Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Bounce Back in Tampa Bay

Grab the Game Early

The Lightning caught the Carolina Hurricanes on their heels right from the puck drop on Monday.

Tampa Bay possessed the puck incredibly well, they were playing with speed, they shut down the Hurricanes’ transition game, and were peppering James Reimer with quality chances. Kudos to Reimer throughout that game, by the way; he stood on his head.

However, I don’t care if you have Dominik Hasek in net for you, if you let this Tampa Bay team control the first period like Carolina did on Monday, it’s not going to end well.

The shots through 18 minutes were 11-2 in favor of the Lightning, but the score was 1-0 Canes, thanks to Jesper Fast‘s first goal as a Hurricane.

Thankfully, a power play bailed the Canes out and allowed them to gain some momentum back heading into the first intermission. If it wasn’t for James Reimer’s stellar performance, the Canes could have easily been down by multiple goals after the first.

Trocheck Line Keeps Going

So far this season, the Carolina Hurricanes’ “second” forward line of Nino Niederreiter, Vincent Trocheck, and Martin Necas has been far and away the most successful at both ends of the ice.

Trocheck has recorded a team-leading 16 points (tied with Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho) through as many games and is tied with Niederreiter for a team-leading 9 goals.

Necas hasn’t found the back of the net as much as I’m sure he would like to, but his performance has been incredible in possessing and distributing the puck with 2 goals and 9 assists through 14 games. Most notably, “Junior” has been exciting to watch on the power play. His cross-ice seam pass is becoming a signature in his bag of tricks.

Trocheck’s line led all four Hurricanes’ lines with 8 shots-on-goal in the loss to Tampa, resulting in only one assist for Necas on the night. Unfortunately they ran into a red-hot Andrei Vasilevskiy, but if they continue that type of pressure throughout the upcoming road trip, their success is easily sustainable.

Since Rod Brind’Amour‘s decision to scratch Haydn Fleury for Jake Bean, Bean has absolutely torn up the ice against Hurricanes’ opponents. 

Bean, the 2020 AHL Defenseman of the Year, has been simply sensational for the Carolina Hurricanes through his last five games, notching 5 assists. In the 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay, it looked like Bean had fully settled into the NHL level of play, leading the team with an incredible 7 shots-on-goal. The confidence is there, both within Bean and behind the bench.

If the Hurricanes want to go into Amalie Arena and take a 2-1 “series” lead on Tampa Bay, Jake Bean will need to continue his confident play on both ends of the ice.

However, this complicates things for the rest of the defensive core. Haydn Fleury was scratched for the first three games of the home stand, then for the last two it was Jake Gardiner getting the healthy scratch.

There are pros and cons to having a healthy scratch on the blue line.

Most notably, the cons include what could be a salty taste in the mouths of Fleury and Gardiner for being scratched, and while scratches do participate in practice, you’re at risk of rust building up if you sit for too many consecutive games.

However, there are a multitude of positives here. This promotes a more competitive mindset for all defensemen on the roster, where every night they’re fighting for a spot to stay in the lineup. Second, a healthy scratch is always good for an unfortunate injury that could pop up, even if it is for a very short term. Another added positive is this shows just how deep the Hurricanes are defensively.

That being said, Jake Bean is here to stay if he continues to play like this, and his pairing with former Charlotte Checkers teammate Haydn Fleury has looked nearly perfect from a small sample size.

The Hurricanes’ Michael Smith reported this morning that Rod Brind’Amour plans to bring Jake Gardiner back into the lineup for Wednesday’s game in Tampa Bay. Haydn Fleury gets the scratch.

Game Notes

Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay, Florida

TV: Fox Sports Carolinas

Radio: 99.9 The Fan

Uniforms: Away Whites

Potential Lineup:

• Svechnikov – Aho – McGinn
• Niederreiter – Trocheck – Necas
• Foegele – Staal – Fast
• Paquette – Lorentz – Martinook
• Slavin – Hamilton
• Skjei – Pesce
• Gardiner – Bean

Potential Goalie Matchup:

Carolina: Alex Nedeljkovic, 2-1-0, .911 SV%, 2.44 GAA

Tampa Bay: Andrei Vasilevskiy, 10-3-1, .931 SV%, 2.01 GAA