Carolina Hurricanes: 3 takeaways from win over Senators

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1 last night. While we fully expected the win, what we didn’t expect was the manner of that win.

Yesterday we retweeted an amazing statistic from The Hockey News – that the Carolina Hurricanes had failed to win any of their 20 games where they’d been losing going into the third period this season. Can you imagine being a fan of a team so clearly lacking in character and fight? That team would surely have to be a basement dweller, right?

Wrong. That team began last night’s play just three points outside of a playoff spot. Imagine if even a quarter of those games had been wins instead of losses – instead of chasing down the Penguins for the last wildcard spot, the Carolina Hurricanes would be chasing the New York Islanders for first place in the Metro Division.

That made last night’s third period comeback all the more special. Trailing by a single goal heading into the final frame, the Canes scored two power play goals, saw a spectacular play by Micheal Ferland, and ended their season-long road trip with a 4-1-0 record.

So what did we learn from Rod Brind’Amour’s boys last night?

1. This team needs Micheal Ferland

We wrote not that long ago about how the decision to either trade or keep feisty winger Micheal Ferland is an impossible choice for GM Don Waddell. Last night surely made his mind up. Ferland had a goal and two assists, the second of which was an astonishing play to set up Teuvo Teravainen, and must now have put to bed any thoughts of trading him. If this Carolina Hurricanes team is serious about making the playoffs and ending their long post-season drought, they simply cannot afford to trade a guy who plays like this:

Trading Ferland would leave a huge gap on this team – his unique brand of snarl, menace and skill is just what every playoff contender wants on their team to make a deep run. If Waddell trades Ferland, it will not only mess with the team’s impressive chemistry in 2019, but would send an awful message to fans. We promise not to speculate on potential landing spots for Ferland again, because he is more important to this team and what they’re trying to achieve than adding another first round pick.

2. What about that power play?

Remember how we called on Rod Brind’Amour to forcibly remove Justin Faulk from the first power play unit, and give more PP minutes to Dougie Hamilton? Faulk played 3:21 with the man advantage, to Hamilton’s 1:35, and the Carolina Hurricanes scored twice on four opportunities for a 50% conversion rate.

Season to date, the Canes’ power play continues to rank just 23rd in the league with a 16.84% conversion rate. Those figures have improved since Nino Niederreiter joined the team, with the Canes having converted on 6 of 32 power plays in the 11 games of the El Nino era (18.75%). That Niederreiter has two goals and two assists on those six power play goals shows that his acquisition is paying off even on our woeful special teams.

The power play must do better – before last night’s game, it was running at 14.3% since Niederreiter’s acquisition – but if we can move the puck like we did last night, more goals will come.

3. Teuvo Teravainen should sign a new deal every week

We said at the time that Teuvo Teravainen’s contract was excellent value and boy, does it continue to get better as the weeks go by. In the 9 games since he put pen to paper, Turbo has posted 7-5-12 with a +6 rating, and has won some of the team’s games almost single-handedly. He is nowhere near done in his development, and figures to be a key fixture on this Carolina Hurricanes team for the duration of that five-year extension.

Last night was a good example of Teravainen’s confidence right now. His first goal was a power play tally, moving his way to the net front while his team mates worked the puck to him for his 200th career point. His second goal saw him find more open space in front of the net and, after Micheal Ferland did the hard work, Turbo fired the nail into the Senators’ coffin. There really does appear to have been a step-change in Teravainen’s game since the ink dried on his deal – we cannot wait to see how he further evolves under Rod Brind’Amour’s tutelage.

The Carolina Hurricanes now have a full day’s rest after that long road trip, before they come back to PNC Arena for a date with the Edmonton Oilers. The Canes are 7-2-1 in their last ten games, dropping just five points in the playoff race. It is altogether possible that by the end of the weekend, the Carolina Hurricanes will be sitting in a playoff spot. Let’s face it, they’re working so hard right now – they really do deserve some reward for their consistency.