The first period of Friday’s match up against the Detroit Red Wings was actually a fairly entertaining affair with two goals scored and a good pace with scoring chances in both directions.
The Hurricanes scored first when Andrei Svechknikov scored his fifth in three games when Jaccob Slavin made a good play to keep the puck in the offensive zone and had the puck fortuitously roll off his stick right to Svechnikov who finished from in close. Detroit actually had the upper hand by a modest margin for much of the first period. The Red Wings go from defense to offense with speed as well as any team in the NHL, and it regularly created chances to attack of the rush. The Wings finally broke through when Hamilton and Slavin both let a Red Wing behind them in the offensive zone. The result was a quick pass across to Anthony Mantha right through a diving Martin Necas for a quick finish. The first period had a good pace, back and forth attacking and a decent number of scoring chances.
…but it was NOTHING compared to what followed in the second period. The final tally was six actual goals. Three challenges including a waived off goal. And at least four more near misses. Pretty much the entire period was high-speed shinny at its finest. I am sure Brind’Amour was not impressed but for the fans in attendance the entertainment value was high. The four Canes tallies included a pretty maneuver and pass of the rush from Ryan Dzingel to Margin Necas who finished in addition to two Sebastian Aho goals from in close collecting loose change and putting it in the net. Nino Niederreiter finished in close on his own rebound on the power play. Not counting was a pretty Warren Foegele finish off the rush on a pretty Aho pass that was ruled offside. Detroit added a couple goals for good measure. The result was a frenetic, loosely-played but fun second period with as much action as a five-year old loaded up on Halloween candy. The wild middle stanza finished with 32 shots on goal and with the Hurricanes staked to a 5-3 lead.
The game would calm somewhat in the third period. Brock McGinn scored off the rush shorthanded and Teuvo Teravainen tacked on an empty-netter.
There was not much to be used in terms of building a regular blue print for wins other than scoring in bunches, but the game was fun to watch, and after years of having no chance in shootouts like this, it is absolutely enthralling to have a Hurricanes that can not only compete but also win.
Player and other notes
1) Petr Mrazek
Buried underneath the loose play and barrage of goals, Petr Mrazek posted his third straight strong outing. His headline statistics of three goals against on
2) Sebastian Aho
His game was nothing particularly glamorous, but two goals and an assist makes for a nice outburst. He seems to be heating up after a slow start.
3) Andrei Svechnikov
With five goals in the last three games, we have reached the point where Svechnikov is challenging Dougie Hamilton to be the team’s best offensive player.
4) Jaccob Slavin and Dougie Hamilton
Their effort on Friday reminds me of the four quadrant charts that have ‘fun’ for teams or players that both score and give up a ton of goals and chances. Both players had strong games offensively with three assists each, but the duo struggled defending off the rush and were regular entrants in the Canes loose play defensively. The duo was on the ice for eight of the ten goals scored in the game.
5) Warren Foegele
His nice finish on the 2-on-1 with Sebastian Aho was wiped off the board when a challenge showed that he was offside. But Foegele had an assist crashing the crease on Aho’s first goal and continues to play at a higher level since being elevated to the top line. I am not sure he is long for that slot, but for the time being that line is thriving and Foegele’s play has also stepped up.
6) Points matter
One can quibble with process, but the team continues picking up points and pushing its way toward being a team playing for playoff position not a playoff berth. That situation is new and refreshing.
Next up is a quick turnaround with another game at PNC Arena on Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils.
Go Canes!
Good fun game. Nice to see Nino get rewarded, he will find a higher gear soon. Also the two Aho goals are the type of goals that you see the greats like Crosby get…nothing spectacular, just in the right place and with the ability to finish. I was particularly happy with the Necas goal…that was a heck of a finish on a beautiful Dzingle pass…I think Necas is going to be very very good sooner rather than later. Lastly, I want to say that I am observing the players after goals and what I see makes me very excited as we move forward. These guys have the attitude that they expect to score and finish off plays. There is intensity and confidence that I am seeing…we have gone from hoping we play well enough to win, to a point where we are expecting to win. I never underestimate the psychological and emotional aspect of the game.
That Dzingel maneuvering was a thing of beauty. Even Necas’s finish was top end. That was a pretty goal.
I found myself not complaining about the officiating (something I tend to do). All the calls were correct. Too bad for Foegele but that was off side. High marks to that officiating group. I don’t say that much.
Tonight’s opponent, New Jersey, also played last night losing in OT to Philly. Nice to see the the NHL scheduling department level the playing field like that.
That was a fun game to watch, as long as you are wining. RBA had to be going nuts. The redwings outplayed us the first period. I could not believe how many times our defense was just running around. The D almost looked non-existent at times. I thought we were going to get smoked that first period. Thank goodness we were scoring.
It is hard to believe the record the redwings have, they are really fast. They certainly gave our D fits.
Good teams have to be able to adapt to different opponents. I guess that is what we saw last night. That was not they way we want to play against most opponents. Not a good strategy. Happy to get the win. I hope others do not school up on that as a way to compete against up. On the flip side if you do that you are going to leave opening that we can exploit. Again, happy for the win but never felt comfortable. The redwings were buzzing. Not a repeatable style. I would have to believe RBA was not crazy about that.
While I agree Foegele isn’t a traditional top 6 forward, he’s getting the job done. As compared to McGinn and Neiderriter he is an upgrade. Foegele gets his job is to create havok and open space for Aho and Svechnikov. He goes to the net and draws attention which allows for space. McGinn is a bit smaller and wasn’t as effective as Foegele at it and Neiderriter was forever trying to find a seam to get off a shot. As long as Foegele doesn’t start thinking he’s a skill player this could work.
A really enjoyable game as a fan.
To build on one of Matt’s themes last week: The canes scored 4v4, 4v5 (SH), 5v4 (PP), 5v5, 6v5 (EN), and off the Goalie’s Butt (GB). That’s like a Team Situational GB Texas Hat Trick. Add in a 5v3 and 3v5 at each extreme to run the table.
Score on any 3 situational matchups and we could just call that a Hurricanes Hat Trick.
One big question coming into this season was weather Foegele’s playoff scoring outburst was an anomaly or a breakthrough. I lean towards breakthrough, although he is just getting started this season.
I love the FAS line because Foegele creates chaos for Aho and Svech. If you look at Aho’s tap-in, Foegele drew 3 (?) defenders to the near post, like a dog pile, leaving Aho alone on the far post for the easy play.
Foegele distorts defenses with his explosive movement / wreckless abandon with and without the puck. When defenses lose their shape, guys like Aho and Svech will eat them alive. Throw in the Canes offensive defenseman and that will lead to a lot of goals.
Like ICECOBRA, I sincerely appreciate the new attitude that NHL referees are embracing. In the old days, it didn’t matter what happened on the ice, the referee’s call was more important than anything else. Like the ref’s opinion was the star attraction and reality didn’t matter.
Now they are trying to get the call right. What actually happened on the ice trumps what the referee called live. It restores integrity to the game in a way that is necessary to attract and retain fans. Thank you NHL and the referee’s union for moving the game in the right direction. Don’t stop, keep improving. What the player’s do on the ice is supposed to determine the outcome of the games.