Carolina Hurricanes: Niederreiter making immediate impact

The Carolina Hurricanes made up for lost time last night, brushing off two very poor performances with a stunning 7-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Newly-acquired forward Nino Niederreiter looked hot as he opened his account with the team.

Nino Niederreiter certainly knows how to make an introduction. After impressing fans with his performance in the dire 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Friday night, Niederreiter celebrated his 500th career game with the first two goals of his Carolina Hurricanes career, helping put the Canes 3-0 up on the road with just 11:02 gone in the first period.

Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour blasted the team after that loss, letting all and sundry know that the level of effort from the team was unacceptable. I doubt there’s a Carolina Hurricanes fan who didn’t believe Rod’s words when he said this:

"“It was so bad I almost dressed and got out there,” Brind’Amour said. “I might have been as good as what we were throwing out there, because we just didn’t play the way we’re supposed to. I didn’t know what I was watching. It’s the first time all year I could say that.”"

Players react to Rod’s criticism

The players certainly took note. Lucas Wallmark posted his first career multi-goal game, thanks to Sebastian Aho‘s incredible hustle to provide him with the easy empty-netter, and Andrei Svechnikov broke out of his slump with a goal and two assists. Could Coach Rod have been any happier? Doubtful, if you go by his post-game comments:

https://twitter.com/SaraCivian/status/1087224331418112000

They weren’t the only Canes who impressed. Jaccob Slavin had three assists, as did Sebastian Aho. Warren Foegele picked up an assist. Greg McKegg was his usual solid self, playing his 100th career game. While it was a shame that the Canes allowed the Oilers back into it from 6-1 down, the fact that the Carolina Hurricanes led a game 6-1 is shocking. The last time the Canes held a 5-goal lead was Feb. 13th against the Los Angeles Kings. We need to see more games like this, and less like the previous two efforts.

Martinook embarrasses Oilers goon

Jordan Martinook had a goal after being not only hit into the Edmonton Oilers’ bench by Zack Kassian, but being pummelled while lying helpless at Milan Lucic‘s feet. This should have been at the very least a roughing penalty, and now should be a suspension, but the best way of reacting isn’t to give a meathead like Kassian what he wants, but to show him up on the score sheet instead. Martinook did that, potting his 10th goal of the season to make the score 6-1. Take that, Kassian. Your goal was worthless, Martinook’s put the game beyond reach.

I thought we had good goaltending?

Don’t look now, but that boost we had from our goaltending is quickly evaporating. In their last eight games the Carolina Hurricanes have conceded at least three goals in each of them; it is frankly amazing, with this team’s history, that they have maintained a 5-3-0 record in those games. Going back further, the Canes’ last 16 games have seen 13 games with at least three goals against; the team is 9-7-0 in that span.

If the Carolina Hurricanes want to make the playoffs, they need to tighten up at the back. Our goaltenders need to recover their early-season form, and our much-vaunted defense need to cut down on their mistakes and get more bodies in the way of pucks. We can’t make the playoffs conceding three goals every game.

There are two games left before the All-Star Game break for the Carolina Hurricanes. Four points from games against the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks – two of the hottest teams in the league at the moment – would put the Canes in the ascendancy. Two losses, and the team almost certainly becomes a seller before the deadline. Nino Niederreiter could not have joined the team at a better time – let’s hope that this offensive outburst isn’t confined to one game.