The short version
The Hurricanes actually played significantly better than in Tuesday’s win. The Hurricanes won the game in terms of generating quality scoring chances offensively, and were also pretty good in terms of limiting Anaheim’s chances. John Gibson stole a win for Anaheim.
So despite the loss, the game was a decent one. If forced to find faults, it would be three things. First, though the power play was not horrible, scoring just one power play goal would likely have led to a win. Second, especially once it became clear that Gibson was on, the team could have been significantly better in terms of pushing for an ugly goal with a screen or deflection. Finally, the team just could not find the killer instinct when they were better such that Anaheim could hang around until they got their feet under them and could push.
Game recap
After a Tuesday win that relied much too heavily on goaltending and an ugly loss prior to that, the Hurricanes came into Friday’s game against Anaheim on a bit of a down trend in terms of level of play. So despite winning on Tuesday, the Hurricanes entered the game looking for a bit of a rebound.
And rebound they did in the first period. The game was close checking out of the gate, but midway through the first period, the Hurricanes rode special teams play to momentum and a sizable shot advantage. First, a power play yielded two pretty good chances for Jordan Staal from between the circles. Shortly thereafter a penalty kill saw Warren Foegele thwarted late on a rush and an even better rebound chance by Jordan Martinook stopped by goalie John Gibson. Then, Jaccob Slavin sprung defense partner Dougie Hamilton for another breakaway that Gibson again stopped. At that point, it looked as if John Gibson was going to get the Ducks through the first period tied despite being outplayed. But after all of the grade A chances, the Hurricanes actually broke through on what looked like a fairly harmless shot. But traffic in front did the trick, Gibson seemed unable to track the puck and Svechnikov scored his sixth of the season with just over a minute left to stake the Canes to a much-deserved 1-0 lead at the end of the first period that featured a shot advantage of 21 to 6.
The second period started similarly to the first with a war of attrition and not much for scoring chances early on. The shot totals were two apiece by about the midway point of the second period. Anaheim did finally push midway through the second period, but the Hurricanes intermittently found chances too. By the midway point, the game had turned into a goalie battle. John Gibson was not going to be beaten if he saw it. And though challenged a bit less, McElhinney was also perfect at the other end.
The third period saw the Ducks push and finally score an odd goal that deflected off a helmet and was batted out of midair and into the net. As the game wore on, the Hurricanes were not horrible, but they did fade after the first period and seemed to lack a killer instinct. But fortunately one goal and another strong outing by McElhinney was enough to get to overtime and claim a point in the standings.
And that would be all the Hurricanes would get. Anaheim won the opening face-off and played a slow-moving, patient game that never gave the puck back to the Hurricanes. When Ryan Getzlaf received a stretch pass and was in alone, he made no mistake claiming the overtime win.
As noted above, in general I thought Saturday’s effort was generally a decent one. Toss in a power play marker or an ugly goal and the 2-1 win is better than the past two 2-1 wins in terms of quality of play.
The Hurricanes have claimed four of six points in both of the two previous weeks. They need only an overtime loss on Sunday to do the same this week.
Player and other notes
1) Jaccob Slavin
He had a phenomenal game offensively. He had at least five stretch passes that sent Canes players in alone (or close) for good scoring chances. None were converted, but it was still arguably Slavin’s best offensive game of the season.
2) Curtis McElhinney
My game preview hoped that McElhinney would be unaffected by the week’s changes and just keep doing what he has been doing. He did. He was beaten on a weird deflection off of a team mate’s helmet that was batted out of mid air, and then he was beaten on a breakaway in overtime by a great player. Chalk up another solid effort by McElhinney despite the loss.
3) The power play
I thought the power play was fine early. Jordan Staal had a couple really good chances on the first power play. The second one was also good at least in terms of decent puck possession and crispness. But the power play seemed to degrade as the game wore on. And in a tight game results matter. On this night, a single power play goal out the six attempts would have meant a regulation win and another point in the standings.
4) The fourth line
I had this game pegged as one where Brind’Amour might shorten the bench early. To their credit, Foegele/Bishop/Di Giuseppe played well and earned a decent amount of ice time. Di Giuseppe’s breakaway attempt was arguably Gibson’s best. Di Giuseppe actually fooled him and had him leaning the other way and got the backhand shot up. Gibson somewhat just was strong enough to lean back despite being fooled and glove it.
5) Needs more ugly
It was not coincidence that the Canes lone goal was an odd one that was sort of random luck from Gibson not tracking the puck through traffic. It was blatantly obvious pretty early on that Gibson was on top of his game. The Hurricanes needed to do more to try to find another ugly goal. Regardless of quality of the chance, Gibson stopped each and every shot he saw on Friday.
6) De Haan/Faulk
Friday’s game was not horrible, but it was not their best either. But what stood out to me is how well they are reading off of each other. Each had a mistake that had the potential to be a breakaway. In each case, the partner read things early and stepped in to defend behind the mistake. The duo continues to be the team’s best.
Next up for the Hurricanes is the first of three games on the west coast starting in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Go Canes!
Canes had their chances and generally played pretty well. The Ducks are big and strong. In the first the Canes outskated them and won many battles and had a big shot edge. By the third the Canes look tired and had slowed down measurably. The Ducks won nearly every battle by the end of the third and in OT. The Canes barely even put up a battle in OT they were so beat.
Size and strength will wear a smaller team like the Canes down. Gibson held them in the game until they could take over and they did.
Watching Jordan Staal play with Aho and Teravainen makes me sad. Staal is a great defensive player, but is a boat anchor in the offensive zone to skill guys like the Finns. No hands, no instincts, just in the way for the most part.
Gibson’s five-hole was wide open on Diguiseppi’s breakaway, but he didn’t think that way and couldn’t get it over Gibson’s glove. It’s why he’s a fourth liner.
McElhinney was awesome, but not as good as Gibson.
The game was eerily symbolic of the typical fight against cancer. The initial results are often positive, even exceed expectations, but the bugger keeps coming back until you give in.
Ironically enough I think Zykov would´ve been a good fit for this game, big, strong, decent shot.
I would’ve liked to see the TAZ line reunited for this game.
staal is a good guy and all that, but he is not a finisher, he never will be a finisher and he should not be placed on a scoring line. He is a defensive forward and would be on the third line of a cup contending team with two effective scoring lines.
The canes have two lines with occasional scoring outbursts.
Yesterday’s team nearly had the personnel of last year (with better goaltending, changes on d and svech) and played the third period a lot like last year, instead of pushing, the team sat back hoping to weather the relentless attack of the ducks, the end was never in question after about the halfway point of the third period.
Also you can rarely win a game if you waste 6 (or was it 7) PP chances.
You can’t win them all and the ducks savaged all of Florida, but the lack of scoring / finishing / going to the net cost the Canes a W, again. I guess Nylander is out of the picture, but I don’t see a playoff appearance without upgrades in the scoring department, and the team has downgraded on scorers since last year. It could change if svech and Necas live up to their lofty expectations, but it will take them a couple of years to do so.
Any hope of a last Nylander move?
No silver linings here. This is a game that should have been won. We had the grade A chances, we had the power plays, we had the puck movement and we even returned their physicality with some of our own.
I go back to the WPG and TBL games in mid-October – also games against quality opponents that we should have been able to put in the bank – that’s 5 points against quality opponents.
I was disappointed with the return of the TSA line – listening to Forslund on Aftermath this wasn’t just a game adjustment but RBA isn’t entirely happy, again, with Aho in the center. I agree with lts that the TSA line doesn’t have the same mojo it used to have and Staal doesn’t have the wheels to drive that line (I am almost under the impression that Staal is at the start of his decline this year, watching him). And that drives a second line is McGinn-Rask-Williams?? No speed and no scoring there.
I absolutely agree with Breezy – if circumstances allowed for the return of the TAZ line, last night was it. There was no reason to waive Z (and wave bye-bye to him in the process) if we had any suspicion that Ferland wasn’t going to be ready. Put Z in his place, the same place he had success last season – I think a much preferred solution to last night’s line up. But Z was in RBA’s doghouse and simply wasn’t going to be given the opportunity to succeed.
I am glad to see Bishop make his statement on the 4th line – definitely high energy and disruption with some offensive mojo to boot.
As for Bean = I liked what I saw in him his past two games. I didn’t see any egregious rookie-level errors (chime in, anyone, if I missed any) – he made some nice stick plays in the d-zone and (I sat right behind the shoot-twice goal) he made an impressive clear – behind the goal reaching to his right to collect the puck and then skating laterally to his left before making a tape-to-tape pass to the neutral zone. He was sent down this morning. But it looked to me like he made a statement he belongs, even if RBA didn’t trust him to play in the third.
Overall sense of the game:
1) Team is playing good hockey, last year they would have lost a goalie who played as well as Gibson.
2) Anaheim is not an elite team, but they have good D and an outstanding goalie. Overall, it was a decent outcome.
3) The Canes are in a playoff position and with McElhinney in goal are playing like a team that deserves that position.
Player observations:
1) I really noticed Wallmark on the power play to begin the second period. He seemed to be in the right place three different times when the Canes had lost control of the puck (twice on rebounds and once on a deflected pass). I noticed last year in Charlotte that while he is not the fastest player he thinks the game a 1/2 step ahead of most players. Then in the third period I noticed him playing Jordan Staal level D in front of McElhinney. While they didn’t replay either play (which they did in the Toronto game where Wallmark basically outmuscled Tavares), Wallmark negated any opportunity for a play in front of the net. It is good to have Rask back, but I am seeing that Wallmark is going to be the center who elevates the Canes to the next level. Especially if he and Svechnikov continue to build chemistry.
2) I have been disappointed in both Hamilton and Slavin this season. They have had too many defensive lapses. Last night both played better. While Slavin’s passes stood out, it was actually a play by Hamilton after Anaheim timed the game that made the most difference. Slavin was beat by Rakell, but Hamilton was in the correct position to prevent a high-danger shot.
3) Martinook is playing some inspired hockey. Both Ferland and Martinook are UFAs after this season. The team should keep both, but given how he has become integral to the successful penalty kill, I think from a value standpoint that Martinook might be more important to keep.
4) Bean was not great, but I worry that RBA’s tendency to bench young players in the third period is not going to help his confidence or development.