Fansided

Defense Continues To Score And Will Against Ducks Tonight

By Chris Baker |
Oct 11, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei (76) celebrates his goal during the third period against the Ottawa Senators at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei (76) celebrates his goal during the third period against the Ottawa Senators at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Carolina’s defense has seemingly not missed a beat, returning to fine mid-season form in just two games. Of the 11 goals scored already this season, the defense owns 3, and the topline of Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin owns two of those. Two defensive lines have as many goals as the resurgent Teuvo Teravainen’s, and the Burns-Slavin line is tied with the J-Line for the most prolific with 4 points.

Oct 14, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Carolina Hurricanes Defensemen Brent Burns (8) makes a play against Los Angeles Kings Center Blake Lizotte (46) during the third period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Yannick Peterhans-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 14, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Carolina Hurricanes Defensemen Brent Burns (8) makes a play against Los Angeles Kings Center Blake Lizotte (46) during the third period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Yannick Peterhans-USA TODAY Sports /

You can just about guess what line is tied with Turbo’s line and the Burn-Slavin duo.

That would be no other than Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce with 3 total.

As the offensive line configurations remain in flux as the Canes take the ice tonight against the Anaheim Ducks, it will likely be the case that someone on the defense will add to the goal total. The Ducks D didn’t score, and gave up 4 last night to the Vegas Golden Knights in their season opener, and 30 over the course of the preseason.

Even with the extra defensemen on the ice, the defense owning 27% of the total goals scored is impressive. Coupled with Teravainen’s 3 goal, the percentage climbs to 54.5% which is a considerable proportion of the goal production coming from a top defensive pairing, a second line defenseman (Skjei), and one forward.

Not to go without mention only Dmitry Orlov (-2)is in the red when it comes to the plus/minus com. The rest of the defense has been 0 or better.

Only Orlov remains the last defensemen with considerable playing time without a point. Jalen Chatfield has just a hair over 4 minutes of playing and was a healthy scratch last night against the LA Kings but does remain scoreless as well.

Brandy Skjei and Jaccob Slavin both have set early point and night production, and their point production was not at these levels until the third week of the season last year.

Look for the defensive production to continue at this clip, if not more as the Canes continue to sort and shuffle line configurations. The extra defenseman is not going to mean the Hurricanes slow down their goal production at all. And this without a slip in the defensive capabilities.

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