The Carolina Hurricanes bounced back and collected their second win of the season Monday night, beating the Nashville Predators 4-2.
This game showed the Carolina Hurricanes team we’ve come to love. This was the prototypical Rod Brind’Amour style type of game. The Canes worked hard all night for their chances against a solid Nashville defense and made the most of their opportunities.
If you read my keys to the game, I recognized the strong start to the season by Andrei Svechnikov and kept it going with another strong performance. Svechnikov gave the Canes a 1-0 lead on the power play late in the second period with a laser. He later dished out a beautiful assist on a 2-1 to Sebastian Aho on what was ultimately the game-winning goal.
Another key I mentioned was how this was going to be the first start of the year for James Reimer. He did not disappoint. Nashville had their fair share of dangerous chances through the first two periods and Reimer stood tall to give the Canes a chance. He made 31 saves and looked like he has not skipped a beat from last season. His most crucial save came late in the 3rd period on a point-blank shot from Ryan Ellis that could have knotted the score at 3
.I loved the play of Vincent Trocheck tonight. We could sense Vincent was starting to become more and more comfortable with the way Carolina plays and this was arguably his best game as a Cane. His snipe over the right shoulder of Pekka Rinne gave me flashbacks to when he was at his best with the Florida Panthers and that is what Carolina needs from him. He made smart plays through the middle of the ice and it seemed like he was a threat every time in the offensive zone.
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The Hurricanes got some great shifts tonight from the line made up of Morgan Geekie, Brock McGinn, and Ryan Dzingel. There were moments in the second period where Nashville was creating numerous offensive chances and the threesome came up with multiple shifts working on the forecheck and allowing Carolina to have time in the Predators’ end. McGinn, in particular, was excellent as well on the penalty kill.
This was the best game of the year thus far for Warren Foegele. As analyst Tripp Tracy said, Warren needs to create his energy internally to help this team. He showed lots of energy tonight, buzzing around in the offensive zone, hounding defenders on the wall. He probably should have had a goal as well had it not been for a fantastic toe save from Pekka Rinne late in the third period. A motivated Warren Foegele creates even more depth strength for Carolina.
For something to keep an eye on, Teuvo Teravainen barely played at all in the third period.
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This is a little concerning considering the great playmaking ability of the Finn and let’s just hope he’ll be able to go for round two Tuesday night.
Another sad takeaway is Dougie Hamilton‘s shot streak ended at 296 games, which was the longest active streak in the NHL. Time to start a new one!
But overall, this was a big bounce-back game from the Carolina Hurricanes. Reimer’s play in net and the goals from the top guns throughout the lineup is very encouraging. Next up is the final of the two-game slate with the Predators on Tuesday night featuring a likely goaltending matchup of Petr Mrazek and Juuse Saros.
Here are some words from the Russian king himself to end it.
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