Carolina Hurricanes: 3 Keys to Beating the Bolts

A Total Team Effort

This is going to be a tough game when you have all 18 skaters you desire. With 5 members of the taxi squad expected to be called up, this is going to be a tough task; there cannot be anyone underperforming. You’re missing some critical key depth pieces, as well as one of your best forwards and one of your best defensemen. No one can be a passenger in their absence.

To a man, everyone will need to step up. No one is going to be expected to fill the shoes of someone like Slavin or Teravainen, because they are monsters in their positions. To quote Bill Belichick, “Do your job and trust in everyone around you to do theirs. Do it to the best of your abilities, and it will sort itself out.”

Roles within the lineup are going to change. For some strange reason, I have a feeling we will see Brock McGinn on the top line because he had pictures of Rod from the team Christmas party or something. That doesn’t mean he’s expected to play like Teravainen would, because no one can replace what Teravainen can do. He is a very talented player and his connection with others is not replaceable.

It’s not just the on ice roles either. Without Martinook, someone is going to need to scream at Andrei Svechnikov before the game, right? It’s going to be important to replace everything. Everything in the locker room, everything on the bench and off the ice will be just as important. This is a game against a current cup contender and the defending Stanley Cup champions, you need everything you can get. Even the small things might prove to be essential, you never know.

Without Foegele, Teravainen, Martinook, or Fast, there’s going to be a lot of new penalty killers. McGinn will need to join Staal on the PK. Obviously we know a certain Finn who will be on the PK, but we will get to him later. Some of the taxi squad members are going to play larger roles than they may have anticipated. They will need to do as much as they can to help the team.

Someone is also going to have to learn to play that shut-down D role that Slavin leaves. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the job for Brett Pesce. He’s going to need to be a wall. He usually is, but he didn’t have the best year defensively last year. If he steps up majorly to fill the hole Slavin leaves, then the Canes will have a genuine chance to beat the Lightning.

Fast will need to be replaced too. My guess is this is done by Morgan Geekie, who’s the natural right handed shot replacement to add into the line-up because Carolina do not have a lot of right handed forwards. In fact, it is a rather limited list. Geekie will have to shine wherever he is played in the line-up against Tampa if the Canes are going to give themselves a chance to win.