In what I think was by far the best all-around effort of the season, the Hurricanes notched their first winning streak of two games with a 2-1 win in Calgary against the Flames.
Immediately following the conclusion of the game, I said on Twitter:
1/2 Took 5 tries, but THAT is the repeatable formula for #Canes wins.
— Canes and Coffee (@CanesandCoffee) October 20, 2017
The season-opening win featured plenty of offense, but Darling was not great, and the defense had far too many breakdowns. The next two games that netted a regulation and overtime loss featured strong netminding by Darling and decent defense but also a complete power outage offensively. And as exhilarating as all the goal scoring was in Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the Oilers, the Hurricanes strayed widely from their puck possession and pace brand of hockey, were outplayed and were rescued by Oiler miscues and incredibly efficient finishing.
Thursday’s win over Calgary was easily the Hurricanes’ best all-around effort. Two goals is not tremendous, but the Hurricanes did a decent job of creating chances here and there (without gifts) across four lines and used the power play to extend a lead. More significant than the goal total was the brand of hockey and consistency. The Hurricanes played fast and aggressive in all three zones with and without the puck. The forecheck made Calgary’s life miserable, and the team pushed the puck forward with pace out of their own end and through the neutral zone. The good version of the Hurricanes plays fast in all facets of the game, and Thursday was easily the best game in that regard. Peters again leaned extra on Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce which is something to keep an eye on, but the defense in total was much better than Tuesday, and Trevor van Riemsdyk was a step up in his #5 slot. And Scott Darling was good when he needed to be. Significant in that regard is that he was called upon to make a few really good saves and did help hold the fort when Calgary pushed in the third period, but he was not under siege behind a weak effort like Cam Ward was on Tuesday.
Notes from the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames
Jeff Skinner
Skinner has yet to hit a stretch (and he will) where he is buzzing around and dangerous each and every shift and is dominant offensively and puts the team on his back for a few games. But despite not yet reaching his top gear, he now has three goals in five games which exceeds his 37-goal pace from 2016-17. The medium good version of Jeff Skinner scoring at a 40+ goal pace is impressive, and the goals he has scored have generally been big ones. He had the late game-tying goal that netted a point on a tough night against Columbus. Tonight’s goal broke the ice in a low-scoring affair. His goal against Winnipeg was ultimately wasted but drew the Canes even at 1-1 when it occurred. This is exactly the kind of offensive leadership that the Hurricanes need from Skinner to score enough.
Scott Darling
He did not face nearly the barrage of shots that Cam Ward did on Tuesday, but he was equally good. When Calgary pushed late, Darling made a couple of heroic saves to preserve the win. The most notable was robbing Jagr, but that was only one of two saves where things changed quickly requiring quickness and athleticism to make a save on a shot that was more the reactionary variety.
Slavin/Pesce
The dynamic duo were phenomenal again. Peters has taken to leaning on them as much as he thinks he needs to inside of a game. The result is a 26-minute average for Slavin in the past two games and only a bit less for Pesce. This is something to keep an eye on. In my opinion, Peters contributed significantly to the goaltending problems last winter went he went one too many times to the “play to win today” approach running Cam Ward into the ground trying to win the next game with minimal balance for the long haul. If you need to win one game, playing Jaccob Slavin as much as at all possible is the right way. For an 82-game season, there is a bit more of a balancing act to consider such that he does not hit a wall physically midway through the season.
Hanifin/Faulk
The second pairing had a mostly uneventful game defensively in a good way not giving up too much and generally clicking off shifts with sound hockey. Both are doing the kind of things that contribute offensively. Hanifin registered a power play assist on a nice play where he hesitated just long enough to hold the goalie and the defense which gave Skinner some space when he received the puck and then found Justin Williams who scored. Faulk has not caught a ton of breaks or bounces yet, but he continues to play with a ‘shoot when possible’ mentality which is generally a good thing. On Thursday, he took a whopping ten shots with four on net. Both players are tracking toward being positive contributors offensively.
Trevor van Riemsdyk
His game was not flawless, nor was his partner Haydn Fleury’s, but the team looks significantly better with van Riemsdyk in the lineup in terms of being capable of moving the puck from their own end with all three defense pairings. The result is a better flow and greater puck possession from fewer times of having to chuck the puck up the ice to get a line change which can sometimes result in not one but two shifts of mostly chasing the puck.
Results matter
As I concluded on Tuesday, results very much matter for a Hurricanes team that has created insurmountable deficits in October and November in the past few seasons. The Hurricanes are now assured of finishing the four-game NC State Fair road trip at a minimum of 2-2 and will return home with a record that is above .500 at a minimum of 3-2-1. Here is hoping that the team can ride the momentum and collect two more points in the road trip finale in Dallas on Saturday.
A few readers did not like my ‘half empty’ tone after Tuesday’s win which I thought was lackluster in terms of level of play. For Thursday’s win, I am easily in the ‘more than half’ full camp.
Who else has observations from the Hurricanes big win?
Go Canes!
Scott Darling has been solid in his previous starts, but tonight we got the level of goaltending we’ve been hoping to get this year. There was no sign of the plentiful rebounds he was giving up in the preseason, either. Looking forward to seeing what he can do over the course of the season.
I was doing furniture market work (Photoshopping) so I couldn’t watch as closely as I’d like, but it seemed like an intense game overall, almost like a playoff game in that respect. Great to see everyone step up and get another win in a game that was almost the opposite of Tuesday’s game.
It’s already been a successful road trip and a fantastic start to the season. On to Dallas!
I was unable to watch any of the game – I had a higher calling tonight – so I am looking forward to hearing about it from others.
I saw most of the game and I was smiling nearly every second! There were WAY MORE GREAT HARD-WORKING SHIFTS IN THE GAME THAN IN ANY GAMES I CAN REMEMBER! Skins was dynamic, Darling was clearly as good as we all hoped him to be! …and maybe better! Willy satisfied my hopes, and more…
NO ONE…even me, should find significant things (or players) to criticize IMO.
An average goalie, at the other end, would have yielded a few more goals, I think!
Good, VERY GOOD GAME!!
Agreed puckgod. This is not the team we had last year. We may not be scoring 5 goals every game but the defense is a wall. The Columbus game could have gone either way. We sometimes nit pick about the bad things but no game is ever perfect. The other team is paid to win also. I have been pretty impressed with our resilience. Darling looked real good, and so did Cam. We could be for real this year.
And the potential guys we have in the system. It is looking up.
What jumped out at me was the glaring difference in the 4th line. Their forechecking was a thing of beauty, and it appeared contagious. Peters rewarded them it seemed with more playing time and the chemistry between Jooris, Nordstrom, and Kruger has been immediately evident. I was surprised to see the line with McGinn and Ryan paired with Skinner work as well as it did.
Matt as hard as you are on our D im surprised you were easy on Faulk. He continues to cause issues that will cost us. He had at least 3 issues that led to odd man rushes.
1st period- he wasn’t sure if he should pinch, when in late to pinch, and that caused a breakaway. Luckily the guy took a bad angle/ rushed it seeing Hanifin was coming
2nd- tried to sneak a pass between 2 flames across the ice. Defender stole it and went in for a scoring chance.
3rd- the misplay on the PP that, again, luckily ended with a bad play by the Flames player.
Slavin is a beast. He used his stick to block a wide open net shot by jagr in point blank range. Just one of many good plays.
Pesce made some sick open ice passes to flip the ice, instantaneously. If Pesce was able to score more or get more assists from his passing, he would get more recognition.
In the end we won, yay!, and it is a game we probably would have lost last year.
Completely agree on Faulk. Those first two you cited, especially the first, are rookie mistakes; not what to be expected, or tolerated, from our veteran defenseman wearing a C.
Other than those instances and the miscue late in the 3rd where either Hanifin or Fleury tried to go D-to-D to Faulk at the blue line in Calgary’s zone that was about picked for a breakaway the D was solid.
Slavin was great as usual; he saved a big one in the 1st when he got his stick on the puck with Jagr staring at an open net. Will be curious how him and Pesce can hold up playing 26+ minutes a game or what Peters will do to avoid it going forward. That is only sustainable if we have multi-day breaks.
Pesce is also playing really good hockey right now. I almost feel bad for him because I think his play deserves, and would get a lot more recognition than it has if he was playing with anyone besides Slavin who has been an absolute stud every game.
Yes Faulk did have some major errors. However I encourage you to take a look at his Hero Charts for the past 3 seasons. He has always been right around league average in shot suppression (and elite in shot generation), and despite his errors he is one of the 3 best offensive players on this team and the Canes absolutely need what he brings. As the third pairing improves I think Faulk will see even less tough defensive matchups. He is a second pairing defenseman, we don’t need Faulk or even Pesce defensively. He needs to move the puck, score goals and keep his head above water defensively. If we got rid of Faulk even for an addition elsewhere we’d only see after he was gone how much we missed him.
People used to make fun of Joni Pitkanen all the time because of his defensive errors and his ‘coasting’ style, but it was only when he was gone that we saw how much we missed him. Sekera and Hainsey were better defensively in those early years but they lacked that ability to skate that Pitkanen had.. and that Faulk does have.
We don’t nee faulk to even be like Pesce defensively ** is what I meant to say. We definitely need them both defensively 😛
Not saying we should get rid of him. I like Faulk and believe he is a true Top-4 with huge offensive upside. I was simply pointing out that he had some very glaring defensive mistakes last night. That bad pinch that led to an almost breakaway in the 1st is a beer league mistake…
He may be having some errors but is not having the slow start like he did last year. He has made a lot of good plays also. He may not have scored yet but he keeps the pressure on and has to be accounted for by other teams. No way I would want to loose him (and I know you were not suggesting that).
Darling was strong–but also a little lucky. Slavin tipped the puck when Jagr had an open net. Fleury made an excellent block that looked headed to the goal when Darling was not going to be able to get back from the first shot. Finally, Gadreau cleanly beat him on a wrap around put instead of tucking the puck into the corner the puck went to Darling who was able to kick it out. Watching that play I was not sure if Gadreau lost control of the puck a split-second early or if he was trying to beat Darling through the five hole as Darling was splitting the pads. In any event, it was more fortunate than excellent. All that being said, Darling was amazing when needed–and he (and we fans) will come to expect outstanding plays from all six D-men because they are getting better each game.
I was completely wrong about the fourth line. I thought that is where an opening existed for a prospect. At this point Kruger and Nordstrom are probably the best fourth-liners in the league. Both McGinn and Jooris have played well with them.
Aho will get hot soon–then the Canes will be winning 3-1 and 4-2. My excitement is building if that is possible.
And that is what good teams do, players get sticks in there to nullify a chance. I kind of thought the angel was wrong for Gadreau to get it completely around and towards the net.
Me too, the 4th line is truly magnificent. What a difference from last year.
I’m with Haunski. The depth of this team will be what pushes us to the playoffs. Well, that and Mr. Darling. We have a superstar in 74, and another one more or less in Skinner, but we know they can’t do it alone. Having a fourth line you can send out with a minute or two left in a one goal game, and having me as a fan be legitimately relieved seeing them coming onto the ice, is some kinda blessing. Also regarding the depth… Matt you’re dead on in that this defense collectively is far and away better with TVR in the lineup. He makes heady little plays, stepping up at the blue line to stop a rush before it starts, hanging onto a puck for a split second to help a pass lane open for a breakout, and I noticed his active stick breaking up a likely-dangerous play a couple times last night. He’s just got a lot of smarts out there being right place, right time, and is a stabilizing presence that Dahlbeck and Carrick (being only three games into his NHL career) don’t offer. I said before that I’m looking at Lindy and Aho to step up and make a statement tonight… well, that didn’t happen. However, with guys like Jeff and J-Will having big games – Williams in particular was all over the puck most of the night (though he did take one dumb penalty with the man advantage) and obviously the goal was huge – it shows the potential of this team is special… but we really haven’t been firing on all cylinders yet. Maybe Aho and Lindholm are just slow starters, as they were last year, but imagine a game in which they’re driving the offense and creating grade A chances likely leading to a goal or two, then we get the same kind of effort from the rest of the lineup we got last night… far from unrealistic since nobody had that much of an outlier game, we got about what we’d want from most the lineup… you’re left with… I dunno, but a team that can win a ton of hockey games. If the three of them, (including Rask who’s been completely MIA ) can each hit the 50 point mark this year, with at least one of them hitting 60, I bet we can finish not just in a playoff spot, but in the top 3 in the best division in hockey. Darling has to be the guy we saw last night and we have to stay healthy, but this is as good a Canes hockey team as I’ve seen in a long, long time. Lastly… I don’t know about y’all, but the last two games have me very intrigued about just how good this goalie tandem can be. Cam is a pro. Been around a long time. If anyone can handle getting pushed to backup duty, I hope it’s him. Scott Darling has been an incredible goalie every chance he’s gotten, really. If Cam can play more consistently in a lesser role and Darls enters into the top 10ish in the league, the Canes might actually have one of the BEST goalie tandems in the nhl. That’s almost inconceivable after the last few years, but hey… stranger things have happened. Just serves as a reminder that the team is back on the rise… it’s a good time to be a Canes fan!
Sorry that got kinda ramble-y and was definitely long winded… I guess I’m just excited?
Ramble away!
1/ edbenson – correct on Darling: last night he was exactly what we hoped we’d be getting. Very encouraging sign.
2/ haunski – correct on the 4th line: dominant with possession and forechecking pressure; played most shifts in the offensive zone and created far more chances than they gave up. This line is really hard to play against and each player seems to relish their role.
3/ Power play – they scored once, but could have easily scored a second time when the 1st unit was buzzing with 1:30 of continuous zone-time. (1st unit looked dominant; 2nd unit not so much.) Seems like it’s coming together.
4/ Unlike against EDM when we played passively in the 3rd to protect the lead, we kept playing our up-tempo game until the final horn. CGY made a push in the 3rd but it wasn’t because we sat back and just dumped the puck in deep.
5/ Composure: when CGY scored with about 3:30 to go to cut it to a one-goal game, I had that sinking feeling I had when EDM cut it to 4-3 on Tuesday, but we held it together and closed out the game in regulation with a win. Continuing the early-season trend, that’s a big step forward from last season. I think it’s clear that we now expect to win (instead of hope to win) these close games.
6/ I think Lindholm has very quietly been extremely good. He’s making a large number of subtle plays that have led to chances and looks extremely confident with the puck on his stick. He’s picking up where he left off last season.
7/ Matt – you are 100% correct: this game should become the template for how we want to play this season. We were the better team last night and clearly deserved to win.
I completely agree with your assessment of Lindholm. He hasn’t been as noticeable as last season in regards to punishing hits on the forecheck, but he has quietly been an excellent support player for his line bringing his versatility of taking faceoffs and playing solid defense and always being in the right spot. The ship may have sailed on Lindholm ever being a 60+ pt player, but he has a Patric Hornquist element to him that makes him a valuable player.
The power play did noticeably look better. However despite some hard working and possession dominating offensive zone shifts during that game I still believe the Canes 5v5 offense will be a struggle more times than not during this season. What a phenomenal defensive effort as everyone has pointed out, but with such little offense the Canes truly have so LITTLE room for error defensively. Honestly 2 goals isn’t going to win you that many games over the long run of the season…
You guys have already summed it up pretty well so I will just keep it brief and list what I liked last night:
1. #74 our Lord and Slavior
2. Darling
3. The 4th line + McGinn
4. Skinner, Turbo, and Williams
5. The rest of the D minus Faulk (see my reply above)
6. Two more points!
The Alberta trip was a tale of two games. Last night we tightened up defensively and stayed out of the box for the most part, allowing for a smoother, intelligent possession game where we tend to excel.
Pros: Goaltending, tenacity in O-zone, overall good starts
Cons: Too much puck bobbling, too many odd-man rushes against
The outstanding question: Offense seems to pour it on when we add skilled playmakers to the lineup (talking about Necas’ effect in adding skill to lines during preseason and the EDM game). However and admittedly so, defense gives up a few too many chances during those contests. Flip side, Peters tends to favor a less skilled offensive lineup prone to scoring droughts and 1-goal losses (only to be awoken when we add skill, albeit for short-term). Which style translates to more wins over an 82 game season and to the playoffs? Peters will have to decide soon.
One more thought to add. I agree last night’s game certainly is a solid template to play from. But I just don’t think we win as many of these games against Metro division opponents. Calgary for as good a team they are, has a 45 year old on their top line (who almost scored on us a few times) and has been in some lopsided games this year. The game last night appeared to be seconds away from us squandering the lead and luckily time ran out this time.
That said, giving up 50 shots to EDM is not a recipe for success either, though we maintained a 2-goal cushion. When I net it out, I still think we need more offensive talent to help drive our play to it’s greatest potential of regular season success.
I’m with Matt and puckgod on this one. Very well played, “in system” game. Repeatable formula for success. This type of game is what I expected all along and I was very frustrated that it wasn’t happening.
1) Bill Peters gets my first star. Clearing the bench in Edmonton sent a message to the whole team that was heard: Play the right way or you are out. And play the right way they did.
2) The fourth line was great again. Tears in my eyes on a second period PK, so moved by the beauty. We win the draw in our end, play a perfect transition, and cycle the puck in their end ON THE PK! Seeing their top line chase the puck around their own end was a laugher. The fans were booing, Calgary players were frustrated, the tops of their coaches ears turned red. That’s the way to set the tone and take the game to them.
3) Doc showed preseason form for the first time in regular season. I liked his game last night and liked having Ginner (or Jooris) on that line.
Everything else I would have said has already been covered, including the importance of TVR to the team.
I thought that 45 year old put on a clinic last night. He was imo the best player in the ice. If he was added to our PP our percentage would be better. But I understand why Francis didn’t go after him.
I loved the look when Darling grabbed that shot. Jagr totally expected to score. Yah, that 45 year old happens to be pretty good.
It will be very interesting when we start playing metro teams. I do not see them running all over us. We could have very easily won that Columbus game.
I really liked the line combinations last night. McGuinn on Skinny’s line IMHO worked great… sort of like Diguisppi (I know spelled it wrong!!!) did in a stretch last year (or the year before). I’d like to see that line together for awhile.