Carolina Hurricanes: Three takeaways as Canes edge Coyotes
Canes win and go unbeaten in the month of October! 8-0-0 for the first time in Franchise history, this was far from a convincing win. This looked very much in doubt for a long time, and again top-end talent bailed this Carolina Hurricanes team out. A 2-1 win over the last-place Arizona Coyotes.
There are two ways to look at this. You can be inspired by the team’s ability to overcome a hot netminder and avoid a game that could have looked really embarrassing on the scoreboard around the league, or you can critique the team for not blowing out the lowly Arizona Coyotes. I’m going to talk about positives, but this performance, in general, was not good enough.
With a long layoff between now and the next game in Chicago, I do expect the team to respond in full force when they get to the United Center. This performance will see them beaten by a team with the talent of Chicago. That being said, there are still some positives to take out of this performance.
A rookie making his debut recorded his first-ever point, a top-six winger woke up and a hot goaltender still helped the team through this game. A defenseman scored the winner so there’s a lot of good to take, but it is promising that they got the two points while not being in the same realm as their best performance. We all would have loved to see a 10-0 win, but 2 points are 2 points.
That being said, let’s jump into the three takeaways from this game as the Carolina Hurricanes edged the Arizona Coyotes 2-1.
Martin Necas finally arrives
We’ve all been waiting for the Czech-born player to get to his scoring touch back. We all knew that he was too talented to have lost it and Martin Necas repaid the Caniacs with his best game of the season in this one. While it was a major struggle for the team, Necas always looked a class above. He was getting a lot of chances and honestly could have had a hat trick if he had a little more confidence.
His slapshot from the point would get the team back into the game. Yes, it took a little deflection to fool Karel Vejmelka, but Necas had been so unlucky to this point in the season that he’d earned himself a little bit of a break this time. His reaction when the puck went in says everything you need to know for the struggling Czech talent.
Necas would also record an assist later in the game on the powerplay, as he doubled his point total on the season. We know that he’s going to survive this struggling start, this could even be the turning point to see him return to his past success. He’s too talented a player to keep hushed for an extended period of time.
We all saw Necas blast past people with the puck like they’re ghosts, and his speed is a scary attribute for defenders in this league. It’s common knowledge that speed kills in this league, and slower players get cast off. When you’re as fast as Necas with hands like his, it’s just a matter of time until you get it back, and we can all hope Necas builds off this game in the windy city.
Big Brett Bails the team out
One of the most underrated players in the National Hockey League shone in this game as he blasted home the game-winner on the powerplay in the third period after being a defensive rock during the first eight games of the season, and I could not be happier for Brett Pesce. So often asked to bail the team out defensively, he got to be the hero offensively tonight.
While playing Pesce on the 2nd unit raised a lot of questions at the start of the year, tonight Pesce shut a lot of people up. This isn’t to say anyone ever doubted Pesce’s offensive abilities, it was more a case of wondering if there were better alternatives to the Tarrytown, New York native. His shot in this game to end it really put a lot of this to bed.
With the big hulking defenseman being one of the reasons that the Carolina Hurricanes penalty kill is so highly ranked, seeing Pesce get his first of the season to accompany his four assists on the year was something he had earned. Coaches will tell you that you need to be defensively responsible to create offense, and Pesce does that in spades.
Pesce is also so quiet, yet he’s always so good. Although, tonight he did have one of the quotes of the night saying that the team was “oozing confidence” and never doubted that they were going to find a way to come back and win the game. This is a very promising sign. A tough game and the team was confident they could overcome it.
Seth makes an instant impact
To say that Seth Jarvis made an instant impact in the NHL would be a vast understatement. He’s on pace for 82 points in a full season, so there’s that, but overall, Jarvis did not miss a beat playing in his first NHL game. He did say that at first it took a little bit of getting used to in order to play at the highest level, but that’s going to be expected from a kid coming out of the Western Hockey League.
With that in mind, there’s a lot to like about his start. Jarvis was getting shots off, and he looked dangerous whenever the puck was on his stick. At times, yes, you would have liked to see him pass the puck to someone with a better shooting angle as opposed to shooting himself, but throwing the puck towards the net is never a bad idea.
Jarvis did get a welcome to the NHL gift early in this game as he got blown up early, but that made his performance after that point all that more impressive. To not be rattled after being destroyed like that really shows that this 19-year-old has a lot of confidence in his abilities and he truly believes that he belongs in the best league in the world.
What does become more of a question now is what happens with Jarvis in the lineup? Do you mix it up, as they did for this game, or does he directly go into the role of Nino Niederreiter while the Swiss winger is out with injury woes? I do not envy the coaching staff having to make that decision, but this is a good headache to have. Great players make life easier, and Jarvis is showing signs of being a great player.
Now, that’s it for this one, folks! Canes win 2-1 over the Arizona Coyotes. Not the most convincing of victories, but they don’t ask how just how many. Carolina is 8-0-0 with 16 points in the standings. They’re looking to improve on that as they prepare for the disgraced Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center.
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