Hurricanes: Takeaways From Comeback Victory over Arizona Coyotes

Defense Still Needs Tightening Up

The Carolina Hurricanes defense excels at two things, limiting shots taken by the opponent and snuffing out odd man rushes. Last night they did plenty of both. Their biggest problem is odd-man offensive creation on the few high quality shots they do allow.

Let me explain.

While it is difficult for opponents to score on the more than a few generated odd man rushes on the Carolina Hurricanes net, they seem to find themselves with numbers in the right positions once an offensive pattern has been set up inside the zone. Too often then not, a defender is caught out of position and the opponent can simply park by the net and slam a goal in from the blue paint.

Take a look above at the second goal scored by Coyotes’ Christian Dvorak. If that goal looks familiar it is because this was exactly the same way the Blues opened up the scoring against Petr Mrazek on Tuesday Night.

Dvorak, with the puck on his stick he is on the blue paint in front of Reimer with not a single Hurricane within a nautical mile of him. Not only does he take a shot, but he finds the time to clean up the rebound and score the second goal of the night well before any defender can figure out what is happening.

This style of defense, if you can even call it that, is simply unsustainable. Rod Brind’amour needs to address this if the Hurricanes want to establish themselves as a playoff team moving forward.

Everyone Got Involved on Offense

You love to see it. When this Carolina Hurricanes offense gets rolling it is virtually unstoppable.  Four unanswered goals to take the lead and never look back is an excellent way to win hockey games. Especially when the entire team from the defense to the forwards is somehow involved in the scoring process.

While the scoring came from only three Canes (I promise we will talk about that line on the next page, please bear with me) eight different Hurricanes had collected points well before the Coyotes pulled Antti Raanta. Four of the six defenders collected points and another four forwards.

The Hurricanes had three multipoint players and a pair of three point players total. Not a bad night all things considered. Make that their ninth game of the season where they have given up the first goal. Add on a stellar performance by James Reimer and you have the makings of a team that is serious about making the playoffs.

I bet you really want me to talk about that one line that seemed to light up the night sky and help this team secure the win in more ways than one right now right? Fine.

Never Break up the Svech-Aho-Turbo Line

Andrei Svechnikov. Sebastian Aho. Teuvo Teravainen. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the first line of the Carolina Hurricanes. The real first line. The stuff of wonders and magic that we have all been waiting for since the dawn of time. The chosen ones, the magical hockey elves and their goalie slaying witcher.

https://twitter.com/CardiacCane/status/1225635995636252675

But in all seriousness, this line is one of the most dangerous in the NHL right now. Last night was exhibit A. Two goals for Andrei Svechnikov, two for Sebastian Aho, to include an empty netter. Six points between those two, Seven points for the line as a whole. That is simply ridiculous. But you want to know what is even more impressive? This goal from Aho:

Lets break this goal down. Svechnikov gets a partial breakaway beats the defender down the ice and gets a decent shot on net that gets turned away by Raanta. Pretty standard play right? Good keeping up by the defender and even better save by the netminder, the puck usually gets collected by the defense and the teams make a line change. But Svech and Aho had different plans.

Aho as the trailer stays engaged in the play the whole time. Svechnikov has the awareness to see where the puck is, understand where Aho is, and know that he is still engaged in the play. Neither player becomes a spectator or gives up on the play. Svech dishes the puck to Aho right on his tape and Sebastian puts it on the top shelf where mama hides the cookies.

More from Cardiac Cane

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• Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
• Derek Stepan Ends His On Ice Career As A Hurricane
• The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
• Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes

That play, which turned out to be the game winning goal, was something special. Something that Rod Brind’amour shall not DARE take away from this team. The cherubs have a connection that very few in the league do, and Svechnikov seems to be operating at the same wavelength as the two Finns.

This trio can lead the Hurricanes to glory and it has honestly annoyed me that Rod took so long to finally figure it out. Now I understand the merits of sharing around your star players so that they elevate the play of everyone on the roster, but this team has more than a few players that have serious chemistry with each other that should be playing with each other regardless. Another example is the Ryan Dzingel, Erik Haula, and Martin Necas line, which should be our second line.

I can go on with how many of these players are not playing on the lines they should be and how Rod has the answers right in front of him, but for now lets cherish this Hurricanes win and the fact that the Hockey gods were kind enough to let us get back into a playoff spot tonight. where we go from here is critical in answering the question of where we get to in the summer.

Question For CC Readers: Which goal was your favorite?