Carolina’s offense as of late had been stumbling and had not been able to find twine given its issues. Naturally, the guy with one of the worst shooting percentages in the NHL bailed the team out by tallying his first hat trick since 2008 and he got the first hat trick of the Canes’ season and his first hat trick as a Carolina Hurricane as Jordan Staal inspires the Canes through the Ducks.
Carolina’s captain would grab his first hat trick as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes organization as he willed the team past the Anaheim Ducks. We know that Staal and the other two members of his third line have been incredible all season long which is why the trio have remained untouched throughout the year, but this display of offense from them recently could make the Hurricanes a very dangerous team come the playoffs if they can wake their top six up.
This game did very little to address the current concerns within the top six, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t contributions from the top six. Andrei Svechnikov found the back of the net to continue to heat up after enduring a rather tough section by the standards of the former 2nd overall pick. If Svechnikov continues to come along and takes the next step in his career path, Carolina gets that much scarier.
There were also contributions from players that haven’t always been in the lineup and no further to prove that point than Jordan Martinook. With the league’s best hype man getting on the score sheet, the Canes just ran the show the entire night. There was not a minute where considered the Canes to be overmatched or not good enough to beat this Ducks team, and in the end, they made the scoreline flatter them a little.