Carolina Hurricanes: Back on track with a win in Montreal

The Carolina Hurricanes got back on track last night with a hard-earned 2-1 win in Montreal. On the back of a huge night for Canes goalie Curtis McElhinney, let’s take a look back at last night’s action.

We’re now 24 games in to the 2018/19 NHL season, and the Carolina Hurricanes have moved to 3-0-0 in games where they’re out-shot by the opposition. Last night the Canes were not just out-shot, they were massively out-shot, but first star Curtis McElhinney stole the win by making 48 saves, allowing Trevor van Riemsdyk‘s second goal of the season to stand as the eventual game-winner. The Canes put up just 22 shots, a season-low.

So after such a one-sided game, how did Coach Rod Brind’Amour feel about his team’s efforts?

"“Obviously, the win’s all that matters, but we got fortunate tonight. It’s really probably the first game this year that was like that. We’ve had a couple of those go the other way against us, so now I know how it feels where the goalie just stole the game. And we need that sometimes.”"

It really is worth noting that this is the first game this season where the Canes have been so badly outplayed. Last time out, the team lost 4-1 to the Islanders, but that was more down to the Canes playing so badly; this time, Montreal really did put the Canes to the sword, but that fine gladiator in the Canes net stopped all but one of their efforts on goal.

In a league where goalie save percentages this season average .909%, McElhinney is currently riding a .930% record, including a fine recent run of form:

Anyone who dares deny the starters crown to him needs to lie down in a dark room. Only four goalies in the league have a better save percentage: Pekka Rinne, Jaroslav Halak, Frederik Andersen and Ryan Miller. His GAA is also 4th-best in the league, at 2.12. He’s playing lights-out right now.

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But it wasn’t all about the goaltending last night – the team did score two goals. Credit is due to Victor Rask for a nice deflection on Jaccob Slavin‘s shot to register his first point in four games since returning to the team. He also took more shots than any other forward. Jake Bean will be all smiles today after making his NHL debut, albeit only registering 8:07 of ice time and, frustratingly, not one second on the powerplay. He had one shot, and RBA liked what he saw:

"“I know we didn’t use him as much as he’d probably like, but it was a good first game for him.”"

Speaking of special teams, neither side made their powerplays pay off. The Canes went 0/1, but stopped all three Canadiens opportunities. The Canes’ PK has done some good work over the last fortnight, and while still ranking a lowly 25th across the league (76.4%), it’s better than it was, and will hopefully continue to improve. Jordan Staal and Brock McGinn did a lot of the heavy lifting last night, and their efforts definitely helped protect Curtis McElhinney.

Question for CC readers:

Now that Curtis McElhinney has earned the starters role for the Carolina Hurricanes, who should be his backup – Scott Darling or Petr Mrazek?