After an entertaining and exciting home opener on Saturday night, Tuesday’s Carolina Hurricanes game against the Columbus Blue Jackets was one of those games that can make NHL hockey a tough sell to casual fans. The game was actually a decent one with both teams playing reasonably sounds hockey and both goalies making up for whenever they did not. The result was a 2-1 overtime loss for the Hurricanes that featured some suspense but a whole bunch of raw entertainment value.
Worth noting on a less successful night is that sometimes the other teams are good too. Columbus’ bread and butter is leaning on its blue line and Sergei Bobrovsky to be stalwart defensively, and they are a good hockey team that was successful with that formula against all varieties of teams in 2016-17. So having them tamp down the Hurricanes’ offense is not a shocking event. On top of that, three points out of four in two home games is roughly the pace needed to make the playoffs, so through two games the Hurricanes are on track.
Here are my collection of notes from the game:
1) Jeff Skinner
Albeit only two games into the season, Jeff Skinner had had a quiet start before scoring what will hopefully be his first of many huge goals this season. After a handful of good scoring chances went by the wayside late in the third period, the game felt out of reach despite being a one-goal game. Then Skinner capitalized on a miscue to earn his team a point in the standings and a chance for another. Skinner gloved down a puck intended to be flipped into the neutral zone and quickly finished from between the face-off circles going bar in.
At a basic level, the scoring version of Jeff Skinner plays a ton both with and without the puck between the face-off circles where goals happen. Through two games, Skinner has not spent enough time there and needs to get back to playing out in front of the net.
2) The blue line
The headliner from my ‘What I’m watching’ style preview was the blue line. After what I thought was a rough outing defensively on Saturday, the group in total was better on Tuesday.
Klas Dahlbeck had a couple tough moments but gets a ‘meh’ rating in his 2017-18 debut. He continues to look like a fish out of water at times playing on his off side. The poster moment from Tuesday was the play where Sebastian Aho fed a puck off the boards to Dahlbeck in the offensive zone only to have the pass go right through Dahlbeck for an odd many rush the other way when he had trouble receiving it looking like he had two left feet and an upside down stick.
They were not perfect, but I thought the big 4 on defense were generally good with a more manageable set of ‘oopses’ on Tuesday.
Haydn Fleury’s game continues to be fairly quiet in a good way, as he settles into an NHL role and thus far has not looked to be in over his head doing so.
3) Scott Darling
The one goal that he allowed in regulation was a horrible on a night where there was no margin for error which was unfortunate, but in total, the outing was by far his best as a Carolina Hurricane after two preseason starts and one regular season start.
The game started exactly how one would have hoped and unlike any of Darling’s other starts. He saw a reasonable number of relatively low quality shots early and was able to feel the puck early in the game, build a bit of a rhythm and carry it through the game.
4) The fourth line
They did not score like they did on Saturday, but the fourth line of Joakim Nordstrom, Marcus Kruger and Brock McGinn continues to be a strength. They had a run of ice time in the first half of Tuesday’s game during which they seemed to spend the vast majority of every shift playing on the end wall in the offensive zone. They mustered only a couple scoring chances from the puck possession, but you cannot lose games playing there which is a positive in itself, especially for a fourth line. Kruger and Nordstrom have really good chemistry (possibly from their time together in Chicago) and work well together cycling the puck.
5) Sebastian Aho
He continues to make plays offensively. He put the puck on Jordan Staal’s stick twice for chances from point blank range, once from behind the net on once on his dazzling end to end rush late in the game with the Hurricanes down a goal. Aho could easily have 4-5 assists already with a little bit more finishing help.
6) A mismanaged overtime?
On a night when both Derek Ryan and Jordan Staal were dominant in the face-off circle winning 73 percent each, Peters decided to go with Teuvo Teravainen in the dot for the start of overtime and the all-important face-off to start the overtime power play. He went 0 for 2 which is significant in overtime when having the puck is everything.
I also question the setup on the power play that represented a wasted opportunity to claim the second point. The first unit on the ice for the 4-on-3 was set up with a single point man and and players on each side somewhat similar to the normal 5-on-4 power play. Be it design or haphazard coincidence, but after a timeout to set the plan at an obviously critical juncture in the game, the power play leaned right and almost seemed like the shot it wanted as a one-timer for Noah Hanifin from the right side of Sergei Bobrovsky. On a night when Bobrovsky was clearly seeing and playing the puck well, my last choice for what I would have wanted from the power play would have been taking odd angle one-timers and trying to beat Bobrovsky short side past his glove which was phenomenal all night. That just was not going to happen. Trying to score an ugly goal through a screen from the center via screen, deflection or rebound seemed to have significantly more potential than having Hanifin try to beat Bobrovsky cold.
I was critical of the coaching staff and the team’s seeming lack of a strategy for overtimes in 2016-17. Though the Hurricanes did not score on Saturday, I liked the definitive puck possession focus that maybe could have looked to attack and shoot more but very clearly valued possession of the puck above all else. Tuesday’s moves by the coaching staff left me with less confidence that the in-game coaching for overtime is all that it could be.
What say you Caniacs?
1) What did you see in Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Columbus?
2) Does anyone else feel like the Hurricanes have left a lot on the table scoring-wise for Sebastian Aho’s playmaking thus far?
3) Which blue-liner most stood out positively or negatively?
Go Canes!
The only negative in an otherwise positive start would be the lack of an effective powerplay…. the canes have to sort this out. I realize its early, but gonna have to call a spade a spade. Seeing the skinner goal, and OT victory from the other night you can tell that the Canes now at least expect to win games and have shifted from the “trying not to lose games” mentality of the past. But the lack of an effective power play proved costly tonight and they lost a point to a division rival. Darling played one heck of a game, Koukkanen is playing to stay, Ryan looked good. the 4th line is night and day better then last year. The defense is still a little shaky but Slavin Pesce and Faulk look good. At least we got a point thanks to Darling.
3 of 4 points to start the year… last year, playing the same two games, we’d be 0-2. Found a way to manage a point thanks to Skinner heroics and a good night from Scotty D. The first goal was tough, but Darling actually got over and Milano literally had zero margin for error and put that puck the only place he could have to bank it in off Darling. Literally an inch either direction and that puck doesn’t find its way in. He bit early on the breakaway goal, but l rarely blame a goalie for one of those. In all, he was good. And after this game I definitely agree on Aho needing finishing. I love his work with Lindholm but think having Julien Gauthier or Saarela with them would do wonders.. maybe even Skinner. They have been dominant together and Staal has been a relative no show so far. Maybe he’s just having a slow start and bound to break out, but as you’ve said they’ve created a lot of offense that’s just yet to show on the score sheet. Also, Aho finished that odd man rush 9/10 times. Team is still a bit off early in the year, gotta sharpen up. The defense was good tonight all five outside of Dahlbeck who was lost out there. I’d rather see Carrick. Fleury looked very good to me, especially defensively where he was sound positionally and had some key blocks. Justin Faulk is playing at a phenomenal defensive level as well, and Hanifin looked much better on that end tonight. I’m still very excited for this season. Need to get that attendance up, though.
In all honesty I thought the canes looked bad, specifically the forwards. Thankfully it’s only one game so it’s not the end of the world but the offence seemed very stagnant.
Nobody seemed to have any idea what to do with the puck when they gained the zone, minus a few instances where a player wheeled around like a madman and drew some blue jackets out of position. Other than that, I didn’t think they looked overly dynamic, the skater with the puck frequently only had one viable passing option which left Columbus free to put two players on the puck carrier and one to block the passing lane without having to worry about leaving anyone uncovered.
Part of this is due to the canes style of cycling down low and trying to maintain possession and Columbus’ tendency to collapse into the middle of the ice in front of the goal when defending.
I’d have liked to see the team adjust and start dropping the puck back to the D to take advantage of the space they were being given at the blue line.
On a positive note, I thought Hanifin looked really good, getting himself open and trying to find opportunities to join in on the offence.
Hope that wasn’t too rambley. Go Canes!
Well the defense looked much better. The combos of Slavin-Pesce and Hanifin-Faulk are better together. I would agree on the statement that Fleury is having a quiet but a good quiet two games.
Darling did better this game his one goal was unfortunately preventable. Hey I am not perfect so I cant fault the guy. He’ll get better as well.
So when do we see Ward? Next week? 19th or 21st?
We seem to be settling into our offense from last year: high volume shooting, not a lot of goals. So far we are 3rd in shots/gm and 18th goals/gm. It’s only the 2nd game so it isn’t a trend yet. For Aho’s sake we need more scorers. A ton of playmakers who look to make a good pass.
PP has got to improve. Standing around garbage is awful to watch. With all the open ice on a 5-3 and a 4-3 and we stand there? Move around and change defenders eyes.
I saw a close-checking game (both teams) with excellent goaltending from both – for the most part (goals scored by bouncing off the goalie’s shoulder are painful to see). Neither team generated much in the way of quality chances.
Comments on both the PP (both regulation and OT) have already been made – we just don’t seem to play with a purpose, and the PP was especially disorganized last night. A lot of passing around the perimeter with very little pressure or presence in front of the net.
The Blue Jackets were very strong in the third, and it was good to see the Canes able to limit the damage.
I am hoping TvR quickly recovers – the defense is not the same without him.
I saw a really good game. Both teams had great defense and there was not much room for either team. The Bluejackets are a really good team and we played them even. That game could have gone either way. I agree with bwstanley, it is good to throw it at the net, but even though Darling called it a bad goal, it was a very luck bounce. A half inch ether way and that does not go in. I thought Darling played quite well.
Dahlbeck did have some tough moments, so agree, meh. The rest of the D played great. We have some time so I hope TVR gets back soon.
It is too bad Aho missed that, pretty much, open net. The rebound gives them a breakaway. That is what happens in OT.
As puckgod would say, our “powerless play” is a good name. We better get that going as it is not good.
Koukkanen is playing to stay.
I do believe Aho’s playmaker talent is being wasted. Staal is an elite defensive forward and very happy he is part of this team. Unfortunately, he cannot finish. Its been multiple times now he has had great feeds and does nothing with them. The lineups right now appear to be working but we need more offense. I am not sure what the answer is but Aho should maybe be put with another line if things continue.
It is early season, and teams have not clicked yet, but our powerplay really concerns me. We could have won this game, and we could have put away the Wild game with an even semi decent powerplay, but ours is nothing short of terrible, we almost generate more offense 5 on 5.
The powerplay is Rod’s responsibility, he better shape up and figure out something that works (at least 25% of the time, and something that generates more than 1 shot when 5 on 3 for almost 2 minutes)
I think the lack of the elite scorer/center is going to be felt, the scoring by committee approach hasn’t worked in the past and while we’ve upped the skill level of the passers we are still sorely missing a finishing forward.
Not that he is a finishing forward, but Vogele has been tearing it up with the Checkers (4 goals in 2 games),, they should bring him up and give him an audition while he’s so hot.
Also, what’s with the face offs? We lost almost every single important faceoff in the o zone yesterday and we lost 3 d zone faceoffs in the last couple of minutes against the Wild (eventually leading to a goal, which albeit one that should not have been a goal).
We used to be one of the top faceoff teams in the league last year, this is just weird.
I also noticed a story over on WRAL a few days ago where JW said he expected to be given the C when he signed (well, he didn’t say that outright, but he hinted). I think the bodged handling of the C situation might have dampened team morale some, and JW has been not as noticeable as I thought he would be and as awesome as he was in the pre season.
I feel we have been very lucky in escaping with 3 points in 2 games, and I am apprehensive that this start isn’t going to be that much better than last year. The big roadtrip is the turning point, for better or worse and, as always, I want to be proven massively wrong by the Canes (I’ll wash my words down with someAviator brew or equivalent RTP beverage).
1) I saw a great battle between the youngest and second youngest d corps in the league. That CLB defense transitions fast and leads the offense, and does it just as well as our own if not with more mature defensive players. I also saw a problem that has plagued the Canes for so many years… OFFENSE. Where are the high danger scoring chances?
2) Meh too early to get a read into that. Aho could look to finish a bit more instead of always passing I think.
3) Faulk had a very nice game and he made some nice decisive plays. Overall I’d say 5/6 blueliners played well in this one, and really lets be honest Dahlbeck is just too slow and lacks that offensive instinct (that Slavin has) to play his off-side. On a night where really there were FEW glaring defensive breakdowns, it seemed an unfortunate percentage of them came when the Jackets attacked on Dahlbeck’s side. That isn’t good enough for a #6 dman who should be at very least unnoticeable (which Fleury has been doing a good job with being nice and steady).
If TVR isn’t ready for the next one let’s see a call-up. McKeown is waiver-exempt so maybe if they need to try a righty they will go with him.
Agree, McKeown is the best righty for call-up. I think Carrick is the next best but he is lefty. Asking him to play wrong side may not be so good.
I remember thinking sometime during the game that we were watching the future Metro (East?) leading teams. I saw a team that made a lot of very good plays (lots) but just could not finish. Hopefully that is a timing thing that will improve as they play more games (however history proves me wrong on this).
Thought Dahlbeck did not hurt us. I saw a game where both teams seemed to dominate play at different times.
I saw a lot of good things, however the lack of finishing is what killed us.
Gotta say that I don’t remember a more boring Canes game…
Where was the skating /skills that I saw in the preseason and 1st game? Wow, it’s hard to believe we got a point out of that!
Not pretty…some things need to change IMO!
Columbus was playing a grinding, close-checking game – which is what leads to the clogged ice.
Yes, they are like us. Suffocating defense that shuts down the opposition. I enjoyed the game. They are not all going to be high flying affairs.