Carolina Hurricanes End the Dallas Streak, Look to Repeat

The Power Play is ALIVE, Keep it That Way

If you were to ask Carolina Hurricanes fans what, other than perhaps the goaltending, needed to improve for this team to go from a mere playoff team to a strong contender for the Stanley Cup, they would say something along the lines of the Powerplay. And they would be right.

Well, last night the powerplay got a defibrillation shock straight to the heart and awoke a beast. They went three for five against a Stanley Cup finalist. Getting goals from Vincent Trocheck, Andrei Svechnikov, and Ryan Dzingel. Sebastian Aho collected a pair of assists while Jordan Staal, Trocheck, Necas, and Gardiner each collected an apple themselves.

This was a complete effort on the powerplay. Noone, in particular, stepped up that night. That means it is repeatable this evening against a Stars team looking to leave Raleigh with any points and might lose their cool and discipline as they get frustrated. Good. Let’s capitalize on that and send these Cowboys back to steer-land empty-handed.

My favorite of the three goals has to be the Andrei Svechnikov goal. That powerplay looked like it was breaking down. Dallas took control of the puck in the neutral zone and tried to play hot potato with each other to kill the time.

But instead of laying back and waiting for the Stars to make an errant pass, the Carolina Hurricanes forced a mistake, broke into the zone with style, and let the skills of Aho and Svechnikov go on display:

https://twitter.com/Canes/status/1355713274529067010

That finishing tuck by Svechnikov was absolutely filthy. Anton Khudobin never had a chance at that puck, not when it’s on the stick of such a young generational talent. That goal went in even after Andrei was hooked on the play which led to another powerplay which led to the top-shelf goal by Ryan Dzingel.

Dobby was relieved of his duties after that. But none of those goals were really on him. The Dallas defense, used to playing boring hockey, just couldn’t keep up with the speed and creativity of the young Hurricanes roster. They were simply outclassed. Nothing has changed going into tonight’s game. Look for another powerplay goal or two in tonight’s matchup.

Before we move to the next point, I would be remiss to not mention the fact that even with terrible officiating and the Stars being given six powerplay chances, to include ones to start each period, the Hurricanes managed to keep the damage to a minimum. Only a single goal and seven shots in those six extra-man chances.

Keep up the Toughness

Just like I mentioned in my Keys to the game yesterday, the Dallas Stars, after giving up a few goals early in this game, began to get frustrated and throw the body around looking to make a statement. They managed to injure a few Carolina Hurricanes too. But this team stood strong and remained tough.

More importantly, they remained disciplined. Even though the officials looked like they were ready to call a penalty on any Cane who looked at them funny, they only racked up 12 PIMs in a game that could have gotten extremely chippy, especially when you factor in five extremely young players on the ice.

Tonight there needs to be more of that. More discipline. More asserted toughness. Play as a team for the team. We saw that last night. No reason there won’t be more of that this evening. The question of course will be if Max McCormick would return.

Don’t be surprised to see Drew Shore, who was sent to the taxi squad on Thursday make his season debut. It would be his first NHL game since 16-17 season where he played 14 games for the Vancouver Canucks.

But none of that matters. This is Rod Brind’amour hockey. This is his team and the way he coaches his team, they develop more than a connection with each other. They can all sense each other through the force. An attack on one Carolina Hurricane is an attack on all. Everyone will defend each other. They will also score for each other.

You will not find anyone standing around on the ice and avoiding the puck in a Carolina sweater, I will assure you that.

That includes toughness on both ends of the ice. You don’t suffocate a team down to only 11 shots on goal in a full sixty minutes without being tough defensively. How many shots never make it to the net because of a body being in the way? How many shots never happen because space just wasn’t there for it, and a Carolina Hurricane was in the way?

Simply put it take a complete team toughness to dominate and demolish an undefeated team like they did last night. Everyone from the superstars to the first-timers showed tenacity as we have never seen before, well since the David Ayres game.

That brings me to the final key/takeaway before tonight’s game.

Its Trocheck’s World

If anyone is enjoying this season it is Vincent Trocheck. Gained last season in a trade with the Florida Panthers that saw Erik Haula and Lucas Wallmark, and two prospects, Chase Priskie and Eetu Luostarinen go down south. That trade felt very lopsided at the time, but you fast forward to this season and suddenly it all makes sense.

With his third and fourth goals of the season in this game, the man is about to have a breakout season like never before. Add on the fact that he also got his second apple on the Svechnikov goal and he is over a point per game.

The first goal came with some incredible moves that shows just how much lockstep he has with his new teammates:

That was Steven Lorentz’s first NHL point too. And instead of just celebrate the fact that he managed to jump on the defending Western Conference Champions in just four minutes into the game, he made an active effort to go and get the puck from the official so Lorentz can have that memory forever. It was a well-deserved NHL point too.

https://twitter.com/Canes/status/1355883772395352075

That is a full team player right there. Can he continue his roll into tonight’s game? We will find out. To be completely fair, it’s not very likely that he will have a similar night, but who knows. Hopefully, he has given the rest of the team a scoring bug that they will carry into the game. I hear it is very contagious.

I am still a little upset that he never got his natural hattrick. But I doubt he was worried about it last night. He did do his best to sneak another puck behind Dobby. Perhaps he will get one tonight? Here is hoping.

Final Notes

More from Cardiac Cane

• 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase: Takeaways from the Canes’ Strong Showing in Florida
• 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

Location: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina.
TV: Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio: 99.9 FM The Fan
Uniforms: Home Reds
Game Time: 5:00 PM ET

Projected Lines:

Forwards

Andrei Svechnikov –Sebastian Aho– Brock McGinn
Nino Niederreiter – Vincent Trocheck–Martin Necas
Steven Lorentz– Jordan Staal– Ryan Dzingel
Max McCormick–Morgan Geekie– Sheldon Rempal

Defensemen

Brady Skjei–Dougie Hamilton
Jake Gardiner–Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury– Jake Bean

Goalies

Alex Nedeljkovic vs Anton Khudobin.

While the Mrazek injury is nowhere near as bad as it looked on TV yesterday, there is virtually little chance he comes into the game tonight. That will leave it to James Reimer who I doubt the coaching will seek a back-to-back effort from him and Alex Nedeljkovic who had his season debut last year against the same team after the slew of injuries saw both Reimer and Petr exit.

That game ended in a 4-1 loss to Carolina on a night that saw the legendary David Ayres visit Raleigh to see the fans.  Tonight Alex will get a chance at some revenge as he will probably make his season debut for the Carolina Hurricanes in the net.

The Carolina Hurricanes have a slim 58.2% chance of winning according to MoneyPuck.com

Question for Cardiac Cane Readers: Who gets the first goal of the night tonight?