Coming off a psyche-challenging 1-3-2 road trip and playing a Rangers team that was off to a strong start at 5-2, and the situation looked potentially ominous for the home opener. Also recognizing that the Hurricanes had not won a home opener since 2008 only added to any doubts that Canes fans might have had making their way into a full PNC Arena.
I LOVED the parking chaos actually
Partly because I was there early enough to still be in my seat before the opening ceremony started, I oddly think one of my favorite parts was being led into the parking lot near Carter-Finley Stadium only to then learn it was full and have to meander all the way over to the other side of the football practice facility. I have not parked there since the 2009 playoffs and also remember doing the same for the 2006 playoffs.
Game recap
But back to the hockey which was obviously the more interesting story of the night.
The Hurricanes were a bit slow and sluggish out of the gate, but mostly managed to survive having the ice tilted into their end for about 10 minutes. Cam Ward made a couple good saves early and despite being challenged moving the puck through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone with possession. But then 8:31 into the first period the Rangers were finally rewarded with a goal for being the better team. The goal had the markings of a deflating goal against. Not hugging the post, Ward had another shot from either at or behind the end line get behind him. Somehow that shot did not go in the net, but then the Rangers scored a controversial goal anyway as Ward lay prone on the ice with a pile up of a Ranger and a Canes defenseman also in the crease. I would have voted for incidental contact, no goal, no penalty and a face-off, but the referees ruled it a good goal. At that point, the Hurricanes had not completely cracked in terms of mistakes and defensive zone coverage, but they were definitely off to a slow start.
Enter the hero of the night. Jeff Skinner then single-handedly jump started the team with a patented Jeff Skinner whirling dervish variety goal. He entered the offensive zone 1 against 4 with really nothing going on, but he pressed forward and attacked with speed anyway. The result was a quick rush and a relatively harmless shot that missed the net. Then in the span of the next 4-5 seconds, Skinner lifted the team up. He retrieved his own shot behind the net, carried the puck back out front and made a big “I got this fellas” statement when he rifled a shot past Henrik Lundqvist to tie the game at 1. Sometimes goals come as a result of a burst of energy; other times the goals are the catalyst for finding energy. Friday night was very clearly the latter, as Jeff Skinner’s goal seemed to jolt the Hurricanes to life. Skinner’s goal seemed to tilt the ice back to flat and inject a caffeine-laden energy drink into the Hurricanes’ bench.
By no means were the Canes suddenly dominant after the Skinner goal, but the ice tilted back to flat and the Hurricanes pushed back throughout the rest of the game. To start the second period, Brett Pesce made a nice pass to partially spring Skinner on a 1-on-1 rush. Skinner simultaneously used strength to put Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein on his hip and drag him along and the hands to lift a pretty backhand finish past Lundqvist. Then to top off a great night early, Jeff Skinner finished on the power play with less than a second left in the second period to put the Canes up 3-2 entering the third.
Nevermind, that the goal was later credited to Bryan Bickell, there is maybe nothing better visually at a hockey game than a home hat trick on a hat giveaway night. It’s SO much better when everyone in the building just received a free hat a couple hours earlier.
The scoring excitement was over by the end of the second period, after blowing 2 3-goal leads and also a 2-goal lead, that is a great story in and of itself. The Hurricanes played parts of the third period under duress, but there were 4 big positives mixed in. First, Ward was sharp and made a couple solid tester saves. Second, even when under pressure, the team did not collapse/implode like the other games in terms of coverage breakdowns and horrible turnovers. The Canes did a reasonably decent job of counter punching and also netting some shifts controlling the puck in the offensive zone to get some relief. And last but not least, they held on to win.
The game was not perfect, but it is easily has the greatest volume of things that the team will hope to build into a repeatable formula.
‘What I’m watching’ check points
If you missed it and care to read the details, the game preview is HERE.
1) Bill Peters ability to capitalize on last change on home ice
Behind the scenes of a fun night, there was definitely an element of Coach Bill Peters pulling levers behind the curtain to try to boost his team that came into the game ailing a bit. He pulled the Skinner/Rask/Stempniak line off the ice at a face-off after a short 28-second first shift seeking to try to get match ups rolling the way he wanted. Both of Skinner’s even strength goals came at the expense of the Klein/Staal defense pairing that has 2 veteran defensemen but is light on the ideal mobility to defend Skinner off the rush which played into both goals. With 2 days off before the game and a day off before the next game, Peters also shortened the bench significantly down the stretch. Someone holler if there is an injury report on Klas Dahlbeck, but my assumption is that his 17 seconds of third period ice time was because of his play, especially losing track of Mats Zuccarello who got behind him for a breakaway goal. Peters and defenseman coach Steve Smith went with a rotation of 5 defensemen in the third period, and Peters also leaned on Jordan Staal as much as he could down the stretch.
It is only 1 game, but Friday’s win offers some hope that there is some ability for Peters to coax more out of the home Hurricanes.
2) A sounder game
The game was not flawless. The first goal was partially a result of Ward having another shot from an impossible angle get behind him, and the second Rangers’ goal came on a 1-on-none breakaway when Zucarello sneaked behind Dahlbeck and Hanifin. But the count of ‘big oopses’ as I called them in a daily post recently was greatly reduced relative to the Hurricanes other games thus far.
3) The goaltending
Cam Ward was very good and deserved the second star that he was awarded at PNC Arena. He had the early goal against that brought back bad memories, but otherwise was beaten only on an uncontested breakaway. He saw 30 shots on net and a reasonably high number of testers with deflections and tough saves. On a night, when the Rangers could stake a fair claim to being the better team overall, Ward allowed only 2 goals. He also bettered Henrik Lundqvist. And he won.
I would expect Friday’s outing to earn him the start on Sunday against the Flyers and a chance to start to build from 1 to 2 in terms of strong goalie starts which would be a first on the young season.
4) Continued scoring ideally with Skinner
Questionable with a “middle body injury,” Jeff Skinner was in the lineup and was a 1-man offensive juggernaut. He made something out of nothing entering the offensive zone 1-on-4 for his first goal when the Hurricanes needed it, and then made a tremendous individual effort for the second goal. He finished with another well-timed individual effort with a blast at the buzzer to end the second period. Jeff Skinner’s game on Friday is the definition of leadership of the loud variety where a player picks up a team, puts it on his back and carries it to victory.
Other notes
Justin Faulk
By virtue of not getting on the score sheet except for a minor penalty for delay of game, Justin Faulk’s game was a bit more understated than Skinner’s or Ward’s, but I had him in a dead heat with Cam Ward for the second star of the game. He was sharp and executed small play after small play the entire night leading the team with 24:25 of ice time. What stood out most to me was how incredibly good he was at engaging the puck or an opponent and winning in small spaces whether it was winning a race to the boards for a dump in and then keeping/moving it, defending 1-on-1, winning lose pucks or whatever else. I continue to believe that Justin Faulk must be 1 of the Hurricanes best 3-4 players for the team to be successful. In my opinion, he has not been through 6 games, but in game 7, he easily was. Just like with Ward, I will be watching anxiously on Sunday to see if Justin Faulk can use Friday’s strong effort to climb fully into the 2016-17 season and help lift his team upward.
A little more rugged
Justin Faulk and Jordan Staal led a pretty good overall effort to win ‘big boy hockey’ battling for pucks on the boards, tying up sticks and just doing more little things to make it difficult for an opponent even with possession and offensive zone time to always do something with it. Di Giuseppe would also get an honorable mention for playing a heavy game, and the team in general was better in this regard.
Bryan Bickell
The Hurricanes now have 3 goals in 7 games that have a huge dose of Bickell in front of the net as part of them. For the first time on Friday, Bickell was actually credited with a goal on his deflection of Jeff Skinner’s shot. That is a significant offensive contribution from a player who was obtained really as a financial cost for obtaining another player (Teravainen) via trade.
Noah Hanifin
On a night when Peters did all he could to preserve a 1-goal lead late and shortened the bench, he chose to keep Hanifin in the mix. With Dahlbeck out, Peters was going to need a few shifts from Hanifin, but he clearly played him more than the minimum. He also continued his scoring run with another assist.
Fewer but still some issues on the blue line
They were not horrible, but Slavin/Pesce took a small step backwards. They have players sneak between and past them on 2 occasions and had a few turnovers and coverage issues but importantly of the small and survivable variety. Pesce had a nice assist springing Skinner for his second goal, and I think the silver lining is that even the lesser version of their game is nothing close to the dumpster fire that young defenseman sometimes put up. The bigger negative was Klas Dahlbeck. I actually liked his quiet game in his first few games stepping into a brand new situation without the benefit of preseason/training camp, but I think he has regressed since then. He has taken a couple too many penalties and has had issues with sorting things out in the past couple games. Friday’s saw him looking forward and losing track of Zuccarello behind him.
All in all Friday was a tremendous night to be a Hurricanes fan. Next up is a rematch against the Philadelphia Flyers at home on Sunday.
Go Canes!
Missed the first period, but it looked…better? I’m not sure I’d have believed that Bryan Bickell would be an upgrade over E.Staal on our powerplay this year but here we are.
Not sure I would say that Bickell is better than Eric Staal on the power play – guess I would just say that he fills a small but vital role, understands that role and has been very good in it so far. And that consistent net front role is 1 that the Hurricanes have historically had trouble filling.
Haha just a joke, meant an upgrade in the net front presence department. Last season I found when we tried to reinvent Eric as a power forward he wouldn’t stay in front of the net long enough to actually screen anyone.
Cam actually won us a game.. Awesome. Get some revenge on philly Sunday and we’re right back in the thick of it with some momentum. Good stuff. This lineup is the best the Canes have put on the ice in a long time when Faulk isn’t making dumb mistakes (he played much better tonight, made a couple big defensive plays) and we get a little goaltending.
Agree. Ward was better than Lundqvist and the Canes won on a night when the opponent had a legitimate claim to being as good or better.
Good for Ward. I am happy to give credit where it is due after (fairly in my opinion) being pretty hard on some of his other efforts this season.
Agreed Matt. I’ve been a very tough critic on him and thought Eddie should get 4 or 5 straight games to see if he could build momentum, but if Cam can build on this I’m all for it. I want him to be successful, if for no other reason than because I can remember him coming up as a young guy my dad and I always used to talk about as being our goalie of the future that we were really excited about (much like A-Ned is now). I continue to like the games of Lindholm-Teravainen-Di Giuseppe and think Hanifin is going to continue to blossom this year into a hell of a defenseman. Also Skinner and Rask look like they could be in for monster years, Stempniak was a great pickup as he seems to be an excellent fit alongside those two and really bringing their games up. Also, you heard it here first… Aho nets his first NHL goal Sunday in Philly 😀
Against.. Not in
Just have to comment on Aho. I don’t remember the last time we had such a slick, slippery little guy moving around the ice in a Canes sweater (Kapanen, maybe? Long time ago). I’m so used to other guys weaving in, behind and through our boys, and now we have a guy who can get to those pucks and then find creative things to do with the puck to make his teammates better. A great new element to our game, and he’s going to be here a while. Go Canes!
Kapanen is an interesting comparison especially given the common Finnish ties, but if I had to compare Aho to a past Hurricane, I would pick Ray Whitney. Aho has shown signs of having that same heady playmaking ability where he can not just use but also make passing lanes out of nothing.
1. Not a complete game, but the best game of the season.
2. Where do I go to get my hat back?
3. Ward outplays Lundquist by a lot. Who’d a thunk that?
4. Rangers looked more like the team they were forecasted to be, not the team they were in the first 7 games of the season.
Great game! I was particularly impressed with the level of play coming from Di Giuseppe. He created some good chances and looked pretty smart with the puck. But boy oh boy that beautiful pass from Pesce and the strong backhander from Skinner! I think his “Mid-body” injury is feeling better.
Northernmainiac…. Matt we now have two canes fans up here in the big woods of Maine. I thought I was the only one amongst the sea of bruins.
Keep building! At some point, I am going to talk myself into coordinating a “homecoming weekend” for all out-of-town Canes fans to visit at the same time on a 2 home game weekend when it is warm enough to tailgate with NC barbecue, beverages and Canes conversation for an entire afternoon before a 7pm start.
You have me a little north of ya in New Brunswick!
we’ll all have to get together, go ice fishing and watch the game haha
After watching that 2nd Skinner goal again today, it looked even better. His ability to use his body to shield the puck in Erik Cole fashion and then pick a spot and finish with a player draped over him instead of just chucking the puck at the net was impressive.
First I would not give the “C” to Staal or Faulk.
Skinner, Hanifin or Slavin should where the “C”
Was at game:
Watched Aho all night, every shift.
This young man is going to be a beast once he fills out and gets experience.
His speed and quickness are top notch.
His IQ is sick great. Moves the puck amazingly.
Hope he stays healthy, this kid has the potential to be great (he is already an assist machine, (and if he does not get the assist, he generates chances, great game/ice vision).
He will learn to be a little selfish, shoot more and score goals.
He just looks like an unselfish player on ice, had to shoot more.
Love Stempniak.
Rask gets stronger and a little bigger, another beast, greet all around game, does all the little things well.
McClement actually is looking very good, played a very good game last night.
Faulk: needs to get his head in the game, to many errors last night.
Pesce, Slavin and Hanifin – love this group.
Other hand. Lindholm, as I have said many times, another Rutherford blunder. 1 assist in 8 games, the guy should be on 4th line (if that).
He does not know how to score goals.
Staal, better start scoring.
I agree that I don’t think Faulk should get it as he seems to be trying to work kinks out of his game and that could be a distraction. I think Staal might be the right choice if we are a playoff team this year(sadly I don’t think it’s something we should expect).
Personally I’d like to see it on Skinner mid way through the season pending some mental strengthening(I dunno how to phrase that, basically you can’t have a captain that can have his feathers ruffled and be thrown off his game) or Rask if they had to name one now, I think he is a phenomenal role model for the kids coming up looking for spots.
BTW: will not say anything about Ward last night.
The guy cannot stop a puck on a break away or shootout.
One good game in 5, that is his pattern and has been since 2009.
C’mon Pondhockey…Let’s give credit where it’s due. Ward was good last night, better than Lundqvist and deserves credit.
I have been hard on him (rightfully in my opinion) for his play so far this season, but he was a positive in a big win on Friday.
Let’s enjoy that for now.
Easy and appropriate to give Cam the credit he deserves for his performance last night. It could be said he stole the game last night. But, and it’s a big but, that’s what NHL goalies are paid to do. Further, Cam is the pentultimate “big Tease”, he can perform at a high level, but he has not performed at that high level for extended period of time for quite awhile. Let’s see him put a stretch of that kind of games in a row before we go over the top with praise.
Wow! Good to see all of the comments above and really I agree with all o them for the most part. The reason for my comment is because I have been extremely hard on Ward in the past. Now, one great game (his PAST pattern) does not make a season, but I am encouraged by his play for another reason. If you noticed he was wrapped around the short side post all evening. No space left. He seem’s to have recognized, as all of us fans have, that the opponents know his habit of leaving a gap between himself and the post and they have made it a target to shoot for. He also let the puck come to him and did not bounce around as much. In past games he looked jittery on virtually every shot. Not last night. He was in charge. I really give him credit for actually working the weak points in his game. He eliminates his bad habits like this and he will have an excellent season IMO. I really am pulling for him and Lack, but they have to be very good like last night more than once in a while.