Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Tough Loss to Columbus

The Carolina Hurricanes dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker Monday night at Nationwide Arena, allowing a highlight-reel go-ahead goal from Jack Roslovic with under five minutes to play to fall to 7-3-0 on the young season.

Alex Nedeljkovic took a tough-luck loss in his first start of the 2021 season, stopping 19 shots in the process.

The Hurricanes never led in the game, but through 40 minutes had an answer for every Blue Jackets marker. Late in the first period, a Scott Harrington shot that was going well wide bounced off Andrei Svechnikov‘s backside and into the net for a 1-0 lead. Nedeljkovic nearly dove and stopped it anyway, but was just a split second late and the puck had inched over the goal line.

The Canes responded well after the first intermission, and Nino Niederreiter countered with a fortunate bounce of his own 6:19 into the middle frame. Teuvo Teravainen won a board battle and sent the puck towards the front of the net, and while Columbus goaltender Joonas Korpisalo tried to aggressively poke check the puck away (Nedeljkovic must have motivated him), the puck bounced off El Nino’s leg and into the net for his fifth goal on the young season.

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Shortly after, a strange penalty shot was awarded to Columbus’ Cam Atkinson – on a play on Columbus’ side of the red line, with Dougie Hamilton about even with him, bringing the “in the clear” question into focus – and the perennial thorn-in-the-side of the Hurricanes made a pretty deke and tucked it past an outstretched Nedeljkovic to hand a 2-1 lead to the home squad.

However, the Hurricanes again had an equalizer as Brock McGinn knocked home a rebound barely two minutes later, continuing his solid play on the young season. It was McGinn’s fourth goal in five games.

The Canes struggled to find the go-ahead marker, twice ringing the post on shots from Sebastian Aho and McGinn that would have staked them to a 3-2 lead.

Instead, with the score still tied late, Roslovic caught a pass near center ice, gaining the Hurricanes’ zone 1-on-2 against Brett Pesce and Ryan Dzingel, who both seemed to expect each other to be more aggressive playing the body. Instead, both listlessly waved at the puck. Roslovic split them, pulled the puck between his legs to get in alone on the Carolina goaltender, then quickly deked to his backhand to open Nedeljkovic up before sliding the puck five-hole for the game winner.

Although the result was not ideal, there were still some positive takeaways from the process for the Carolina Hurricanes. Here’s what I saw in game #10.

Shorthanded Canes Struggle to Create

Vincent Trocheck was scratched just ahead of game time with a reported lower-body concern, leaving the Hurricanes a skater short on the second leg of a back-to-back. Due to the team being just short of the cap, they only could have called up a taxi-squad player had they placed Martin Necas, Petr Mrazek, or Trocheck on long-term injured reserve, meaning they would not be able to play for 24 days.

The good news? This likely suggests that all three should be back playing for the Carolina Hurricanes at some point over the next couple weeks.

Alas, of course one of my pre-game keys was contributions from all over the lineup. I say “it’ll take 20 guys”, and the Canes dress 19. I’m cursed.

The main thing the loss of two top-six players brought to my attention was the lack of high-end creators. The Canes struggled to create any offense consistently, which can partially be accredited to the Blue Jackets team defense. They muck up lanes and play a grinding style, and the Hurricanes never consistently made tape-to-tape passes in the offensive zone or got shots through traffic. Columbus blocked 22 shots, while the Hurricanes only had 24 on net.

Necas and Trocheck have proven to be key play-drivers for the Canes this season, both showing the ability to gain clean zone entries and create offense for the team. Luckily, reports on both players seemed rather optimistic, with Trocheck being a possibility to re-enter the lineup Thursday night in Dallas.

Without them, Columbus did a fine job harassing Aho and Andrei Svechnikov all game, as aside from a couple individual efforts both were mostly kept quiet and, more importantly, off the scoresheet.

Here’s to just a little injury luck starting to go the Hurricanes’ way moving forward.

Ned Shows He Can Help Carolina Hurricanes

Alex Nedeljkovic’s stat line of 19 saves on 22 shots was middling at best, but he played quite well for his first game of the season.

First off, I know a lot of heart rates are elevated when a goalie, any goalie, leaves the net. I can hear my dad now, barking at Petr Mrazek through the TV all those times to “stay in the damn net”, so I can only imagine how his house sounded last night.

But here’s the thing: Ned’s puck playing ability is a huge advantage. He does it extremely well, and last night made probably 10 different breakout passes that essentially gave the Carolina Hurricanes a third defenseman on the breakout. This is especially big against a forechecking squad like Columbus, as it helps the team’s defenders not have to retreat behind the net on every dump-in, and thus allows less time for Columbus’ forwards to get in and create turnovers.

I know many of us can remember John Forslund talking about Carey Price‘s puck-playing ability when the Hurricanes took on Montreal over the years; Ned provides the same for the team now. He scored two goals in the minors for a reason.

The second notable positive from Ned was his rebound control. This is something James Reimer has struggled with of late, which can be expected from a goalie that is a tad overworked. But, last night, Nedeljkovic ate up every puck that came towards him. He did a fantastic job of catching, covering, or angling pucks to the corner basically every time Columbus tried to mount an attack or crash the net, which is obviously invaluable.

Now, none of the three goals are on him. A bad bounce off Svechnikov, a penalty shot from a noted Canes Killer, and another breakaway with a tough defensive sequence in front of him tend to allow many options on which blame can be placed. But, if you want to pick nits, you could say you would like Nedeljkovic to stop one of the breakaways. The Canes needed him to come up with a big save there, and he just could not quite get it done.

The thing is, I think it’s an overeagerness thing. We hear on the broadcast all the time about goalies being patient and letting the shooter make the first move. Alex tried to be patient on those breakaways, but bit on the first deke each time. Ned’s aggressiveness and athleticism often allow him to recover in these instances, but NHL players will eat him alive if they go to school on this film and he does not adjust.

You have to feel for the kid, though. He has been in the organization for nearly seven years, and never truly given a shot to earn an NHL job. He had to be clamoring to make his mark, and part of me feels like he just wanted to make those saves so bad that he overdid it a touch instead of displaying the patience and calmness needed to stay with the shooter.

Incidentally, those are likely two of his bigger obstacles he needs to overcome to entrench himself as an NHL netminder. This is something that he will likely only improve on with reps and comfort, and the organization seems hesitant to provide those.

Overall, I think he deserves another start. Once he settles in, he could give a nice boost to the Hurricanes in some role.