Thursday’s 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins was easily one of the best of the season. If you have been away from Canes hockey or just Canes and Coffee for the past day or so, timing is great to revel in the win in the game recap and contemplate if this game could prove to be bigger than two points in Friday’s Daily Cup of Joe.
But just as quickly as a couple wins propelled the Hurricanes up the standings, a couple losses could see it all disappear quickly. And the road ahead short-term is a challenging one with three consecutive road games against top teams in the Eastern Conference. The combined record of the next three opponents (Boston, Tampa Bay and Washington) over their past three games is an impressive 21-4-5.
In the ‘what have you done for me lately’ NHL playoff chase, important for the Hurricanes is to carry over as much as possible from Thursday’s win and simply focus on the next game against the Boston Bruins.
Against that backdrop, here are my watch points for Saturday’s tilt against the Bruins.
‘What I’m watching’ for the Carolina Hurricanes versus the Boston Bruins
1) Carry over from Thursday
Thursday’s win was an incredibly good one with no significant flaws. The key for the Hurricanes is not to pause, exhale and let up but rather to use the win as fuel to push just as hard or harder on Saturday night in Boston. It is up to Justin Williams and the team’s captains to rattle the sword a little bit to make sure that everyone recognizes that Thursday’s level of play is something that is earned not just granted.
More tactically, I will be watching for two key elements:
—The forecheck: In both of the past two games, the Hurricanes’ forecheck has been phenomenal and the primary source of offense across all four lines. As I noted in Thursday’s game recap, that is a tremendous ingredient for consistent offense since it can span the entire lineup and create scoring chances for many different players. Can the Hurricanes continue at the current level?
—Sound defensive play and puck management: The Capitals game was largely a mess in terms of puck management and defensive play that was saved (for a single point anyway) by the fact that the Capitals defensemen were at least as bad managing the puck if not worse. Thursday was the opposite with sounder play in all aspects of the game.
2) Battling some of the best in Marchand/Bergeron/Pastrnak
The trio might be overshadowed a bit by a few lines like the Tampa Bay juggernaut, but for those who follow the NHL closely and below the scoring headlines, the combination of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pasternak has been right up with the top lines in the NHL especially recently.
The challenge for the Hurricanes is that playing away from home they will not be able to dictate match ups against Boston’s top line. Rather, the Canes will need to be sound throughout their lineup.
Best bet is that Peters will use Aho/Rask/Teravainen and McGinn/Rask/Williams as a 1-2 which could see Rask’s line doing the heavy lifting if Boston steers around Staal’s line.
In addition, the game represents an another opportunity for the TSA line to simply be better than the other team’s best line whether they are playing against them or not.
3) The blue line
The defense was sound and solid in Thursday night’s win but has been up and down a bit of late despite the team’s success. If the Canes can defend and avoid costly mistakes at a level even close to Thursday’s game, they will be in nearly every game which is a recipe for collecting the points and wins necessary to maintain their current playoff position. On Saturday, I will be watching to see if the defensemen can follow up Thursday’s effort with something similar on Saturday.
The puck drops at 7pm on Fox Sports Carolinas with John, Tripp and Mike.
Go Canes!
As mentioned, the McGinn/Rask/Williams line should figure prominently. I am watching for McGinn to have one of those games where his production is that of a top 6 forward. He has been playing well lately and his shot has been stopped by the posts as much as by opposing goalies. I am not as dismissive of plus/minus as others. Especially for a player like McGinn who doesn’t get time on the first or second PP units. The fact that he is averaging 12 minutes of even-strength time and is plus 8 indicates that he is outplaying opponents. I think he might get rewarded with a goal or a couple of points today.
Hanifin has been absent from the scoresheet the last few games, it would be wonderful to see a dominant day in front of his family and friends. To that point, dmiller mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Hanifin might turn into the Canes’ version of Karlsson. I would be pleased if he consistently becomes a player like Shattenkirk.
After last night’s Penguins/Islanders game, I think the Thursday victory looks even better. I agree with livefree and dmiller that Pittsburgh is not the team that won consecutive cups. But I don’t think they are a bottom half of the league team. They have elite talent and a strong goaltender. As the season wears on, the thing that will stand out about the victory in Pittsburgh is that all four goals were earned–not a cheap goal in the bunch. Though I would argue that the only one that is easily replicable was the Teravainen goal. The Canes should stress D-men getting involved and creating passing lanes.
One final thing I have been thinking. I love the Saarela call-up. I have no way to know if either of these points are based in reality, but I believe them. 1) Kuokkanen was at the WJC, so Saarela was the lone Finn on the Checkers. Normally not a big deal, but Saarela turns 21 tomorrow. Being four thousand miles from home with no one to speak your language is surely tough, especially when you are having a milestone birthday. Since the Checkers didn’t have another game until Saturday, they sent Saarela to join Aho and Teravainen. That is a really classy move.
2) The team also benefited from having Saarela spend time with Aho and TT. When Aho scored his first goal (the one for the highlight reel) on Thursday, I realized I had seen an almost identical play before. It was the Saarela goal on opening night that I mentioned earlier this week. Perhaps Aho and TT were learning by teaching their fellow Finn.
Nice thoughts on Saarela, but they sent him back to Charlotte yesterday when they brought Kruger off IR. They had to do so as a roster move. Although I expect there was a Finnish cohort the previous few days and it was good for him to be traveling with the big team and have two successful Finns on it.
Next year we may have as many Finns as we do Swedes.
For me, it’s the same: 60-minutes of effort, play fast, and stay disciplined. That’s been the formula.
The one thing I noticed in the PIT game: in the 3rd period we chose to continue to attack. Earlier this season when we’d have a lead in the 3rd, especially a multi-goal lead, we would dump the puck in deep and sag back defensively. We didn’t do that against PIT and it led to 2 more goals; that 3rd goal was the real dagger.
Winning teams put other teams away by not letting up. It worked Thursday. I hope it continues tonight and we push the entire game.
I agree with Matt. This is Justin Williams team. His influences are not as much on the ice but off the ice. I always thought he should be the captain. I think Ward also brings a calming effect.
I would like to see the McGinn line matched up with Marchand and clamp him down. He is what makes Boston tough to beat.
Still need work on PP. I want to see more net front present from Stall and others. I think improving the PP is the key to our making or not making the playoffs.
Good news: Anton Khudobin starts in the net. Tuukka Rask was named NHL’s first star for December so I will applause on their goalie choice for this game.
Go Canes!
Nice. Although his numbers are good this year he does have a history of leaving some juicy rebounds for the getting. Hope we can get some bodies at the net to pounce on them if that occurs.