After an eight-day layoff, Friday’s game had a bit of uncertainty to it. That was reflected in my game preview that made mention of things like dialing up intensity, finding skating legs, shaking off rush, etc.
The start of the game was a bit sloppy which was probably unavoidable given the time off, but the Hurricanes did manage to find the pace and intensity level in the early going and rode that to an early advantage. Even when Vegas scored first, the Hurricanes did a great job of just sticking with it. After Vegas scored first on a power play blast by Shea Theodore, the Hurricanes answered when Nino Niederreiter notched his fifth goal in five games courtesy of a skilled soccer play by Justin Williams to kick the puck to him for a great scoring chance right out in front of the net. The first period would end in a 1-1 tie despite the Hurricanes having the upper hand for most of the period.
The second period saw another Hurricanes outburst. First, Brett Pesce had the puck find him and beat the goalie to put the Hurricanes up 2-1. The Shea Theodore would strike again to tie the game at 2-2. But Jordan Martinook finished a nice pass by Brock McGinn on a 2-on-1 late in the second period to stake the Hurricanes to a 3-2 lead entering the third period. The tide turned a bit late in the second period. Petr Mrazek played his best hockey on the night during that stretch to keep the Golden Knights off the scoreboard.
The third period saw Sebastian Aho pick a corner short side from in close to offer some breathing room. The Hurricanes then rode out the rest of the third period until Justin Faulk added an empty-netter to finish off a 5-2 win and launch duck-duck-goose for the storm surge.
The win was a good one. The Hurricanes had the upper hand through much of the game against one of the better teams in the Western Conference and also weathered the storm a bit when needed.
Player and other notes
1) Brett Pesce
He had the goal obviously, but more significantly, he was stellar defensively making a number of good plays in his own end.
2) Petr Mrazek
Timely and in tune is how I would describe Mrazek’s game on Friday. He had a really good sense for when Vegas had the upper hand in the latter half of the second period and did a tremendous job managing the game. He took whistles as often as possible to slow momentum and seemed to have just the right amount of scrambling and battling to make a save to match Vegas’ pushes.
3) Andrei Svechnikov
After too much invisible in between stick infractions in January, Svechnikov looked like he may have caught a second wind from the break. He looked a step faster and was more assertive trying to forge a path to the net with the puck on his stick. He was not rewarded on the score sheet, but the game was a step up nonetheless for Svechnikov.
4) Nino Niederreiter
He notched his fifth goal in five games since joining the Hurricanes. What stands out about his game is how consistently he hangs out in front of the net when he does not have the puck or something significantly better to do. Combine that natural instinct with decent hands and line mates who pass the puck and the result has been goal scoring. By no means will Niederreiter continue at a goal per game pace, but based on the good version of simplicity in his game, he figures to get a decent number of high-quality scoring chances and put a reasonable number of them in the net.
5) Sebastian Aho
He had his goal with a heady finish but could have had more on the night with a few other near misses offensively.
Next up for the Hurricanes is yet another Sunday matinee with a 2pm start that works well for a Canes hockey and Superbowl double header.
Go Canes!
A quality win against a quality opponent. And a fun game to watch.
The Pesce – Faulk pairing was really good, coming in at +4 and +5 respectively. This is in the category of pleasant surprise for me, as I didn’t know Pesce’s history of playing on his off side. He appears to have the same calming influence on an offensive minded partner on either side. His complementary role is a value multiplier for whoever is paired with him.
RBA continues to excel at having 4 lines ready to play and icing all forwards 10 – 20 minutes, with a sustainable winning formula. It is a great brand of hockey.
#takewarning. #gocanes
I second that, everything you said!
Two largely under the radar trades by Waddell have been masterful. Martinook for Kruger in the summer, El Nino for Rask before the break.
asheville beat me to the big points: all four lines are involved and contributing; Pesce is becoming irreplaceable, it will be even more so when the Canes add Bean or Fox; Faulk is playing his best hockey; that guy we traded Rask for is not bad.
I really enjoy Martinook. He plays every shift like he wants to change the game, I can tell he enjoys the game and his teammates, he is a great interview–for that reason I would make him first star of the game at least every third home game.
McKegg seems hell-bent on not returning to Charlotte.
Finally, in the I-told-you-so category. I never doubted Aho would be a 1C. Well, even I am surprised by his production. I honestly, thought he would be near 75 points. Now it looks more like 85 with 90 still possible. No longer do the Canes need to be “represented” at the all-star game. The Canes have a true All-Star.
Solid Win, interesting pairings. Faulk-Pesce were great, Slavin-Ham looked a lot better. No need to rush on trades but I hope they keep Pesce.
Good point on McKegg, Martinook. They play like their jobs are on the line(so does Walmark); Hopefully Jordan gets healthy and then the Canes have the good problem of to many forwards.
The game was great fun – and it was nice to Z getting ice time and into the fray. He was playing in his office and had some nice opportunities. I would have been happy to see him score.
I did some interesting, albeit second-hand, information – the Canes are talking with Fox’s agent and he will sign in March; the only question is whether he plays in Charlotte or Raleigh. If that’s right then you heard it here first; if it’s wrong then it was secondhand. 😀
I wouldn’t classifyNino for Rask as “under the radar” but I absolutely agree with you that these two trades were masterful.
WE turned two under performing players with a pretty significant cap hit into two players that have been every bit effective in making the Canes a better team.
Two bad that brilliance is offset by the Buf trade and the benefits of the Calgary trade are still uncertain.
IF Ferland does not resign for something reasonable or get traded for a first round pick plus a serviceable NHL player or high end prospect and if Fox does not resign it was a pretty bad trade, but it wasn’t obviously bad at the time and it could still go either way.
Maybe their biggest mistake was not to ink Aho to a long-term deal back when his role as a bonified top line center was not fully established.
No matter, the team is looking good right now, I still don’t see the playoffs, but I will set aside $100 for April drinks just in case.
I hope we can add another center/goal scorer up front and I am still hoping we could try to get a forward with term left before the trade deadline.
I had a crazy idea of providing Ferland + Williams + Hamilton to Edm for RnH or Draisaitl (with Edm taking on 1M of his salary/cap hit).
The Oilers are in desperation mode and I think they feel they absolutely positively must make the playoffs this year at all cost, also their badly handicapped with their contract situation having invested much too aggressively in top stars and not in the necessary role players to support them.
They are not far out of the playoffs and with a run they still have a chance.
They primarily need upgrade on D and on the wing, they’re almost too strong down the middle.
If we can give them a big upgrade on the wing, a captain who has won 3 cups to help guide the team and their upgrade on D, would they be willing to take that for one of their centers?
Crazy idea, but those are fun, I give the chance of something like that going down at 1% or less but what the heck, speculating is fun.
ON an unrelated note, love the post game celebration thumbs up from the Penguins’ blogger (great guy, great blogs)
https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Ryan-Wilson/Bjugstad-vs-Brassard/177/97517
(scroll to the last 3 or 4 sentences)