Carolina Hurricanes: Three memorable moments from a wild, wacky campaign

Aho, Teravainen short up penalty kill

One of the crucial moments of the season was a decision by coach Rod Brind’Amour to use offensive stars Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen on a struggling penalty kill.

In his first two seasons, Aho rarely saw the ice when the Canes were shorthanded, logging 17.9 minutes as a rookie and just 3.0 minutes all of last season. This year, that number jumped to 91.3 minutes on the kill.

In his first two seasons in Carolina, Teravainen saw a combined 2.1 minutes of shorthanded ice time. This year, that number jumped to 73.2.

The Finnish duo became mainstays on the penalty kill down the stretch, and the unit turned into one of the team’s strengths, ranking eighth in the NHL with an 81.6 kill rate.

During the first 13 games, the Canes allowed 15 power play goals on 45 opportunities—a pitiful kill of 66.7%. For the rest of the season, Carolina killed off 85.1% of opportunities, better than Tampa Bay’s league-leading 85.0%.

Inserting Aho and Teravainen on the penalty kill played a crucial role in this turnaround.

The Legend of Poke-Czech Petr

The Eastern Conference was in full playoff mode after the Feb. 25 trade deadline. When the Hurricanes and Florida Panthers went into overtime on March 2, a crucial point was up for grabs.

Carolina tried its darndest to give the point away in overtime, allowing the Panthers three breakaways on goalie Petr Mrazek in the first 100 seconds of the extra session. But like a modern-day Wyatt Earp staring down a group of bank robbers, Mrazek stood tall between the pipes.

He stoned Vincent Trocheck 20 seconds in. He made a memorable poke check on Mike Matheson, who caught the Canes making a change, then stymied Jonathan Huberdeau on yet another breakaway 10 seconds later after a careless pass by Aho.

After the final save, Aho gathered the loose puck, fed it to Nino Neiderreiter and raced up the ice to put away Neiderreiter’s centering pass for a scintillating 4-3 victory that demoralized the Panthers and kept the Canes’ playoff hopes afloat. And helped grow the legend of Poke-Czech Petr.

Holyfield joins the Jerks

The Storm Surge provided many memorable moments to Canes fans this year, from Duck, Duck, Goose to an homage to the Final Four. But none were more memorable than four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield’s guest appearance following a 4-2 win over Buffalo on March 16th.

Like a lot of things about this season, the celebration just sort of came together. Holyfield was in the area to support his son, who was promoting an event in Roanoke Rapids. The team invited him to attend the game as a special guest.

Brind’Amour, who was clearly having a “fan-boy” moment when he met Holyfield in the locker room prior to the game, offered to let the champ speak to the team. The boxing legend provided a rousing pregame pep talk and even agreed to participate in The Surge.

“The Holyfield one is great. You can’t make that up. I just love the fact he was right into it. You get an icon like that who’s willing to step out of his comfort zone and do something fun, that’s what it’s all about. He’s in the entertainment business. He understands.”—RBA on SportsNet.

Television announcer John Forslund’s impromptu boxing announcing was spot-on, and Micheal Ferland and Justin Williams dragging the vanquished Jordan Martinook to the bench by his stakes added the icing on the cake.

On the next broadcast, TV analyst Tripp Tracey admitted he had watched the video of Holyfield v. Martinook at least a hundred times in his hotel room. The YouTube video posted by the NHL has been seen more than 75,000 times, and the version on Sportsnet had been viewed more than 68,000 times, making it the most viewed of all the post-game celebrations.

A memorable moment that brought smiles to thousands of Caniacs everywhere in a season full of them. And the good news is, the Canes have the chance to make even more.