An important starting point is to note that the Hurricanes had a successful road trip finishing up at 2-2. No doubt, a big win on Saturday would have been better, but following my playoff math that says a team has to get half of the points on the road and two-thirds of the points at home, the Hurricanes played at a playoff pace on the road trip and also have in total for the season.
As for Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars, the Hurricanes started slow which ultimately cost them. But after falling behind 4-0 by the midway point of the game, the Hurricanes admirably pushed back, but it was already too late.
Especially early, the game featured some of the troublesome elements from the significant rough patches from the win over Edmonton on Tuesday. The Hurricanes handed over possession of the puck too often trying to just clear its own zone or get it deep for a line change. And also like the Edmonton game, the Hurricanes offered almost no resistance to the Stars flying through the neutral zone and attacking the offensive blue line.Finally, the face-off woes from the Edmonton also returned with the Hurricanes winning only 40 percent of the draws.
The Benn/Seguin/Radulov line represented the best three players on the ice each time they hopped over the boards, and better than any other team the Hurricanes have faced thus far, the Dallas Stars did an incredibly job converting speed in transition into scoring chances largely by creating man advantages in small spaces via puck support from forwards working as a tandem or often a defenseman joining to make a 4-on-3 advantage.
Notes from the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars
Slavin/Pesce
For as good as they have been all season, they had a fairly tough night against Benn/Seguin/Radulov. In the first period, Pesce was on the ice for the first goal that saw him and Trevor van Riemsdyk both just keep backing up, allowing too much room and ultimately a goal. Pesce also had Radulov blow right around him early in the second for another mostly uncontested scoring chance. Slavin was victimized by a heady play by Seguin who occupied Slavin and then pulled up to freeze Slavin such that he could basically hand the puck to a speeding Radulov who went mostly uncontested to the net. Slavin also lost track of a Star players on the penalty kill for a shot off the side of the net from point blank. At a more general level, the Stars did not really try to use last change to steer Benn/Seguin/Radulov away from Slavin/Pesce and at least on this night, they did not need to do so. I would not say that they were horrible, just that the other team’s best players were better than them on this night. The key is to look forward and just get right back to work in the next game.
Jeff Skinner
It ended up being too little too late, but Skinner’s goal with just under 10 seconds to go in the second period was another of the kind of goal that can make a difference. Sure enough, it seemed to spark a team that was mostly defeated, and it almost helped propel the Canes back into a game that seemed to be over only a few seconds earlier. His hand eye coordination on both goals is completely off the charts. On his first goal, he managed to play a puck off his skate, to his stick and up over Bishop from very close in where there did not seem like there was enough room to do so. The second goal saw him cleanly play the puck just as it was reaching the ice but was bumbling around and not settled. From watching him for many years now, I actually do not think he is quite playing at his top gear when he is dominant on an every shift basis. That just makes his five goals in six games even more impressive.
Brock McGinn
I really liked his game. He was right in the middle of it when the Hurricanes were gradually dialing up the intensity level late and also got on the score sheet on both of Skinner’s goals. The game was easily his best of the season, and I would rate him only behind Skinner who gets extra credit for scoring two goals in terms of making a positive difference on Saturday night. He is only two games deep playing with Skinner/Ryan, but at a minimum he has been the best player in this slot and has earned a chance to continue to run in this slot. Finally, though his game and skill set are a bit different, McGinn reminds me of Nathan Gerbe a bit in terms of his every shift consistency for intensity level.
The fourth line
In the same vein as Brock McGinn, I continue to like the fourth line. They were mostly stapled to the bench in the third period in favor of players with greater potential to score, but up until that point, I liked their game again.
The power play
The final Hurricanes goal was not a power play goal, but it followed a power play that generated a couple good chances and built the offensive momentum that led to the goal. The power play in general still continues to look a little bit slow and disjointed at times moving up the ice and gaining the offensive zone. And both units can be a bit too static and therefore easy to defend at times. But along the way, the power play has been building some momentum in the best way possible – scoring goals. And short of doing just that to tie the game late, I thought the final power play also had the right level of desperation and came close to scoring a couple times.
Scott Darling
Four goals against is not great obviously, but I liked the way Darling kept competing and was still around to give his team a chance to try to steal a point late.
Continuing to improve
The Edmonton and Dallas games this should make for a decent set of tape for the video scouts and coaches to break down to tighten up the neutral zone play a bit.
Next up for the Hurricanes is a return home against the red hot Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
Go Canes!
Wasn’t able to catch this game due to college football. Watching the recap it looked like some lacksidasical play for the first half of the game. I’m sure Slavin and Pesce were worn down after being leaned on heavily two games in a row. I think the deep defensive corps needs to step up. In what I’ve seen from the offense so far we’be had flashes of brilliant play making with little to no finish. Aho seems to have the yips after whiffing on that overtime shot against Columbus, I’ve seen him whiff on a couple of other shots and still hasn’t found the back of the net. I’m hoping to get to the Tampa bay game and welcome our team back home. I think they could use a strong fan presence after playing away for so long
I was watching to see if we would start on time, and we didn’t. The game was almost identical to last season’s game in Dallas. Chalk it up to AA Arena or the end of a long trip, but they were much faster than us through the first two periods when it mattered most.
A few nice plays by Skinner, otherwise a game to quickly move past for almost everyone.
Amazing how different the last two games were, eh?
MY SMILE FROM THE PREVIOUS GAME…turned into a frown…BIG TIME!
…and yet…once they woke up, and started playing…they got close. Can’t BP motivate these guys, BETTER?
Can we find another Skinner, or two?
Motivation is the coaches job…MAYBE SOME GM…NEEDS TO MOTIVATE THE COACH…!!!
Gitr done Ronnie…ASAP
Hopefully we can blame this one on the end of a long roadtrip (depends on Tuesday’s game).
At least last year I believe we would have lost this game 5 to 1 or 6 to 1 instead of almost coming back. Stil, a loss is a loss.j
I think BP should not have overused the JB top pairing so much in the previous two games. NO matter how good they feel physically, these games take a toll and it showed, especially in the first period.
I also think BP should have given Nichas another chance in Dallas. It was a game we were likely to lose and where we needed a spark.
I’m happy to say I humbly retract my statement on JW not doing his thing, he’s been a great and steady presence.
I still think TT is too streaky and we need more consistency from him. Also Aho needs a snake bite antidote.
Tuesday’s game will be a very important test against a team that has managed to embarrass us time and time again in the last 6 or so years and is once again red hot, a good measuring stick.
And in my opinion it is becoming ever more obvious that we are one top forward short of being a great team.
Both AG and Duchene may still be on the market and we shouldn’t completely abandon those talks, though the Duchene price tag is only going up (man, if we had managed to get him in the dog days of summer).
I will say that I agree – McGinn reminds me of Nathan Gerbe (who I really respected) for his level of effort every shift. And McGinn brings physicality. But how about a scorer on Ryan’s RW? Don’t lose sight of Valentin Zykov – after 7 games he is 5G/3A. Imagine him planted in front of the net to take passes from Ryan and scoop up rebounds. McGinn may be the NHL-proven player, but he will never be a scoring option (and that is pretty close to having been proven). Zykov is playing to make that statement that he should be there.
And for those playing at home, after 7 games Wallmark is leading the AHL in scoring (3G/8A/11P).
This thought is well-timed. With Necas being returned to the Czech Republic, the Hurricanes have an open roster spot again.
I am on record also not being high on McGinn as a scorer or more than a depth forward. That said, I would not ignore and steer away from results. McGinn was good on Saturday, arguably the team’s third or fourth best player and he factored in on 2 goals. There are no guarantees that it will last, but I would not rush to change that line after Skinner scored two with some help from McGinn.
That said, I do like the idea of giving someone like Zykov or maybe Foegele a short trial. Best might also be to send Kuokkanen down to the AHL where he can get a run of 18 minutes of ice time. He is still a young player who needs ice time to develop, and he can easily be recalled later.
Matt – I don’t think the change will happen very soon because Peters wants NHL ready, but I think it is a chance that needs to be considered.
I agree that Kuokkanen’s development best occurs in the AHL and he should be sent down for that. I wouldn’t rush up an AHLer, unless we face an injury before going on the road.
Foegele has really cooled down since his first couple of games.
Zykov and Wallmark seem to show the most likely to contribute now options – although in different role. But the promotion of either would only result in a change in mind of Peters, methinks.
I too have been wondering about Zykov as an option. His one shining game last year was on RW with Aho/Staal. He might be the finisher that Matt wants to see with Aho. That would allow Williams to see some more favorable matchups on the 3rd line. It would also mean my favorite 2nd line Skinner/Rask/Lindholm.
Since I am stating opinions in accordance with RedRyder’s maxim (an infinite probability of being worthless), I would like to see the Canes plagiarize from the NBA. How about a third line of Aho/Ryan/Teravainen where all three play center. Maybe Ryan in the 1st, Aho in the 2nd, an TT in the 3rd. Would that give each more energy not having center responsibility for the entire game? Would it mess with the opposition’s matchup strategy? As I said in the NBA you will see big men used to bring the ball up court and guards posting up. It might be time to play hockey differently.