Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to Victory Against St. Louis
The Carolina Hurricanes hit the road this evening as they head up to Missouri to take on the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the St. Louis Blues. Here’s what the Canes need to do to start a winning streak.
The Carolina Hurricanes can add a second consecutive win tonight if they can manage to topple the previously red-hot St. Louis Blues.
The St. Louis Blues lost in their last outing; a 5-2 decision that saw them steamrolled by the Winnipeg Jets. The loss to the Jets was their 2nd in a row, so the Blues will be looking to rebound at home tonight against the Canes.
The Carolina Hurricanes are coming off of a shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks on Super Bowl Sunday. The momentum from this win could very well carry over into tonight’s matchup.
The Blues currently sit at 5th in the league, and 1st in the Central Division as well as the Western Conference. Tonight’s tilt will not be an easily gained win; the Carolina Hurricanes have several points they need to hit if they want to walk away with a highly-coveted two points. Let’s take a look at what those things are, eh?
1. First Line Svech, but Better
Andrei Svechnikov made good in more ways than one with his promotion to the first line alongside Sebastian Aho, in more ways than one against the Canucks.
While Warren Foegele netted two assists against the Vancouver Canucks, I believe that was more a result of his surroundings than his skill. Not to say that he isn’t skilled, but I can’t imagine it would be too difficult compiling assists while on a line with Aho and Svech.
That being said, I want to see a full-blown Svech/Aho/Teravainen line.
This line would be absolutely lethal. “But Matt”, you say, “all of our scoring skill would be concentrated in one line!”
To that, I say nay. The Carolina Hurricanes have plenty of scoring depth. Even if their 2nd-4th lines ‘struggle’ a bit, it can’t be worse than the lack of production the Svech/Staal/Foegele line had for several consecutive games.
Svech/Aho/TT would be one of the most (if not the most) lethal lines in the entire league. What better team to try it out against than the defending Stanley Cup Champions/the best team in the Western Conference? Do it, you cowards!
2. Nino Niederreiter Score More Goals Challenge
Nino Niederreiter scored an absolute highlight reel, beauty of a goal against the Vancouver Canucks.
He hasn’t scored very much this season, but I think that goal may have been just what Nino needed to turn the corner and get the monkey off of his back.
If Rod Brind’amour continues to utilize him in the same fashion as he did against the Canucks, we should see more of the same from Nino. His impact on the Vancouver game was far more significant than the impact he has had on the ice the past several games prior to Sunday afternoon’s tilt.
Nino has the potential to be a 20+ goal scorer again. He just needed to regain his confidence. If a spin-o-rama goal against one of the hottest teams in the Western Conference wasn’t enough to do that, what will be?
3. Don’t Let Justin Faulk Score
Ok, this one is more for all of our integrity than for game importance.
I would really, really hate to see Justin Faulk score on the Carolina Hurricanes. I’m sure you guys echo that sentiment.
At face value (despite what Adam Gold says), the Carolina Hurricanes surprisingly won the Faulk trade. Dominik Bokk is shaping up to be an incredibly talented prospect, and noted offensive/defensive defenseman Joel Edmundson has the exact same number of goals and assists in one less game played, while simultaneously providing the Canes with a much more physical defensive presence than Faulk ever did.
If Justin Faulk scores on us tonight, St. Louis fans everywhere will incessantly parrot ‘We WoN tHe TrAdE!!1’ ad nauseam until early April. I, for one, will not stand for it.
Game Notes
- Puck Drop: 8:00PM EST
- Location: Enterprise Center
- TV: Fox Sports Carolinas, NHL.TV
- Radio: 99.9 The Fan
- Uniforms: Road Whites
- Potential Lineup:
- Svech – Aho – Foegele
- Nino – Staal – Teravainen
- Dzingel – Haula – Williams
- McGinn – Martinook – Necas
- Slavin – van Riemsdyk
- Gardiner – Pesce
- Fleury – Edmundson
- Potential Goalie Matchup:
- Carolina Hurricanes: James Reimer
- St. Louis Blues: Jordan Binnington
99. Prediction. 3. 109. 2