up in close as he tapped home a Noel Gunler redirect off of a Ronan Seeley shot.

Gunler and Lavoie would each pick up an empty-net goal as the Canes secured the 7-4 win.

Both teams took part in a five-round shootout following the game and Carolina also won that 2-1 as Nadeau and Gunler each put home their attempts.

Unofficial Stats (Courtesy of Hurricanes Team Reporter Walt Ruff):

Yaniv Perets - 10/11
Ruslan Khazheyev - 13/16

Noel Gunler - 1G, 2A
Felix Unger Sorum - 2G
Zakary Lavoie - 2G
Justin Robidas - 1 G, 1 A
Antonin Verreault - 1 G
Bradly Nadeau - 1 A
Ronan Seeley - 1 A
Anttoni Honka - 1 A
Connor Lockhart - 1 A

Carolina will be back in action today at 3 p.m. to take on the Florida Panthers' prospects. The game will be livestreamed on the Carolina Hurricanes team website.