Carolina Hurricanes: 3 takeaways from win in Quebec

Carolina’s strong Finnish

When I say the Carolina Hurricanes won this game, they won it on the back of one line. They won it on the back of the KAT line, and specifically Sebastian Aho. Before we dive into the game, Aho’s 2 goals saw him become the all-time top Finnish scorer in Carolina Hurricanes history. It’s a niche stat, but it’s a cool one nevertheless. Congratulations to Sebastian!

Aho answered all the questions ever asked about loyalties between the two organizations that his offer-sheet signing started the feud between. This was the first performance of the season where Aho truly took over a game and became the ELITE player we know he is. Aho really showed that he is a star in this league with his performance against a Montreal team that played up to the fixture.

But Aho’s left-winger might have been the most impressive player on the team. As he returned to the Bell Center for the first time, Jesperi Kotkaniemi heard the boos all night long from the crowd that he used to perform in front of. Going into one of the harshest buildings in the league with one of the loudest fan bases, and playing as well as Kotkaniemi did with his extra pressure… it’s very impressive.

Kotkaniemi joined the Hurricanes after he was tendered a $6,100,035 offer sheet and Montreal declined to match it. A lot of Montreal fans have viewed this as Kotkaniemi jumping ship and ar proclaiming he was not committed to the Montreal-based organization. With how Kotkaniemi played, he showed what Montreal could have had if they decided to match his offer sheet.

As a 21-year-old, going into one of the most hostile environments you can like that and playing to that standard was absolutely sensational from Jesperi Kotkaniemi. He’s still young and he has a lot of growing to do, but he’s showing signs of being a first-round talent that he was only three years ago.

This line in general was excellent, and I have to share the moment that Quebec as a whole just descended into anarchy.

Great Dane stands tall

With the Carolina Hurricanes victory in Montreal, there’s always going to be a strong underlying cause of goaltending. When Carolina’s netminder turns away 27 of 28 shots faced, you have to give him a lot of praise. Did he get a little lucky only giving up one goal? Probably, yes. But only giving up one goal is a great feat for Frederik Andersen.

Freddie has been asked to keep the Canes in games this season so far that they had no right being in. With this game, that was never the case. Montreal never looked like asserting their dominance. It was always the superior Carolina talent that caused issues, but Andersen turned away what he had to.

Carolina was the first team this year to really get into a “run and gun” style game with Montreal this year where pucks and bodies were flying in a thousand different directions. Montreal couldn’t help it with the deficiencies they have on the back end. We still wish nothing but the best for the whole Edmundson family.

This never should have been the case, Carolina’s inability to hold the Habs in their own zone was shocking, and it lead to a lot of scoring chances against. One of the redeeming factors about Andersen’s projections this season was that he won’t have the same workload he did in Toronto. Yet, Carolina seems to depend on him to bail them out time and time again.

While in the short term, Andersen has the ability to bail the team out, it does raise questions about his long-term sustainability and if he can genuinely get through the season while avoiding injuries. At the age of 32, it’s becoming harder to do. Obviously, no one wants to see Freddie hurt. However, this raises a lot of questions about the previous injuries he had sustained in his career.

With Andersen shining through for the Hurricanes time and time again, he made himself a highlight reel from this game, and it was worth the watch. With the Dane standing on his head, Carolina got a lot of assistance as they overcame an early scare with a goal ruled out for goaltender interference to handle the Canadiens quite easily in the end.

Canes trolling of Habs is not done yet

Carolina’s social media team is a bunch of jerks. After the team completed their 4-1 over the Montreal Canadiens, the team tweeted out a link to a website called “Didthehabslose.com” and started to sell Sebastian Aho and Jesperi Kotkaniemi shirts for $20 in reference to Kotkaniemi’s signing bonus.

We all know the ongoing off-ice feud between the two organizations. Make no mistake, there was not a lot of garbage on the ice. Both teams played a good, clean game. Carolina had some stupid penalties, but there was nothing outlandishly stupid from either team to endanger opponents. This disagreement is between the front offices of the respective organizations.

So for newer fans that do not understand why the two organizations are at war in the public relations department, it goes back to the 2019 NHL summer. July 1st and free agency has just opened. Carolina was a major player in the market given the lower tax rates and the fact the organization was coming off an Eastern Conference Finals birth. Then the unusual happened.

Star center Sebastian Aho was tendered to an offer sheet. It was matched almost instantly because it was a weak offer sheet given the abilities of a player like Aho, but it hurt Canes owner Tom Dundon. Aho’s deal is bonus-loaded and Montreal hoped they could get this player without trading for him just by loading the deal and watching Dundon cheap out. Dundon decided to embarrass the habs.

Dundon replied by instantly saying “Well our summer got easier” and suggesting that the offer sheet was so weak that it was inconceivable to do anything but match now that Carolina had been gifted this perfect contract. He outlined all the great things the habs had done and was insulted that they thought he would cheap out, and Dundon doesn’t forget.

So, this summer, Carolina offer sheeted Jesperi Kotkaniemi and they did it properly. 1 year deal with a higher cap hit so that it doesn’t anchor the team for years, and a low enough cap hit for the compensation to not be ridiculous. It got Kotkaniemi to sign and it made it nearly impossible for the Habs to match given the cap issues the organization had.

This summer, the Canadiens retaliated by reporting the Canes to the league for not playing the minimum required number of pre-season games. To this point, I believe the NHL granted the Hurricanes an amnesty along with a few other teams to play fewer pre-season games. This was due to a variety of reasons.

Now, the Canes are the proud owners of a website that says “Did the habs lose” in the name because the team is not at all petulant. Anyway, their next game is in Columbus, and there will be a preview for that game here on Cardiac Cane. Until then, LETS GO CANES.