Hurricanes: Takeaways From Comeback Victory over Arizona Coyotes

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.

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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?