I stand by my initial comment before digging into the details:
Short version: HOLY CRAP! This thing where we have a high-powered offense and great goaltending is so incredibly fun! Makes so many small details mostly irrelevant. Hope it continues!
Before I jump to the usual bits and bites on the game itself, allow me to touch base on two other things.
First is that Sunday was the Hurricanes turn at “Hockey Fights Cancer” night. I have an every week Sunday early evening commitment that makes the batch of 5pm Sunday starts a no go for me and my family, so I was not in attendance Sunday. But seeing the purple, the signs and the theme brings back memories of attending this game in the past. The game is moving in that it represents a visual impression of just how many lives of are impacted by cancer. Good on the NHL for doing a small part to raise awareness.
On a happier note, not to be underappreciated in Sunday’s win is the fact that the game represented a fun win for local fans in attendance. The core fan base gets rewarded for long-term dedication, and equally significantly casual fans have a good time, return and hopefully gradually join the core. The team has actually started slow at home, especially when you consider that overtime losses that count as a half of a win in the standings, still feel like losses leaving PNC Arena. The upcoming week is a a big one in this regard. The holidays make for bigger crowds and tying Canes hockey to fun holiday times (by winning) an have a powerful effect.
On the ice…
After Friday’s win against the Buffalo Sabres, I said that “there really was not a lot that I would keep from Saturday’s win.” Sunday had a few of the important negative elements as Saturday actually but was a step forward in that Sunday’s win kept the huge positive from Saturday (goaltending and competing for 60 minutes) and added another (generating offense and finishing at a high rate).
Thus far in 2017-18, the Carolina Hurricanes have had a knack for pouncing early in some games especially against backup goalies. And that was a key story line tonight. My preview talked about the fact that both teams played and traveled last night and also the uncertainty that comes with that. The Hurricanes faded massively in the second period, but by that time, they had already staked themselves to a sizable lead and had seen Cam Ward develop a rhythm.
The game was a story of three separate periods. The Hurricanes raced out of the gate and unlike in Buffalo the night before were able to instantly convert the start to goals. No doubt they benefited from a sleepy start by Islanders’ backup Jaroslav Halak, but they were also good. The second period was the exact opposite. Whether it was because they hit a wall physically or just let off the gas pedal, the Hurricanes were a different team in the second period and were outplayed by a wide margin. The third period was slightly better with the Islanders still having the upper hand but not in as dominant of a fashion.
Just like the night before, the goaltending, this time courtesy of Cam Ward, was a leading story, and with finishing proficiency to boot, the game was a fairly easy one at least scoreboard-wise.
Notes from the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 win over the New York Islanders
1) Results matter
As I said in the preview, very often the last game of the week decides whether the entire week is a positive or negative. With a loss, the Hurricanes would have finished 2-2 and also been 0-2 against the Islanders who are a team likely to be in the playoff chase with the Canes come late March. But by winning instead, the Hurricanes finished the week with a solid 3-1 record. Combined with last week’s 2-0-1 record, the Hurricanes are now 5-1-1 over the past two weeks which is playoff pace plus some. That is obviously a good thing.
2) Cam Ward
Though they are justifiably rivaled by the TSA line, I think the #1 story of the pair of weekend wins is the goaltending. Darling was incredibly good on Saturday while the defense was breaking down left and right in front of him. Ward was equally good on Sunday. He had the benefit of being staked to an early lead, but the play in front of him was just as ‘iffy’as it was the night before. The sequence of pad saves in the middle part of the game should prove to be end of season highlight-worthy, but I think just as important was the calm and composure that Ward displayed even when under duress such that it always felt like the Hurricanes had the game in hand even though I am not sure that was really the case in the second period.
3) TSA on fire
The scoring came largely courtesy of the TSA line again. Every thing they touch right now turns to goals. Their current pace is not sustainable, but here is hoping they can surge for three more home wins this week and then slow down only modestly. The biggest thing is finishing, the Aho/Staal/Teravainen is doing a number of things well right now, but first and foremost, they are finishing scoring chances at an incredibly high rate.
I am on record awhile back as preferring to separate Staal and Aho because I think Aho’s playmaking could be better utilized playing more with the puck on his stick. But I think the current iteration of Aho/Staal/Teravainen shows the potential benefit of pairing Staal with scorers on both wings. Staal probably more than any other Hurricanes player drives possession and tilts the ice into the offensive zone which is obviously where goals happen. Right now, the mix seems to be almost perfect with Staal helping drive possession but Aho and Teravainen handling the puck a bunch and finding each other for scoring chances once the puck is in the offensive zone. The fact that Aho and Teravainen are both finishing at some crazy proficiency level obviously does not hurt either.
4) The penalty kill
Whereas I thought the positive results overstated the quality of play for the power play on Saturday night in Buffalo, I thought the penalty kill looked significantly better on Saturday. They brought the same desperation, shot blocking and tremendous goaltending as Saturday, but they were also much more aggressive defending the puck such that they did a much better job limiting time and space. The Hurricanes did give up a power play late in the third period, but six kills out of seven tries is still decent, and I thought the aggressiveness looked much more like the 2016-17 penalty kill which is a step in the right direction.
5) Still way to sloppy
5A-Penalties. The Hurricanes took a whopping seven penalties which is too many with a high concentration of bad penalties including a couple offensive zone penalties by Derek Ryan and Justin Williams and a few from not moving their feet. I will chalk it up to the schedule and hope that the team immediately reverts back to it low penalty rate for most of the season.
5B-Defensive miscues by the blue line-Just like on Saturday, the volume of potentially costly miscues was far too high. Just like Darling did on Saturday, Ward bailed the team out on many occasions. This easily could have been one of those games where goalie gave up five which started a legitimate debate about whether/how much better he could have been given the play of the team in front of him. But Ward was stellar.
Jaccob Slavin had another play (after two on Saturday) where an opposing player blew by him to the inside on the way to the net and he/Pesce had another play when they managed to leave a Isles forward wide open in front of the net. Justin Faulk had a stretch in the second half of the game during which he was a turnover machine every time he had the puck on his stick in the defensive zone. It was a minor miracle that none of the at least three bad turnovers found the net behind Ward. And so on…
As much as I stand by my ‘results matter’ mantra, the team needs to chart a new course in terms of soundness and overall level of play mostly on the defensive side of the puck. Wins driven by ‘stand on your head’ goaltending are appreciated but also not something that a team wants to rely on too heavily every night.
6) Brett Pesce
With the blue line struggling a bit right now, even usually stalwart partner Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce continues to be steady and sound. His game is so quiet in a good way.
7) Phil Di Giuseppe
He has made a strong case for continuing to receive NHL ice time. On Saturday, Phil Di Giuseppe was steady and sound and had a pretty pass to Marcus Kruger go by the wayside when Kruger had trouble handling the puck. On Sunday, Di Giuseppe had two pretty feeds and was rewarded when Elias Lindholm finished a tic-tac-toe passing play.
Next up is an extended stretch of home cooking with all three games at home in the upcoming week and also two days off to recharge before the next burst of games.
Go Canes!
Good to see the Finns lighting it up. And Cam was strong. Good to know he is adjusting to being a backup.
Fun game. We played an aggressive game the whole way.
The TSA line scored three, two on the PP and finished +1. Now that the Finns are going they are playing at an elite level at both ends of the ice.
Dahlbeck was solid on his natural side. Slavin and Pesce looked gassed but still played pretty good.
Rask watched this one so I suspect he is sore. Lindholm performed admirably in the middle but would have liked to see Wallmark, just because he earned a chance.
I am walking back everything I have ever said that Aho shouldn’t be on Staal’s line – under the stipulation that Teuvo is on Staal’s other side, and not Williams or Lindholm. The TSA line is dominant – not just possession but scoring, possession too.
And Lindy looked good at center – and PDG rose to the occasion he was offered with Rask in the press box.
I liked seeing Dahlbeck seeing ice time, although I think he was too quick to shoot from the point – almost as if he wanted to make a statement he belongs for his offensive potential and not for his strengths.
Ward was vintage Ward at his best.
From Peters’ remarks after the game, they like two lines (TSA and the 4th, I presume) and are trying to get the other two lines going. McGinn has been quiet – hopefully he gets going again. But I really think the team needs either McGinn or PDG (unless McGinn rediscovers that scoring touch) but maybe not both.
We were damn lucky, I think, in that the Isles set the pace for most of the game – and Ward was just unbelievable.
I too was not high on Aho with Staal but obviously would not touch that line right now.
Perhaps it just took some time to rebuild chemistry and process.
I think conceptually (and probably Peters’ starting point) was thinking that Jordan Staal more than any other player on the Hurricanes drives play into the offensive zone. That is obviously where you have to be to score. So I think the thinking has always been that pairing players with scoring ability with Staal’s ability to win, possess and drive the puck into the offensive zone was bound to pay off. I think that is what we are seeing right now. Staal has been incredibly good but in a quiet, understated way compared to the dynamic offense and proficient finishing from Aho and Teravainen of late.
Regardless, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, so this trio obviously stays together at least until they cool off.
Matt
You and I were in total agreement with that. But the TSA line is so different than Aho-Staal-Lindholm (or even Teuvo-Staal-Williams). This line dominates in a way that no other top-line operates.
I think it is more than chemistry – it is synergy. Thank whatever coach who told Turbo “Shoot more”, because when this line adds that offensive focus I don’t think there is another line like it in hockey.
Sorry I have to kill the homer-ism a bit. I have every belief that Aho is going to become a top line player in this league and produce points to justify it. Terevainen I HOPE will become a top line player but I have less faith he will become one compared to Aho (I see him more as a solid 2nd/3rd liner with positional flexibility, very valuable commodity). Jordan Staal is a passable 1C, a great 2C, and a cup winning 3C. Terevainen and Aho have never surpassed 55 pts in their career, Jordan Staal has never surpassed 60 pts in his career.
Add all that up and you have 3 players who are unlikely to eclipse the 60 pt plateau based on pre-season expectations. Does that sound like a good first line? Look, this line is CURRENTLY playing as a first line and producing well to boot. Nordstrom (4th liner) – Staal – Nestrasil (KHLer) also played stretches where they looked like a passable first line. My point is that over the long run based on both the potentials Aho and Terevainen have to surpass previous point totals but ALSO based on the probabilities that our first line is made up of 3 50ish pt players the net result is that the Canes are icing a BELOW average first line (production wise).
We simply cannot expect this rate to keep up. The canes are going to enjoy wins as long as this line keeps producing ABOVE their expected level. However when their production reverts back to regular rate, or even if they go through a stretch where they produce BELOW average, the thing the Canes need is other line options that can pick up the slack. This is what separates the bubble teams from the great teams. St Louis doesn’t need Tarasenko to score every night because they have scoring depth. Tampa doesn’t need Stamkos to score every night same reason. I’m simply not sold that our 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines produce enough offense to offset the inevitable drop off from the TSA line.
If that drop off never occurs and the TSA line goes on to produce career seasons all around well it’s going to be a playoff year for sure and that’d be great, but I just think it is hard to see this happening over the course of the whole season. I only see Williams, Lindholm and Skinner being guys in our middle 6 that are passable in regards to game to game offense. Can those 3 really carry THREE of Derek Ryan, Brock McGinn, Victor Rask, Phil Diguiseppe, Stempniak or whoever else we place with them in the middle 6?
Not sold yet.
The Canes won back-to-back in two different types of games. That is a very good sign.
dmiller has stated in several posts that the Canes did not need more scoring–nearing the 1/4 season mark, I would say he is correct. As of tonight, Carolina is averaging more goals per game than Washington or Pittsburgh. I think all the C&C crew would have taken that before the season. While many of us were clamoring for a trade, GMRF made the correct non-move. Carolina still has all its young (improving) D-men. Hanifin is beginning to look like an offensive catalyst. I was wrong in the off-season when I wrote that I was ok moving him for the right deal–any deal would have been a bad deal.
One thing I think I was right about is that GMRF should have signed TT for 5 or more years. It sure looks like his price is increasing every game. In fact the Canes are about to have a “good” problem. With Hanifin playing well, cap hits this season and next are going to be substantial. But that is a discussion for another day.
The second thing I am feeling pretty good about 6 weeks into the season is Cam Ward. He was never as bad as some argued. Sure he will have a few off nights, but he is a great asset as the backup. I think he will get more like 40% of starts moving forward. The Canes would be one of the few teams in the league not to suffer should the starter get injured.
For now the team is fulfilling its potential. Which makes being a caniac fun. Here’s hoping for another 60-minute performance Wednesday.
I may be reading too much into things, but I wonder if Cam was just always meant to be a backup. Maybe having more time between games agrees with him. Outside of one rough game, he has been stellar in all his starts this year.
It’s been super fun this weekend watching this team score goals and get great goaltending (from both goalies). Hopefully we keep it up, because THIS is the team everyone was hoping to see in the offseason.
Best game for Cam IN YEARS…, offense better, but I’m not expecting miracles every game. The team still needs offense from another line, and more…
Stating the obvious: Ward was simply outstanding, the TSA line crushed it, and the PP is coming to life (2 goals and dangerous all night). I am worried about the defensive lapses though.
Was it just me, or did Lindholm look very good at Center? Most encouraging, I thought he was noticeably more physical last night; I’m going to be looking to see whether that continues against the NYR or was a one-game anomaly. And he finished on the prettiest play of the night. I’d like to see him get an extended run here.
We need to talk more about the Rask situation. It’s troubling, but it also is full of opportunity.
Alright! Man, I was on the ledge after the game in Brooklyn, but they did just what they needed to do in grabbing four points (without allowing the islanders to come back and grab even one) in two days. I think the way this team loses sometimes makes things seem worse than they really are, or maybe I’m just too amped up and get too down on the canes too easily. But anyway. Really impressed the last couple days, and really a large majority of the last couple weeks, save the third periods against Chicago and NY. This is what our goalie tandem could be. Ward-o has been a rock as the backup, and I still think darling has it in him to gain some consistency and play most nights like he did in buffalo. Our PP FINALLY looks good. Two goals, could have had at least two more. Special teams were a definite positive tonight, which is a trend that hopefully continues. Our PK always starts slow seemingly considering Steve Smith seems to have a lot of turnover yearly on his units, but he typically does a great job with that, and with the players on the roster I have faith in him. I’m hoping this is Teuvo’s breakout year, he’s always had the talent, there’s a reason he was a first round pick. That pass to Aho last night… through the seam, three Isles’ sticks, just saucey enough to land perfectly for Seabass… Filthy. They look real good together, I wanna see them keep it up. Looking for both to hit 60 points+, will be huge to get some actual first line-esque production. Still wanna see more from Lindholm, and Faulk really needs to wake up. Those turnovers were cringe-worthy. Those guys have a penchant for slow starts though, so hopefully it’ll come, and that when it does the team as a whole will take yet another step forward. Here’s hoping we make this a statement homestand and grab 6 more points this week.
OMG!!
You cannot have Ryan, McGinn and Phil D on team at once, get rid of two of them!!!
Bring up Zykov and Wallmark, what the hell is wrong with BP and RF.
I suggested weeks ago put Lindholm at Center, finally BP got his head out of his ass, get Skinner another playmaker, Ryan is not, guy is always getting pushed around.
Bring up Zykov and Wallmark, the kids deserve at least 10 games, McGinn shows up every 5 – 8 games, that is pathetic.
Thursday I said I could live with 3 or 4 points from the next 2 games, and 4 points is what we got, so I am happy.
The game yesterday was a lot of fun to watch, good reminder why this team is sometimes called the cardiac Canes and manage results on less than perfect nights.
The goalies were phenominal in the last 2 games, and the TSA line was fun.
ON the flipside , we won’t win many games like this, with that volume of lapses and relying on our goalies to be superheroes.
And we need a line below the T S A to become a danger again.
I am not worried about skinner, he will find his groove like always, pretty much regardless of line mates.
Lidholm at center is a good move but I still advocate for either the set of trades Matt suggested (if available) or at least bringing up Walmark and Zykov and sit some of the under performing players for a game or two.
I don’t know what happened with Faulk, he’s a turnover machine (he could open a bakery with his turnover talent).
Also the NHL should not allow games where opposing teams have players with near identical names (like Faulk and Falk, that being said, I’d swap Faulk and Rask for Falk and Kane).
I did suggest trading TT for a bag of pucks a few weeks back, man those would have to be pretty durn good pucks.
I have kept out of posting on the day to day and have decided to stop by to offer my feedback from a chunk of games perspective on this forum. I was following the day to day earlier but I found it too polarizing, as in after a good game we’d all jump on the bandwagon of things going right, and after a bad game we’d glare over the negatives to an extreme. It’s just the nature of commenting on every game. So I figured I would be able to provide a more global level analysis if I stayed away and came back once in a while.
I have to disagree that we have a high powered offense. The TSA line is on fire, but I don’t think anyone is expecting this line to be point per game for the season. Eventually they will have a cool down. Then the question is does Peters go back to blending the lines, or do we count on the remainder of the lines to pick up the scoring? With Rask struggling, and still a bunch of 2nd/3rd line spot being occupied by support players rather than scorers or play drivers I find it hard to see the offense being a strength. Despite defensive issues over the past few games, from start until now of the season the Canes bread and butter is their tight neutral zone play and defense mobility turning around forechecks. That being said, offensively despite some big games I think getting another top 9 forward into the lineup should still be right at the top of Ron Francis list moving forward.
Goaltending has been fine. Darling and Ward as a combo is better than anything we’ve had since Ward and Martin Gerber, and even then only Gerber was good during the regular season
I’d hope no line blending. I liked Lindholm a lot at Center Sunday and would like to see him do some more games. Skinner and PDG have had some past success and I’d hope that could continue now. I would think there’s a scoring line there.
Wallmark has been hurt so really hasn’t been an option. Zykov had his 10th goal, yet another one if front of the net. After having Rask watch a few games from the box, I’d be half tempted to see Rask center a Williams/Ryan line. Ryan there for help in the circle, if needed. If I’m bringing someone up from Charlotte, at least for now, Zykov and his net front presence and goal scoring would be my choice.
If I’m trading, I wonder what it would take to get Pacoiretty out of Montreal. That whole team is struggling; Patches contract is up. He’s a known goal scorer. Could bring some interesting elements to the team.
I like the Pacioretty suggestion. His goal scoring mentality and 2 way play is exactly what the Canes need in the top 6. I fear he will cost a whole ton though. No way would I have guessed Duchene and Turris would elicit such a MASSIVE return, so if top tier talent (and to be honest Pacioretty is better than both those guys) cost that much I think the Canes are stuck in the bargain bin.
Tyler Bozak, James Van Riemsdyk, James Neal, David Perron and players in that class are more what I am expecting the Canes to go after. That level of rental might only require a B+ ish prospect and an early/mid round pick depending on the player we are talking.
Everytime we see Lindholm at centre we always end up liking him. The guy is a natural centre! Honestly if Rask isn’t cutting it I don’t see any reason to return to him in the top 9 unless its on the wing position. I prefer Lindholm on the wing because of the Canes absolute lack of RWers, but for now Lindholm in the middle is more than serviceable. The Rask issue however goes well beyond his play this year and last because of that massive contract he has with him now.
Regardless, I am certainly in the ‘bring in 1 more forward’ camp. I had some faith that the guy we needed could have been Stempniak but it seems there is no timeline on his return, and with that said I doubt there is any expectation when he returns that he is going to be productive. Skinner – Lindholm – DiGuiseppe is a passable but not GREAT looking scoring line in my opinion. McGinn – Ryan – Williams I would say is at best a 3rd line (which it is) I just fear between our 4th line and that 2nd line you’ve mentioned and a truly below average first line (even though TSA is killing it right NOW, but in the long run that line doesn’t match up great production wise against other first lines) scoring remains a huge issue for this team.