Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Rolling on in Chicago
The Carolina Hurricanes (23-7-3) head to Chicago Tuesday evening to take the ice for the first time since Saturday’s thrilling come-from-behind victory over the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning.
Coming off a rare two-day break, the Hurricanes received some exciting injury-related news yesterday (more on that later), and the roster continues to creep towards the ever-elusive moniker of “healthy”.
The Hurricanes have been a team of streaks lately, with an eight-game win streak to begin March succeeded by a three-game slide. Now, the Hurricanes look to stretch their current win streak to four games.
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The biggest story for Carolina of late has been the scorching-hot stretch of play from Martin Necas. The 22-year-old Czech speedster is blossoming into a premier NHL player, seemingly growing in both confidence and performance by the game. He was probably the Hurricanes’ best player each of the last two games, combining for 6 points (3 G, 3 A) in the wins.
He has also shown a knack for coming through in big moments. He registered the primary assist on the overtime game-winner in Columbus, then had a beautiful snipe for the game-winning goal late in the third period against Tampa Bay.
He has showcased substantial chemistry with Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter on the team’s newly-formed top line – a trio that is highly unlikely to be broken up, even once the roster is at full strength.
Standing in their way are the struggling Chicago Blackhawks (16-15-5), who have gone 4-8-1 in March to fall below the surging Nashville Predators at the playoff cut line in the Central Division.
Despite the recent struggles, Chicago has proven a tough out for the Hurricanes this season. They are a young, scrappy team that has shown a lot of pride and work ethic, and rookie goaltender Kevin Lankinen has been a revelation for the franchise, very capable of stealing games on occasion.
This will be the fourth of six meetings between the teams, with the Hurricanes winning two of the previous three (one in a shootout). These are the three keys to leaving the Windy City with a third W.
Trocheck’s Possible Return
The Carolina Hurricanes’ 2C, Vincent Trocheck, may be back in the lineup for the first time since March 9. The Hurricanes have gone 5-1-2 in his absence, but adding a player that led the team in goals – and still leads in power play goals – when he went down is going to boost this lineup in multiple ways. He is a reported game-time decision.
At a basic level, the Hurricanes would get a dynamic player back in the lineup that has shown the ability to create offense on his own and battle in the dirty areas extremely well – especially for a player of his size (5’10, 183). And we know how good he is at banging home rebounds and tipping in (Dougie‘s) point shots.
However, what kind of makes this a 1+1=3 situation is the effect it’s going to have on other players, and specifically one Andrei Svechnikov.
Svech’s game is starting to come around of late, and he is producing (mainly assists) on the power play, but he has still struggled to be as threatening at 5-on-5 as we are accustomed to seeing him. Being on Jordan Staal‘s wing, he is largely being used against opponents top lines. This means he must play a responsible game, focusing on keeping the other team off the scoresheet.
Now, I do not mean to knock Staal at all – he has been fantastic this year – but he does not provide the kind of dynamic threat that makes Svechnikov’s life easier in the offensive zone (which is obviously 37’s strong suit).
Staal is more of a north-south, grind in the corners, crash-the-net-and-score-greasy-goals type. He is not at his best making reads and diagnosing the play with the puck on his stick, and therefore does not really put Svech in dangerous positions to score.
Instead of being able to simply read the play, find open ice to settle into, and catch a pass for a scoring threat, Svechnikov is forced to create those plays and space for himself, usually while being the biggest point of concern for the opposition. Go back and watch some clips or games over the last few weeks, and see what sort of position Svechnikov is in when he catches the puck.
Without multiple threats, it becomes easier for defenses to key on Svech and ensure fewer grade-A chances develop. Svechnikov’s creativity, vision, and finishing are, at some level, being suppressed.
Now, according to Michael Smith, Staal is being put with Warren Foegele and Brock McGinn, and Svechnikov has lined up on Trocheck’s wing in practice (with Jesper Fast opposite him).
Svech has rarely had a teammate of Trocheck’s offensive caliber on his line this year – and vise-versa (Necas stretches notwithstanding, he had not really decided to go Super Saiyan at the time).
Fully expect that duo to put forth some dynamic stretches, and perhaps now is the time the Russian phenom will take off and return to being the player that had 16 points in the first 16 games of the season.
The fact that the Hurricanes have kept their heads (well) above water since the Trocheck injury speaks to just how absurd Aho and Necas, who was just named the NHL’s second star of the week, have been.
Now, the Hurricanes top-six is nearing a return to having two legitimately deadly lines to deal with, and Chicago’s defense ought to have its hands full.
Or, perhaps Trocheck is not quite ready tonight, in which case this key just becomes “Nino, Necas and Aho set the world on fire again”.
Trap Game Alert!
These two teams are headed opposite directions.
In previous meetings, the Blackhawks youth was clearly very hungry; they basically beat the Canes at their own game. They clogged the middle of the ice, consistently won races and puck battles, and their forecheck did not give the Hurricanes an inch to breathe.
But, those young players are now learning what a grind an NHL season – specifically this one, with a truncated schedule – is, while the Hurricanes have surged (puns woohoo) behind their own young stars.
However, this is prime “trap game” territory. Although it is easy to sit in the stands or on our couches and scream into the abyss about not taking an opponent lightly in the NHL, it is almost human nature.
How can you not take your foot off the gas a tad when you go from a hard-fought, close victory over the defending cup champions to playing a team that is likely outside the playoff picture come season’s end?
And on the other hand, the Blackhawks will likely come out firing after losing their last two games in Nashville to get leapt in the playoff race. This is a big opportunity for them, to immediately bounce back and beat one of the best teams in the league.
They will be eager to protect their home ice, as well as potentially jumping back ahead or keeping pace with Nashville, who plays Dallas tonight.
The Hurricanes should be prepared for a big push from Chicago. The team needs to start on time, quickly dash any hopes of an upset victory, get to the blue paint and make things difficult for the star young goalie in the Blackhawks’ net, and simply keep the pedal down.
Having a Third Defenseman
All three of the previous games against Chicago have seen James Reimer get the nod. Tonight, Alex Nedeljkovic gets the nod, and with it comes a very intriguing showdown between two of the best rookie goalies in the NHL this season.
Both have been stellar on the year, but “Ned” provides an edge beyond his ability to keep the puck out of the net – his fantastic puckhandling ability.
As previously mentioned, the Blackhawks effectively beat the Canes at their own game back on February 4, doing so with a heavy forecheck and team-wide relentless motor level.
They were constantly harassing puck carriers and caused very little flow through the middle of the ice, then players like Patrick Kane made them pay on the counterattack.
This type of play style should sound familiar if you watch a lot of Carolina Hurricanes hockey.
Enter Nedeljkovic. One of the more underrated aspects of his puck playing ability is the fit that aggressive, always-looking-to-move-it style has within the Hurricanes system. The ability to make a good, clean first pass before a defenseman has go all the way below the goal line with his back to the play to retrieve the puck is invaluable.
Quicker breakouts mean less pressure from the opponent, which means fewer mistakes and cleaner offensive rushes. For a team that wants to possess the puck and get to work on its own forecheck as quickly and frequently as possible, this marriage is perfect.
The Chicago Blackhawks’ blue line is mediocre at best; Connor Murphy and Calvin de Haan are serviceable veterans, but Duncan Keith‘s best days are long past, Nikita Zadorov can be taken advantage of with speed, and Nicolas Beaudin and Adam Boqvist are young and inexperienced.
This is a defense group that is susceptible to mistakes (which can be said for basically all of them, to be fair), and taking advantage of this plays into the Hurricanes identity perfectly.
This gameplan is close to what they pulled off against Tampa Bay. If the Hurricanes can do it against Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev, then you like their odds of pulling it off tonight – especially with Ned helping expedite those rushes.
Game Information
Location: United Center
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 99.9 The Fan
Uniforms: White Aways
Projected Lineup:
Niederreiter – Aho – Necas
Svechnikov – Trocheck – Fast
McGinn – Staal – Foegele
Paquette – Lorentz – Martinook
Slavin – Hamilton
Skjei – Pesce
Fleury – Bean
Goalie Matchup:
Carolina: Alex Nedeljkovic – 8-2-2, .929SV%, 2.05 GAA
Chicago: Kevin Lankinen – 12-8-4; .920SV%, 2.72 GAA
Score Prediction:
94. Prediction. 4. 109. 2
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