After climbing up into a playoff spot with Thursday’s win, the Hurricanes fell back below the cut line with Friday’s results. Such is life this time of year for a team battling for position at the playoff cut line.
The key is to stay focused on winning and applying pressure on the other teams in the hunt.
The Hurricanes did exactly that on Saturday with a 3-0 win in Dallas.
In my opinion, this game was the team’s most complete in some time. Curtis McElhinney was perfect and played well, but he was not the story of the game despite the shutout. The Hurricanes got back to dictating play, and the result was an advantage in terms of shots and more importantly medium to good scoring chances. Unlike Thursday, the Canes converted a 5-on-3 power play and played a pretty clean game in terms of errors. If I could pick one game from the last five or six wins to model the rest of the season after, this game would be it.
Recap
The game plucked one of the big positives from last weekend which was pouncing on opponents before they could get up to Canes speed. On Saturday, the Hurricanes continued the trend of scoring early when a passing play off the rush saw Warren Foegele and Greg McKegg assist on a Lucas Wallmark goal that deflected off a defenseman’s skate and past goalie Ben Bishop. The Hurricanes then had a couple goal posts while they were still buzzing around early. Dallas pushed back after getting up to speed and hit two posts as well in the first period. When the dust settled, two players on each team had clanked the post, but the score was only 1-0 in favor of the Hurricanes. The modest 6 to 4 shot advantage for the Hurricanes maybe a bit understated the volume of near misses on chances.
Early in the second period, Justin Faulk wired a wrist shot on the power play to put the Hurricanes up 2-0. That seemed to spark the Hurricanes. The Canes have had a number of lackluster second periods of late, but that was not the case on Saturday. The Hurricanes seemed to find a higher gear and get the upper hand for most of the second period. Despite not scoring again, the game was trending positively coming out of the second period with a 2-0 lead after a 14 to 6 shot advantage in the second period.
After collecting only 10 shots on goal through two periods and incurring the wrath of the home fans, the Stars finally pushed a bit in the third period. But the Hurricanes were pretty sound defensively such that even when the Stars shot total rose, the volume of high-quality chances did not change significantly. Curtis McElhinney had another strong game (perfect obviously) but unlike a few other recent wins, goaltending did not have to be the story. Jordan Martinook would cap off the victory with an empty-netter shortly after Dallas pulled its goalie.
This win was an impressive one. I am not sure one could ask for too much more in terms of a complete effort.
Player and other notes
1) The blue line
The blue line was the leader in Saturday’s win in my opinion. The team in total was good defensively, but I think especially the defensemen were strong. The number of breakdowns was minimal, while the number of good plays defending the puck was high. Faulk’s goal also continued a good trend of chipping in offensively. Faulk gets top honors because he also scored, but the group of six in total was strong.
2) Jordan Staal
He kind of eased his way back into it. He did have a great scoring chance on his first shift but missed high and had another grade A chance later in the game. He did collect an assist by winning the face-off before Martinook’s empty-netter and also picked up an obstruction penalty. After more than two months since his injury, I would consider Saturday an initial step forward with 13:57 of ice time in a win.
3) Nino Niederreiter
His mini-spat with Roman Polak impressed me. Polak is a tough customer in an old school, throwback, nasty kind of way. Niederreiter looked him eye to eye as they exchanged a couple jabs and pushes at the side of the net, and then Niederreiter went straight to the front of the net where it continued. He was smart enough not to get goaded into a fight after the whistle, but in no way did he back down to a tough customer.
4) Back in again
The Penguins blew a third period lead on Saturday night and only picked up an OTL point. That puts the Pens and Canes tied for the last playoff spot with the Hurricanes winning the tiebreaker. So we wake up in a playoff spot again on Sunday!
Next up is a couple days to recharge and wait for the trade deadline to pass before a Tuesday match up again PNC Arena against the Los Angeles Kings.
Go Canes!
I find myself hoping they make no moves in the next 2 days.
Solid win all around. Meanwhile other Metro teams were dealing as games were in process. It appears CBJ is stacking up for a deep run. PIT is rarely patient and they may counter deal. Knee-jerk reaction says Canes may try to work a deal themselves, but not sure the names being bandied in public are what we want or need. I think if there is a significant deal it will be Waddell and company being stealth with an eye on 2C and/or long-term goalie. Otherwise I can see a 3C being picked up for cheap as insurance.
Agree with darth. If you consider picking up NN, adding Staal to the lineup, and self-renting Ferland, the Canes have done more than any team not named Columbus. I wouldn’t be opposed to bringing in a Stone for futures/picks only. Beyond that I think moving a D or adding a middle-six player would likely do as much to damage the chemistry as it would improve the talent.
The D has been solid during this win streak. I think the success of Pesce/Faulk is not being highlighted enough. That pairing has taken on Crosby, McDavid, Seguin twice, Gaudreau twice, Zibanejad, and Barkov. If I remember correctly none of those players has a goal and combined they have only one or two points at even strength. Pesce/Faulk has been the best pairing in the NHL for the past three weeks. While neither makes many “wow” plays, they are doing their job at an incredibly high level.
Were I on the “committee” the assets gained in the Skinner trade would be burning a hole in my pocket. That aside, the only rental I would consider is Eric Staal, for no more than those assets. There is a strong caveat to that recommendation. Eric would need to convince Brindy and Williams he had the fire in his belly to bust his ass every shift here. To much good work on culture change has occurred here. There must be assurance this would not be a step backwards for the winning culture growing here.
That was an impressive win and you can see that the confidence of the team is building, especially on defense. I was particularly impressed with how cleanly they were able to transition the puck out of our zone with crisp passing in tight spaces. Staal integrated back in better than I expected.
We are going to be one tough out for any team if we play like that the rest of the season.
CBJ, to their credit, is going for it, and added two of OTT’s big three UFA’s. They have to do it on the ice but you’d think they are going to be tough to pass in the standings. MTL looked very good for two periods against TOR last night and then fell apart late (or TOR woke up, hard to tell); they are going to be hanging on for dear life.
The first place through fifth place sort-order in the Metro could be in almost any order.
Oh, and I’m not spending much on Rentals (though I like surgalt’s Staal idea). I’d leave this team alone – it’s found it’s mojo and is clearly playing better hockey than most every other team. We’ve already had our big trade (NN).
Columbus’s wheeling and dealing is impressive. I think adding a duo of players who have played well together is a good idea and will make another formitable offensive line for them.
Most of the other trades appear to be dealing for the sake of dealing and don’t impress me that much.
The Canes have a good thing going and should not trade away their D for anything less than a King’s ransom. Faulk has been an absolute beast lately, logging extra minutes (up to almost 25) and scoring crucial goals in the last two games. Sure, the offseason may look different but the team should right this d core as far as they will take them.
Maybe they can trade someone like Fox (or the rights to Fox) + the Buf pixk to pick up an additional scoring center (the Kings are coming to town, they can execute my deal without paying for transportation) , but otherwise go with what they got.
I’m not big on Eric Staal to be honest. I don’t see the line mates for him and he’s part of another chapter in Canes history. He is one of our all time great players and I am thankful for his 2006 and 2009 performances but this team is different now.
We already got the best Wild player for Rask.
Agree with commenters – make no moves or trade futures only.
The defense is clicking with 4 shutouts in a month. Don’t touch it.
Once again the offense last night had 9 different players with a point and none with more than a point. The balanced scoring across the lineup indicates a group playing as a complete team.
No on trading Necas,Fox or Bean. They have too much upside.
They could trade faulk now that his price has risen. Toffoli or Mike Hoffman make the most sense since they each have 1 yr at a reasonable salary.
E. Staal only if that is good with Brindy.
Though if they trade Faulk now, then he could be turned around to Pitt. Which would not be good. Justin also has a 15 team no trade list. So, I a move right now would be difficult.
TVR is playing well so they shouldn’t trade him.
So I think the canes are done with moves till the off season.
If we trade Faulk now the D would take a number of steps backwards in the short-term.
Even elite D prospects need time to get to know the team, the structure, and playing in the NHL, just look at Rasmus Dahlin, an absolute #1 pick concensus by everybody, yet he is nowhere near a Norris trophy conversation this year, he needs time, and Time is one thing this team does not have if they plan on a 2019 playoff appearance. Trading away one of the D men right now basically sends the message that the team is willing to punt a playoff appearance for the future, sometimes sensible but not really this year given the growing excitement around the team and that the team is in a playoff spot right now.
Faulk’s value will remain high over the summer based on this season, barring an injury or a cataclysmic collapse.
I would trade Necas or Fox for guys like Toffoli or Hofmann, or a guy like Jason Zucker from Min (more than Eric Staal). Apparently Eric has a 15- team no trade list. I wonder if Carolina is on it.
I think his departure from the Canes was not amicable, though I hope that is not an accurate perception.
I think Hofman would be a really good add to this team.
But I also think maybe it’s time to let the boys test their chemistry, have fun, and battle through to the end. Worry about next season over the summer.
Staal is said to have a 10 team no trade list. It has also been reported his list was constructed to keep him in MN where he is happy. (His list is supposed to be all contenders that are buyers looking for centers.) I believe you are right about his leaving here unhappy, but that would be the result of Karmanos/Rutherford/Francis era, not today’s Canes. As the clock ticks down, I have less enthusiasm about his return.