Cardiac Cane
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Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Stealing More Points from Tampa Bay

By Matthew Nidiffer

Feb 24, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce (22) and Tampa Bay Lightning center Yanni Gourde (37) push each other during the first period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 24, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce (22) and Tampa Bay Lightning center Yanni Gourde (37) push each other during the first period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 25, 2021; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Warren Foegele (13) checks Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan (46) during the second period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2021; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Warren Foegele (13) checks Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan (46) during the second period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Line Shakeups Recipe for Success?

This one is a bit of a mystery to me.

After rolling with a virtually identical lineup for 4+ games in a row, Rod Brind’amour chooses to shake up the lines (in dramatic fashion) right before playing the Division-and-League-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

I get the value of shaking up lines, and slotting players in at different places and with different linemates to get them going again, but after Warren Foegele cost the Canes points in two of the last four games, he gets rewarded with 2nd line minutes?

As Canes’ Twitter resident voice of reason Katie (@FleurySkjei, give her a follow, you won’t regret it) suggested, maybe Foegele is being anchored to Jordan Staal as an insurance policy, which is definitely the best explanation I’ve heard about it so far.

Bumping Andrei Svechnikov down to the 3rd line with Jordan Martinook and Jesper Fast when Svech is in the middle of the mother of all slumps and really needs better offensive players around him to really get going again?

I can’t say I understand it by any means. If it works, I’ll gladly eat crow; it won’t be the first time Rod Brind’amour has made me do that. If not, though, there have to be questions about why he chose these combinations and why he chose now to deploy them as such.

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