At the productivity level, Tuesday night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers was a huge success with a big two points on the road against a good hockey team.
At the headline level, Tuesday night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers was also a success in that the Hurricanes scored in bunches with five tallies on the night.
And especially with the Hurricanes early in the season, riding a two-game losing streak and trying not to dig a their usual hole on the North Carolina State Fair road trip, the results trump all else that follows.
But Tuesday’s win was anything but textbook and a repeatable formula. When I condense down the Hurricanes win, two things jump out. The Hurricanes benefited from a tough night for the Oilers in terms of breakdowns and also a backup goalie but do deserve credit for opportunistically finishing at a crazy high rate. But between the intermittent grade A scoring chances gifted to them by the Oilers, the Hurricanes really did not play well at all. Puck possession, shots and most statistics other than the all-important goals leaned heavily toward the Oilers. The Hurricanes lost 61 percent their face-offs and were outshot 51 to 21.
But I think there is a huge silver lining even in painting a bit of a tarnished image of the 5-3 win. That silver lining is the fact that the Carolina Hurricanes have twice now won games on far less than perfect nights via finding a way and opportunistic scoring. That story beats the good (or often not so good) old days when the Hurricanes dominated possession statistics but just could not finish to save their lives.
Notes from the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers
First, addressing the ‘What I’m watching’ points from the game preview…
1) A noticeable desire to play hockey in front of the net in the offensive zone
This item seemed to push to the next game when the Hurricanes found their inner sniper and scored by beating a goalie who had a tough night.
2) Martin Necas’ debut and his line
Not surprisingly, Necas showed flashes of the skill and vision he has with the puck on his stick. I like Peters getting Necas into the lineup in his familiar center position with capable help on his wings. Necas had his moments offensively, but his play without the puck also stood out. He looked a bit lost multiple times defending in his own end often just resorting to hockey 101 and caving in toward the front of the net to help there. He also had an inopportune turnover in the neutral zone when the Hurricanes were clinging to a lead.
It is important to recognize that this was Necas’ first NHL game and also that he is learning at a rapid pace right now. At this stage of his development, players can make strides in a matter of a few weeks or even games.
That said, if I was assessing Necas based only on Tuesday’s game, I would say that he is not ready to play the center position at the NHL level right now in terms of the defensive, positional and decision-making requirements of the position playing defense without the puck. Peters noticed too and limited Necas ice time from the second period on while trying to protect a lead. Necas played only 6:54 total and only 3:40 in the second and third periods combined. The burning questions are if and how much time Peters will give Necas to learn on the job and how quickly he can learn and make adjustments. My wild guess is that he might get another chance to impress but that ultimately Tuesday was the beginning of the end of Necas’ time in the NHL in 2017-18. Unless he gets another game or two and he either lights it up offensively or learns really quickly defensively, I think Necas’ 2017-18 NHL season will end sometime before his tenth game that burns a full year of his entry-level contract.
3) The third defense pairing
Stepping into van Riemsdyk’s slot on the right side of the third pairing and playing his off side in the process, Carrick did not noticeably stand out in a bad way which is a positive for his season debut at the NHL level though he was limited to a meager 7:31 of ice time. Haydn Fleury, who was also limited at 11:52 of ice time, had a bit of a tough night picking up a delay of game penalty, creating an Edmonton breakaway when he got too far forward in the neutral zone and also having a couple other smaller issues sorting things out defensively. I still like where Fleury’s game is right now and also thought his moxy was up to NHL snuff when Lucic finished him way late, and Fleury was chuckling about it.
4) FIRE!
A different kind of test might come when the Hurricanes have to grind out a win via a couple ugly goals to end a losing streak, but in terms of converting the game given them into a win, the results were there. The team definitely started on time capitalizing on Edmonton miscues early to build a lead, and the Hurricanes collected an all-important win.
5) Cam Ward’s debut as a backup
Because he did allow an ‘iffy’ goal late and had another get behind him that he could maybe have frozen, there is a half full or half empty assessment that could be done on Ward’s game. I think that actually misses the point of his role, what he accomplished on Tuesday and the challenging game presented to him. In some respects, the game seemed a bit easy because of the early lead, but in terms of giving their backup a manageable game, the Hurricanes scored a 3 out of 10 at best and the 3 is only because they did stake him to a lead early. The Hurricanes lost the puck possession and territorial battle all night, and Ward faced more than 50 shots. I veiw a backup’s job as giving his team a chance to win while the starter rests. Ward easily accomplished that and netted a win to boot. In total, I would call Ward’s first start in a long time in the backup role a huge success.
Other notes
Jaccob Slavin
For those who watched the game, I really do not need to say anything. For those who did not watch the game, I would be remiss if I did not mention Jaccob Slavin’s play. He made a quick pass to spring the rush on the first goal and later joined to rush for a goal on a nifty backhand to forehand to finish. More significant was how incredibly good he was defensively making a number of plays to thwart Oilers’ scoring chances including a few dandies against none other than Connor McDavid. On a night when the Hurricanes really were not great other than finishing Jaccob Slavin stood as one player who truly was great on the night.
Teuvo Teravainen
His clutch finishing lead the way on a night that could have easily been flip-flopped on the score board. True to 2016-17 form, Teravainen road a good start to a highly productive night. The burning question with Teravainen is not whether he is capable of intermittent bursts of scoring in a game or two but rather whether he can do some combination of finding that higher gear more regularly and also chipping in more when the higher gear just is not there such that the gaps are not so extreme.
Hanifin/Faulk
Justin Faulk had one of those nights were he was some combination of flat-footed and/or just too lenient with the time and space he was giving up. Hanifin was better through two periods, but the third period for the duo was what I termed “an adventure.” In the span of a couple shifts, they had a Faulk penalty, a goal against when Faulk left a huge gap on a forward stepping up into the play and another gaffe where an Oiler got behind both of them with the puck. Faulk’s game was a mixed bag with two assists, but also two minor penalties and the couple ‘oopses’ noted above.
I have been high on Hanifin’s play since his tough opener and have also rated Faulk as at least okay defensively, so hopefully it was just a tough game.
Also from the file of non-repeatable formulas, Peters rode his top blue liners hard. Slavin played a massive 27:34 which is unheard of in a non-overtime game, and Brett Pesce was right behind him at 26:15. A Trevor van Riemsdyk return could help better spread blue line ice time going forward.
Jordan Staal
He had a huge game offensively. His pretty pass on the power play created an easy goal for Lindholm, and he did a nice job getting the puck to Slavin on the rush with enough room for Slavin to make a move and finish versus only having time to whack the puck toward the net.
Results matter…most
For a team that has been on the outside looking in on the playoffs for many years running and found themselves there largely due to slow starts, collecting two points in any way in October and November is critical. While recognizing that the team’s play is still a work in progress, I will gladly take two points over any kind of loss.
Go Canes!
1. I’m happy for Wardo… I’ve not been a big fan, for obvious reasons, but he was good, and that is a big bonus. Several guys looked real good, and two points on the road are huge!
Good team win…!!
Ward was excellent early and hung on under heavy pressure. It was one of those games where we took advantage of almost every opportunity.
Slavin was excellent and so was Staal. Necas, while exciting to watch – he made an outstanding pass to Aho in the slot that he whiffed – is clearly not ready defensively and probably (like Matt said) the beginning of the end.
Like the MIN game, this is the kind of game we lost last year, or at least allowed to go into OT, so I’ll take any early-season regulation road win I can get and worry about style points later.
I’ll take ugly wins, it’s not like the judges will take away points based on style like in figure skating(Sorry, Jeff). But it’s nice to have the depth so we can make changes to spark things, and get a win.
I’m incredibly excited about last night’s win and seem to think we did better than most. Sure we’ve got some work to do still but at 4 sporadic games in I think we’re in pretty good shape.
We did get crushed in SOG and FO% last night but we had a healthy lead in both of those categories against both CBJ and WPG… I will take this outcome over the reverse any day of the week.
I think Ward played well; his few bobbles were more than made up by some very big saves. I feel like EDM was a lot like us the last two games, huge SOG numbers but only a handful of truly grade-A chances.
TT finally getting on the board, and early! Hopefully he will build some confidence and have a little more scoring consistency going forward.
Necas didn’t look too bad in his brief time on the ice. I continue to be impressed by his skating and hockey sense in the offensive zone. He looked a little lost on D a few times and his lack of size was really highlighted last night. He’s a tough kid but he was manhandled a few times. As much as I like him I think it is in everyone’s best interest for him to get some big minutes somewhere else and come back next year stronger all around and challenge for a center role.
Staal had a big night as well! That was just a glimpse of the player I think he is capable of consistently being and am hoping that like Teuvo, he comes away a little more confident going forward.
Last but certainly not least I have to point out the obvious. Slavin is a beast! Over 27 minutes of ice time and he didn’t give McDavid an inch. He is so much fun to watch and I don’t think we’ve even begun to see what he is capable of. It’s going to be a fun 8 years and his contract at $5.3m per is an absolute steal.
Necas definitely made me watch him when he had the puck on his stick – he had great movement with it. I was really hoping he was going to end up on the scoreboard. From what he said after the game he sounded like he knew he wasn’t up to it last night. It is what he does with it going forward that will matter.
I thought Ward came in strong and showed he can play the role of back-up well. It was a good start for him.
Is there a D-man in the league other than Slavin who can take away time/space on McDavid so effectively and completely.
Again, Staal made the players on his wings better and he and Lindy displayed that chemistry they have on the PP goal – excellent interior passing and Lindy was ready for it. I think they are better on the PP together than on a line.
Jooris had a good game as well.
I am glad for the line changes – I liked the energy I saw on all of them. I expect there will be some reshuffling for Thursday and will be curious to see what Peters comes up with.
I am in agreement with all of the comments above so no need for me repeating them. In summary, a win is a win and is far better than a beautifully played loss. Team never collapsed under the extreme pressure Edmonton exerted which is a big change from the past. Maybe when they can get some games strung together the Canes will get their possession game going.
It is always nice to come away with a win, but what a contrast to previous efforts. While I haven’t seen advanced statistics, puck possession seemed to be terrible, with the exception of the fourth line. More on that later.
Going back to Brind’Amours comment that he wanted to bring in Williams because “he plays the same way all the time”, we did not do that last night. With a lead, we just flicked the puck into Edmonton’s zone for a deep turnover, giving them possession after possession after possession. It looked like it was going to be a replay of last year, where we lost a 3 goal lead with that strategy. We were very fortunate to get two breakaways (Staal’s shorty after an ugly Edmonton turnover and Slavin’s beauty) to avoid embarrassing ourselves. Living off of the counter-punch eventually gets you pummelled.
We are also very fortunate to have Jacob Slavin to restrain McDavid. Hanifin, Fleury, Carrick not quite up the task yet. While they showed promise against bottom nines the elite offensive players require elite defensive talent to neutralize them.
Necas was interesting with the puck on his stick but mostly lost the rest of the time. It would be great if everything clicked at once for him – and I hope that happens – but that seems unlikely.
Outside of playmaking by Staal, my favorite thing was watching the fourth line last night. They drove possession against McDavid’s line and others neutralizing him/them with offense instead of just defense. Jooris was solid in his debut, the whole line impressed.
The task ahead is to re-combine possession with scoring. While we have shown both capabilities independently – and together in the opener – the combination is required to be a playoff team. And they will get it going, it is only a matter of when. And it will be a thing of beauty when they do.
1. Our backup is WAAAAAAAAAAY better than Edmonton’s backup.
2. Results DO matter most. The thing I loved about this game is that it almost exactly mirrored the Winnipeg opener last year. Except that we found a way to win this one. This is huge for the team. I’ve seen far too many games where we dominated the shot count and lost to really care that Edmonton destroyed us in shots on goal. Our biggest struggle in recent years has been finding ways to win, and we’ve shown to be much better at that this year than in years past.
3. Best offensive game I’ve seen from Jordan Staal in ages. His game was absolutely incredible, right up there along with Slavin. What Slavin did to McDavid was simply magical.
4. This is the Canes best start, points wise, since 2013-14. That start was immediately derailed by a streak of poor play that saw the Canes lose 8 of 10 from late October to early November. The key telling point for this season will be whether the Canes can avoid that streak of poor play that always seems to haunt the team at least once every season. I will definitely take this as an overall extremely positive start to the season. Keep it up Canes!
I will give Bill Peters an A+ in this one as well. I am a Carrick fan but really he did not look too great out there neither did Fleury so kudos to Peters for tightening up the rotation and double shifting the top 3 guys a lot. They were all incredibly sharp in my opinion, and Hanifin was solid too. Despite being the road team it seemed the Canes had the right guys out there all the time, unlike in the Winnipeg game.
Offensively there is still a lot to be desired 5v5 but it was good to see the early goals. Someone mentioned it but agreed that Jooris had a nice showing. As with everyone else, it was almost jaw dropping to watch Slavin handle McDavid so effectively last night… Wardo was solid too, made some truly outstanding saves although he did let in that 1 softy 😉
Pretty much everything i liked about last nights game has been covered, but here’s one other thing that stood out to me: How many times last year did teams use us to rest their #1 goalie, and how many of those times did their backup seem to have a career night?
Last night the Canes punished EDM for going to their backup, and hopefully we’ll continue to do that at every opportunity this season.
Oh and I also have to say how impressive Jaccob Slavin was, from beginning to end. Defensively, no one can handle McDavid like he did, but to add a sick, high-skill goal on top of that was brilliant!
I’m pumped about the win! Jordan and Slavin played Great!
I’m not a negative person but…. We seriously got destroyed in this game though… Again I’m happy for the win but very concerned about our play. That’s is not sustainable if we want to be playing playoff hockey. We have been outplayed in all but 1 game this year. Its concerning. We look confused, slow and sloppy. Not sure what is going on.