Carolina Hurricanes: 5 takeaways from win over Panthers
The Carolina Hurricanes notched its fifth win of the season with a home victory over the Florida Panthers, 3-1, behind Derek Ryan’s third period tally.
Out of the two games that the Carolina Hurricanes had on the road last week coming against two very beatable, they only came away with one point. And, that one point came against one of the teams off to one of the worst starts in NHL history. That team was the Arizona Coyotes, who defeated the Canes 2-1 in a shootout in which Scott Darling only let in one goal.
The other loss came at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche by a final score of 5-3. In that game on Nov. 2, the Canes posted a franchise record on the road of 60 shots on Semyon Varlamov of the Avs. Yet, only four goals were scored in those two games in which the goaltending did not match up.
On Nov. 7, Carolina took on the Florida Panthers at home at PNC Arena. Both the Canes and Panther were looking for a big win to get their seasons back on track. Each squad came into the matchup with only four wins.
Carolina needed desperately to pick up some points in the race in the Metropolitan Division. They entered the night in last place in the Metro.
The Panthers did not even get a point out of the contest with the Canes. Florida lost by a final score of 3-1 behind a late goal from Carolina’s Derek Ryan. It was a clutch goal when the Canes needed it the most, which is something that has really been lacking so far this season.
Now, let’s take a look at 5 takeaways from the Carolina Hurricanes victory over the Florida Panthers on Nov. 7.
5. Scott Darling is heating up
The last two starts from Darling have seen him let in only one goal in each game. While the Coyotes do not boast the strongest offense, it took a beautiful move from their leading scorer, Clayton Keller, to get past Darling.
In this contest, Darling let up only one goal on 38 shots. This is the type of goaltending that the Canes need on a semi-regular basis to snatch some big wins when they maybe should not have otherwise.
It’s unrealistic to expect Darling and Cam Ward to show out like this on every occasion. Yet, Darling is showing that the trust that general manager Ron Francis and head coach Bill Peters have put in him could be paying off.
Darling took a few starts to get comfortable between the pipes in Raleigh. Yet, his progression is noticeable on each and every night. Darling is adjusting very well to becoming a starting goalie in the NHL.
4. Bill Peters is still shuffling the lines
Something that has gone under the radar for many Canes fans over the Peters’ tenure in Raleigh has been the line shuffling that occurs on a regular basis. Some Carolina fans have a hard time dealing with it and others tend not to notice it.
In the win over the Panthers, Peters moved both Ryan and Jeff Skinner up to the second line along with Elias Lindholm. Justin Williams moved down to the third line along with Brock McGinn and Victor Rask.
Moreover, Teuvo Teravainen was moved up to the first line alongside Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho. Teravainen, Staal, and Aho were the original first line to start off the season. There was not much production from the first line in this game, though.
The interesting move was that Rask-Teravainen-Williams had been working pretty well together. It was one of the few lines that Peters had actually kept together for a few games in a row. Teravainen’s return from injury a few games ago could have been a factor.
3. Roland McKeown stepping up in place of Brett Pesce
Another group of players that Peters was tooling around with was the defensemen. The defensive line combinations changed around all since the concussions protocol process began for Brett Pesce prior to the Colorado game.
In place of Pesce, rookie defender Roland McKeown stepped in and performed well. McKeown notched the first two points of his career on Nov. 7. with two assists. Those two assists were huge coming from the third defensive pairing.
McKeown is playing alongside Noah Hanifin right now. Both McKeown and Hanifin are extremely productive right now with Hanifin leading all Canes defenders in points. McKeown could be on the same pace if he would be in the lineup for the rest of the season.
If the Canes get players like this to step up in place of injured regulars, it could be a huge key to making a real push for the playoffs. Depth is always a concern for injury prone rosters and the Canes have a ton of potent talent waiting to get an opportunity like McKeown did.
2. Offense might finally be breaking through
Carolina is consistently out shooting its opponents in the last couple games. They out shot Arizona, Colorado, St. Louis, and Florida. Yet, only one of those efforts resulted in victories for the Canes.
Offensive efforts made a huge difference in this contest, especially since Florida goalie Roberto Luongo came up so big on multiple chances. Lounge stopped 45 of 47 shots on goal. The other goal against came on an empty netter to Williams.
The Canes suffer from a lack of creativity and quality scoring chances early in the 2017-18 campaign. They get plenty of shots but most are not quality opportunities that make it tough on opposing defenses and goalies.
Crashing the net seems to be the most successful formula for the Canes this season. That could be huge too since the Canes have some players with some real clappers like Skinner, Hanifin, and Justin Faulk.
1. Acquisition of Justin Williams paying immediate dividends
Francis put a ton of investment into the young core of this squad during the off-season. Williams was one of those pieces brought in to help this team along. He was brought over from the Washington Capitals, a team that has seen a ton of regular season success of late.
Williams is a winner wherever he has gone. He won two Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings and was also a huge part of that Canes team that won in 2006. Carolina needs an experienced voice in the locker room that’s “been there, done that” and Williams is exactly that.
The goal that sealed the game against the Panthers was scored by Williams for his second goal of the season and team leading 11th point. He also notched an assist on the goal scored by Brock McGinn.
Next: 5 thoughts on how to shake things up
It was a big night for Williams and he’ll continue to be relied upon to make some noise offensively. The Canes need some reliable production on that side of the ice and they need more than just Skinner to provide that.