Svechnikov, Canes leaping for joy after fun game

The game had ended but the Carolina Hurricanes hadn’t stopped skating.

After a wild 8-5 victory Sunday over the New York Rangers at PNC Arena, after seeing rookie Andrei Svechnikov not only score his first NHL goal but have it be the winning goal, the Canes were ready to celebrate.

Svechnikov had joyfully hopped into the glass after his score in the third period. Why not everybody do it?

So they did. Word has it that it was Justin Williams’ idea, the captain quickly hatching the plan, but the players first lifted their sticks to salute Canes fans, then swiftly skated down the ice and jumped into the glass en masse.

Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said he had never seen that before in the NHL. But it was fun, much like the game, which was thoroughly entertaining for everyone except the two goalies -- the Canes’ Petr Mrazek and the Rangers’ Alexandar Georgiev -- and maybe the coaches behind the bench trying to keep their hands on the wheel.

“We want to have fun when you win,” Brind’Amour said. “The game should be fun. I want the players to enjoy winning and the fans to enjoy being here. Our owner (Tom Dundon) has been pushing that all the way, trying to make it a fun experience for everyone involved. Why wouldn’t you try something different?”

While Svecnhkov had the winner and was named the game’s first star, so many contributed for the Canes (2-0-1) as 13 players had points. It was the first time in franchise history that the team overcame four separate deficits to win.

Warren Foegele, again playing on Jordan Staal’s line with Williams, again in constant motion, had two goals and an assist. Add in three assists by Williams and Staal’s goal and two assists, and that’s nine points.

Svechnikov and hard-working forward Jordan Martinook each had a goal and assist, and Micheal Ferland and Teuvo Teravainen scored -- Ferland’s goal, on an outside bullet of a shot with 30.5 seconds left in the second period tying the score 4-4.

“I don’t think we’re going to want too many of those,” Martinook said. “It got into a little bit of a track meet and we kind of left Petr (Mrazek) out to dry a couple of times. We’ll shore those up, play better defensively, hopefully keep scoring lots of goals and we’ll be fine.”

That Svechnikov scored his first surprised no one. The second overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, the 18-year-old Russian has quickly gotten comfortable with his new team, building confidence through training camp and then preseason games. Brind’Amour mentioned it. His teammates, too.

Svechnikov could have scored once or twice in the season opener, twice hitting posts and having another shot careen off the mask of New York Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss in what would be a 2-1 overtime loss.

His first goal -- mark it down, at 10:44 of the third period -- came when Svechnikov tipped in a Justin Faulk shot for a 6-5 lead.

“I wait for this my whole life,” he said. “That’s my dream, to score first goal in the NHL.”

Told he was the first NHL player born in the 2000s to score, Svechnikov smiled, saying, “That’s cool. I’m super happy. I want to just keep going and score even more.”

Jimmy Vesey and Chris Kreider each scored twice for the Rangers, 0-3-0 in David Quinn’s first year as coach. Their first goals, on the Rangers’ first two shots, pushed the Rangers ahead 2-0 in the first six minutes of the game, but Foegele and Martinook scored to tie it up.

“When we got down two, thankfully it was early and you could just feel on the bench that there was no panic,” Brind’Amour said. “It was like, ‘OK, let’s get to our game and see what happens.’ That’s a real positive, especially with our young guys.”

The “track meet” was on. The Canes, dressed in their new, black alternate jerseys for the first time, trailed 3-2, 4-3 and then 5-4 after Kreider’s second goal, early in the third. But Lucas Wallmark quickly tied it for Carolina, Svechnikov got the go-ahead score and Foegele’s second made it 7-5.

“The coaches told us to just keep going and keep playing hard,” Svechnikov said.

That’s what they did, then jumped for joy.

This story was originally published October 7, 2018 at 9:38 PM.