Carolina Hurricanes: 3 Takeaways from Goalie Duel vs. Tampa
Last night’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning was a very tight game to say the least. A lot of good to take from it, and a lot of lessons to learn. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Carolina win in spectacular fashion, with a 1-0 win in overtime over the Bolts. This is a big win when you consider the magnitude of the two teams and what this could mean going forward between them. That doesn’t even take into consideration that the Canes were without 5 members of their starting roster.
There were great performances up and down the line-up. A goalie duel that was won by the Canes’ netminder, emergency replacements that stepped up to the mark and then some, and even a beacon of hope for a few players who underperformed drastically all of last season. There’s a lot of good and a lot of bad, but let’s just focus on the good for now.
https://twitter.com/KWOnAir/status/1354981660593434628?s=20
The only goal of the game came in overtime as Carolina move within two points of the division leading Nashville Predators. Now, due to the pandemic, there are a lot of teams with games in hand and so on. But the standings now look far better for the Canes than they did on Thursday morning. Wins are a must for the team moving forward, but they got a big one tonight before they play Dallas next.
So, as I stated earlier, there was a lot of good and a lot of bad. There was a lot of ill-discipline. There were a lot of wasted chances, specifically from big name players who you would expect to score far more often than they did, but that doesn’t matter right now. Right now, that two points without 33% of the forward core and one of the defenders is more important.
One thing I do want to mention before I dive into my three takeaways from this game is that this might have been the best game I’ve seen from Nino Niederreiter all season. Yes, he’s had a better start to this season than he has had to previous years, but that doesn’t mean this wasn’t an incredible game from him and really, his entire line looked very good throughout the game.
More from Analysis
- 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase: Takeaways from the Canes’ Strong Showing in Florida
- Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
- The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
- Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes
- Kids Canes: Shut Outs Stop Them All!
Towards the end of the game, Tampa started to load up against that line trying to hit the Canes back when the Canes’ top line was running riot, but it was still a solid performance from this line and it might be a line we see in the long term just because it did look so great in this game here last night.
Now, let’s get into out takeaways shall we? There is a lot to talk about. This was a really well played game from the Carolina Hurricanes and, despite it being a rather shallow performance on the scoreboard, that was only the case because Tampa were doing their best to “Goalie” the Hurricanes and be the inferior team for 60 minutes and bag a last minute winner to get the heck out of dodge with two points.
Call-ups Worked Well
It’s important to admire the two points as I have stressed so far in this piece, but it is a bigger must to talk about how well the kids played in this game. One stood out above the rest to me personally, but another was a cut above the other two. I want to start at the bottom and work up. Please do not think this is me saying that any of them were bad because they were not.
Max McCormick and Sheldon Rempal. Neither player was bad, and that line did a lot of good things. Both were aggressive on the forecheck, and both did everything that was asked of them on the 4th line. It’s nothing against them. They did a really good job stepping up in their debut for the Carolina Hurricanes. They did all the things you can ask someone to do who’s been sitting on the taxi squad waiting for this chance.
Moving up to the one who shone more than the previous two, but not as much as the other to me, and that is Steven Lorentz. He looked dangerous; he created chances almost every time he was on the ice. Playing with Ryan Dzingel and Jordan Staal, that line looked really dangerous all night long. Great physicality, good speed and a real good look on his NHL debut.
He generated himself a few scoring chances, some I think a higher skilled player probably converts on, but that was nothing short of an outstanding performance from Lorentz that he should be incredibly proud of. Two days skating after a week off, and to look as good as this kid did, speaks to his high levels of professionalism, and his desire to excel now he’s gotten his long awaited chance.
But to me, the one that stood out the most was Jake Bean. I do not think Bean is getting the credit he deserves for his performance. He just shut up anyone who ever doubted his talent, rather convincingly too, I might add. Haydn Fleury was his defensive partner and seemed to struggle a little when the pressure got tight. Bean looked right at home, and I think a lot of people overlook that.
Last night, this team was without it’s second best defenseman. Jaccob Slavin is a HUGE miss for this team, but because of Bean’s performance, it’s going largely unnoticed. Everyone I see is saying what a great game Lorentz had, and that he played very well. But this defense held the Tampa Bay Lightning to mainly low percentage scoring chances, and played a big part in shutting them out. Bean deserves credit for his part in that.
Every single player that was put into this line-up for the first time this season played well. Across the board, they meshed well, and they instantly found themselves getting time on the penalty kill, and in situations that they wouldn’t under normal circumstances, and they excelled when they were put into those tough situations.
I don’t think McCormick, Rempal, Lorentz, or Bean can be praised highly enough after that performance right now. A great job by every single one of those players.
Redemption Road
There were a few Carolina Hurricanes who were called out after the conclusion of last season because they did not do enough. That was the long and short of it. In this game, the three most outspokenly critiqued ones really earned themselves a chance at redemption. Dzingel, Staal and Jake Gardiner specifically.
Starting with Dzingel, this might have been his best game for the Carolina Hurricanes. He looked dangerous, he was skating hard and showing off his speed, he was forechecking well, he looked like a reinvigorated man. I don’t know if it was because he was no longer on the fourth line, or if because he was asked to step up with some key absences, but either way, he was playing very well.
Dzingel played 15 minutes, and did take a rather questionable penalty, but he looked good. He often found himself being the last guy from his line on the ice and trying to push through the Tampa defense alone, and often he found some success. Not enough to get the puck behind the Lightning netminder, but enough to force the Lightning to respect what he could do with the puck.
Staal looked like a man possessed. On his first shift, he had two major hits on one Lightning player, and at that point I wasn’t sure the Lightning would finish with all 18 players still in one piece. Staal looked like a problem for the Lightning all night, and he even had the vital pass in overtime that allowed the Canes to score and end the game then and there.
He played a fraction over 19 minutes, with 5 hits, 2 blocks and 68% in the dot. Accompanied with 2 shots on goal which, for anyone with hands that haven’t been chiseled out of hardened clay, might be a dangerous situation, but it doesn’t matter. He won that key faceoff at the start of overtime and did the trademark Rod Brind’amour thing where he wins the faceoff and jumps over the boards for Sebastian Aho ASAP.
Jake Gardiner looked like the Jake Gardiner I was so excited to see don the Carolina Hurricanes logo. An analytical darling, Gardiner put all of his talents on display tonight; good defensive break-ups, nice passes to break out of his own zone, peppered with some nice killer passes on the powerplay trying to force the issue against the Lightning when the chance presented itself. He looked like a true utility defenseman.
Playing 21:41 in terms of ice time, 3rd among defensemen, it really reflects how well he played. 2 takeaways compared to one giveaway, 1 hit, 1 block, 1 shot on goal and a lot of very dangerous plays forcing Tampa to appreciate the issue that he could pose. It was a good honest performance from Gardiner. He and Brett Pesce might be a pairing worth revisiting when the Canes get back to full strength.
It was an incredible job by all three guys, proving the narratives that have been so foolishly built against them wrong. In all three zones they were problematic for the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. It was difficult to shut them down and achieve the same goal against the real top end talent the team possesses and in the end, it was too much in the extra frame of hockey.
Petr Mrazek
In all my years of watching the Carolina Hurricanes, I’ve never loved and hated to watch the same guy so much. He’s the only person in sport that could give you full confidence in his play while simultaneously giving you a heart attack. It’s a horrible feeling, but Petr Mrazek did the job tonight, and he did it well. A well maintained 32 save shutout, his second in 3 games and 23rd of his career.
Any shutout is impressive, but this wasn’t an ordinary Mrazek shutout. It was a goalie duel which he won by beating on of the best goaltenders in the National Hockey League. The Lightning were posing genuine threat all game long, shooting from high-scoring situations, and it became a really tough task for Mrazek to just hold the fort in the second period and for half of the third.
His efforts earned him recognition as the first star of the game, and rightfully so; it was a dominant performance from the Czech goaltender. Tripp Tracy said on the broadcast that Mrazek has been going to an eye specialist to help him work on tracking the puck, and I don’t know if that was why he was so dominant tonight, or just because he has 6 games a year where he turns into a brick wall.
Either way, WHAT a performance. I’m not going to be untruthful, I got a heart attack every time the puck was shot in his general direction, and I cannot express how happy I am that I was panicking for nothing, and that he almost seemed calm when the chaos rained down around him. It was truly confidence-building performance from Mrazek, and if he can build on that, there’s a lot to be optimistic about in the crease.
I know different teams pose different threats and every game is different in this league, but I would personally consider resting Mrazek where possible from now, even at this early stage of the season. Just because, if he can play like he did last night in the playoffs? This team is going to be a very difficult one to beat, and a top contender without a shadow of a doubt.
Mrazek is the mystery box to this Carolina Hurricanes season. His second game against Detroit was lackluster. His first was a shutout. He’s such a Jekyll and Hyde goalie. Mrazek can either play perfect passes 200 feet down the ice to a streaking forward, or turn the puck over between the hashmarks in his own zone. What’s really annoying is that he can oftentimes do it on the same shift.
All that aside, I do feel the need to mention his pass from the edge of the crease to the Tampa Bay blueline in the 3rd period which lead to a chance for Dzingel late in the game. It was all created with Mrazek’s puck playing abilities and they turned out to be a good thing to have in this game. Although nothing came of this particular pass, it’s still a good threat to have if teams go for full line changes on him.
Final Thoughts
This was a big win. I pointed out in my keys article that players needed to step up and play bigger roles in the absence of some of the elite players on the roster. That was done, and it was done well. Players, debutants, under-performers, everyone stepped up and played well to help shelter the impact of the 5 players on the COVID-19 list.
Now, while we know that we will not see any of those 5 again for the series with the Dallas Stars, we do not know exactly when they will be back. You have to hope that the players are in good health, and that they can rejoin the team as soon as possible because as good a story as this is, I have questions about how sustainable it is to expect great performances out of players who have been under-performing.
That said, this needs to be enjoyed. 10 days without Carolina Hurricanes hockey is far too long, and it’s a great way to get the season resumed again. Claiming a victory over the defending Stanley Cup Champions when you have a lot of your roster out due to the Coronavirus pandemic is impressive all the way around. It speaks to the depth this team has, despite people like myself admittedly being very critical of it.
When the offense faltered to backcheck, the defense bailed them out. When the defense fell asleep, Mrazek took the team to safety. This was a great performance, from the crease out. It was not the easiest game to watch with a distinct lack of goals, but there was a lot of very high quality hockey, a lot of speed in the game, and a lot of physicality. It’s a preview to a potentially appetizing playoff series down the road, if both teams get there.
Now, the Canes need to consider their line combinations. Chopping and changing is fine when you’re looking for a winner, but this team had 2 days practice and they were changing the lines during the game looking to just keep Tampa at bay (geography pun). Without some time to settle and play in the lines Rod wants them to play in, I worry about this Dallas series.
However, that’s a worry for a different time. Let us just enjoy this victory for today. A good win for a good team over the best team in the NHL right now, with a lot of feel good stories. Moving forward, this team has a really bright season ahead of it, so don’t focus too much on the little things, when there’s a lot of good with this team right now.
Next. Brief Look at the Canes' New Schedule. dark