Carolina Hurricanes Dominate the St. Louis Blues, Pick Up 4th Straight Win
By Brett Finger
In a game with big playoff implications, the Carolina Hurricanes went to Missouri and dominated the St. Louis Blues.
Final. 1. 99. 4. 109
Scoring Summary
1st Period
No Goals
2nd Period
CAR Goal (1:49) – Jeff Skinner (17), assisted by Andrej Nestrasil (8)
The hot hand of Jeff Skinner continues to supply Carolina with offense, and he broke the ice to give the Canes a 1-0 lead. Nestrasil put the puck on net from the slot, and the puck ricocheted to Skinner on the door step, and he put the puck into the St. Louis net.
3rd Period
CAR PPG (3:22) – Brett Pesce (4), assisted by Jaccob Slavin (6), Victor Rask (16)
The Hurricanes capitalized on a big powerplay early on in the final frame. Slavin and Pesce dictated play from the blue line on the man advantage, and it was capped off with a bomb of a one-time shot off the stick of Pesce that beat Brian Elliott.
CAR Goal (7:13) – Brock McGinn (3), assisted by Jeff Skinner (8)
A nifty stick move down low from the red-hot Jeff Skinner led to a great chance for McGinn in front, and a rising, blistering wrist shot went right by Elliott, giving the Canes a 3-0 lead. The goal took Brian Elliott out of the game in favor of rookie Jordan Binnington.
STL Goal (7:33) – Jori Lehtera (5), assisted by Joel Edmundson (5)
It took just 20 seconds for the Blues to come back and score. Motivated by the pulling of Elliott, St. Louis drove down ice, made nifty moves through the zone, and Lehtera was there to clean up a rebound in front of Lack to make it a 3-1 game.
CAR Goal (16:21) – Riley Nash (2), assisted by Ron Hainsey (9)
The Carolina Hurricanes iced this game late in the 3rd period. Hainsey hit Nash with a beautiful stretch pass from his own end, and Nash entered in and sniped one on Binnington on the rush.
Three Stars
1st Star – Jeff Skinner, LW (CAR) – 1 goal, 1 assist, +1, 4 shots, 13:30 TOI
2nd Star – Brett Pesce, D (CAR) – GWG, +2, 1 shot, 15:45 TOI
3rd Star – Ron Hainsey, D (CAR) – 1 assist, 2 shots, 2 hits, 25:09 TOI
Recap
The Carolina Hurricanes went out to Missouri with their fathers on Thursday, and they dominated the St. Louis Blues in route to a big 4-1 win on the road.
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A slow start from both teams led into a scoreless finish to the 1st period. Despite not scoring, the Hurricanes wore down the Blues with great board play, which was something that continued throughout the entirety of the game.
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Jeff Skinner broke the scoring for the Canes in the 2nd period, and this team never looked back. The team added a trio of goals in the 3rd period opposed to St. Louis’ 1.
What the Carolina Hurricanes did on Thursday night can not be taken lightly. They went into St. Louis’ building and beat the Blues at their own game. The Canes outworked, wore down, and ultimately dominated the home team.
The Blues are the 4th ranked team in the Western Conference. St. Louis has been a team that has found profound success in being a tough team to play against. They have a reputation of, game in and game out, grinding teams down and tearing them apart through that. The Hurricanes went on the road and did exactly what they’ve been doing over the past month, play to their system that is tough to play against. They were very tough to play against on Thursday against a team that has prided themselves on doing that exact thing.
Jaccob Slavin, again, showed up and played a massive role. He shutdown the Blues when he was on the ice, and this is something that has happened for weeks now. He is turning into an elite player at a very young age in his own end, and his offense was there as well. He had 2 quality opportunities in the opening few minutes of the game, and he dished out an assist on Brett Pesce’s 3rd period goal.
Carolina Hurricanes
The defense, as a whole, for the Hurricanes has been remarkable. They completely took Vladimir Tarasenko, a player who ranks 4th in the league in goal scoring, out of this game. He had 3 shots on net and was a -1 against the Canes.
The goaltending continues to be reliable. Reliability is the key word. Early in the season, you’d have absolutely no idea what you’d get from the goalie, but as of late, Cam Ward and Eddie Lack have been consistently allowing 2 goals or less. Lack allowed 1 goal on 24 shots against a dangerous Blues team.
The Hurricanes have won 4 consecutive games, and they now have 47 points in the standings, which ties them with the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils at the 8th place spot in the Eastern Conference.
Thursday night’s game was the template of how this team has played over the past few weeks and how they need to play for the rest of the season. The Carolina Hurricanes and their coaching staff continue to work wonders. It is incredible to see just what this young group of players is capable of doing.
Next: Wisniewski is Ahead of Schedule with His Recovery, Excited to Return to the Ice with the Canes
It will be a quick turn around for the Canes. They will fly home and take on the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night. The Hurricanes lost to the Canucks 3-2 on the road last week. This will be another massive game for the Canes.