Carolina Hurricanes: 3 takeaways as Canes grind out win in Nashville
Another win for the Carolina Hurricanes! They travel to Nashville, Tennessee, and win against the Predators in Smashville! A big start to this 2021-22 campaign as they improve to 2-0-0 on the season. A big win in a hostile environment makes this a little more impressive. It was a big result for a team that’s desperate to start this season off on the right foot.
With that in mind, this performance was far from ideal. Carolina took the lead early, but a poor giveaway would get the crowd in Nashville bouncing. Errors came out from the Canes in this game, and they would have been fatal against a team with a little more attacking talent. It’s exciting that this game from the Canes showed so much rust, but the Canes still escaped with two points.
With the Canes having captured the two points they had set their ambitions on, it was known that they would need a good performance to triumph at Bridgestone Arena. It was a tough game on the eyes, but they don’t ask how. All that matters at the end of the day is that the Carolina Hurricanes escape Tennessee with 4 points in the NHL Standings.
Carolina has a lot to work on before their next game in Montreal, but they have a convenient break between now and the next game. They will have the time to work on a lot of the issues that reared their ugly heads on the trip to Nashville, but there was a lot of good to take from this win, and we’ll try to focus on that. So here we are, with 3 takeaways from the 3-2 win in Smashville.
Andrei Svechnikov keeps his head clear
This was a big game for those looking to get a look into the mentality of the Canes young Russian superstar, but Andrei Svechnikov and his calmness got the better of the occasion. After making a bone-headed mistake to lead to Nashville’s equalizer to make it 1-1, Svechnikov would score the important goal that made it 2-1 before it became 3-1 with an empty-net goal, and Nashville pulled on back with the extra skater.
This is gigantic to take away from this game. Svechnikov was unfazed by a big blunder and was able to make perfect amends for his mistake. Svechnikov not being disrupted by his issues and missteps is something that holds a lot of promise. Svech is still only 21 years old, and he still has a lot of areas to improve before he is the finished article.
Moving forward from there, Svechnikov is showing he’s already got the resilience of a champion. He’s already showing that he’s got the skill of someone who can lead a team to the Stanley Cup with his skill. His shot is among the best in the NHL, and there’s not a lot of players that can rival his pass either. He’s deadly when the puck is on his stick.
Obviously, I said Svech still has rough spots. He still takes some really stupid penalties when he doesn’t need to. His passes can be too openly telegraphed sometimes, but he really is starting to show signs of becoming the game-breaker the Carolina Hurricanes got advertised when he was drafted. It’s been a long time since he was drafted and he’s starting to flash his skill to the world.
Svechnikov is one of those players that the Hurricanes will need to perform at the highest level. He’s in Carolina for the foreseeable future having signed an 8-year deal this summer. I find it hard imagining a situation where he isn’t a member of the Canes going forward. This is why seeing this mental resilience is such a promising sign.
Jesper exploding early
Before this season, I specifically did a piece on Jesper Fast and how the team will need more from the projected third-line winger. I did not expect to be a week into the season with the Swede on a goal per game pace. That was more than I could ever have imagined. Obviously, it’s only two games and it’s very unlikely to be sustainable, but it’s certainly a welcome source of goals the Canes didn’t have before.
Fast has goals in each of the first two games this season. We will see if this is sustainable going forward, but depth goals are going to be a big part of the Canes team going forward this season. In years past, offensive depth has been one of the major downfalls of the Carolina Hurricanes. When the blueline has been good and the goaltending is solid, the depth often fails the team.
If Fast can add between 15-20 goals from the third line at even strength, that’s a major factor for the team. We know the top 6 for Carolina won’t go unrewarded for long, but if Fast can get his line to contribute when the top six are struggling, they were in this game against the Predators, then we’re going to see a very strong team when the Stanley Cup Playoffs roll around.
Fast’s role within the depth of the Hurricanes is such a vital position. If he can get to 40 points, he gives another scoring option and the third line would become a factor. We know how vital third lines can be in when it matters since Tampa Bay relied on their 3rd line so heavily for so long. It got them through so many hurdles, and if Carolina’s can offer some offense as Tampa’s did, it makes them so much more difficult to defeat.
We know Fast and his linemates will not be beaten defensively. Fast will also be right there giving everything on the penalty kill. We know he’s a team-first player, and he’s excellent defensively. What will be his main issue is the offensive output, but the Canes right now are able to reap the rewards of a Swedish player starting the season off strongly.
A great Dane performance
I could talk for a long time about what the Carolina Hurricanes netminder offered the team in this win over the Nashville Predators, but that would be just a lot of effort and I think it’s easier to just show you the Carolina Hurricanes tweet on the netminder from the win over the Predators because he was just huge. He was the biggest reason Carolina escaped Nashville with two points.
Freddie. Andersen.
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 17, 2021
Freaking. Awesome. pic.twitter.com/bOQ3BrzmqJ
It’s a cliche to say that you need your netminders to be hot, you need them to steal points and Frederik Andersen did that a ton as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs and he has already shown his capabilities of doing it in the red, white and black of the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s proving a lot of the doubters wrong from the off-season.
In this game, Andersen stopped 38 of 40. But they weren’t 38 floaters. Andersen had to work hard to stop a lot of these. This Predators team was buzzing around his net all night long, and he was just about able to keep them at bay. It was a struggle all night long, but he bailed his team out time and again until they eventually came through offensively to put the game in the win collum.
It’s going to be vital for the Carolina Hurricanes to see Freddie maintain his play at this level. He often has some midseason struggles, but right now, he’s hot and he’s playing well. If he continues to hold up, he’s going to backstop this team a long way. Longevity might be an issue, but for now, take it one game at a time and Freddie seems to deliver.
Carolina’s next game is Thursday, October 21st at the Bell Center in Montreal for a 7 PM puck drop with their Canadian rivals. There will be a keys to that game piece before the puck drop in Quebec, but until then, Carolina is 2-0-0 on the season. Let’s go Canes.
dark. Next.