Justin Williams is not only the Canes’ captain, he is the team’s voice of reason

The Carolina Hurricanes’ losing streak had reached three games and Justin Williams slipped into the locker room at PNC Arena to face the media.

Williams is the Canes’ team captain. Win or lose, he has the duty and feels the need to put the game into perspective but also have his message be heard, with the media as a conduit.

On this day, after a 3-1 loss Saturday to the Colorado Avalanche, he talked of improving the special teams but also of the things the Canes had done well during the game.

“We’re confident in our group,” he said.

Williams wasn’t angry. He was composed, business-like, patient in hearing out questions, authoritative in making his comments.

The day after, following a Sunday practice at PNC Arena, Williams reflected on the postgame and his part in it.

“The captain represents the hockey team in some aspects,” Williams said. “Hopefully what he says mirrors that of the team. Usually no one wants to talk after a loss but you’ve got to face the music. Someone’s got to do it.”

Williams paused, then smiled and added, “If that’s the hardest thing in the job then it’s a piece of cake.”

Stanley Cup rings

Williams is in his first season as captain of the Hurricanes. At 37, he’s the oldest player in the room. He’s also the one with three Stanley Cup rings and a nickname -- “Mr. Game 7” -- earned by being clutch in the biggest of playoff moments.

“I don’t know how old Justin is, I guess 37, but he looks young,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

But being the captain, as Brind’Amour once was for the Hurricanes, means more than saying the right things in the room, of being a calming influence or the firebrand. It’s also getting it done on the ice.

The Canes rebounded from the Colorado loss to beat the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, picking up their third road victory of the season to improve to 5-3-1.

It was game in which it would have been easy to become frustrated, given how dominating the Canes were in a first period that was scoreless until the final two minutes.

The Canes converted a power play into the game’s first goal. Williams, on the right wing, made a quick backhand pass to defenseman Justin Faulk, who unloaded a heavy shot that banged off the post and past goalie Jimmy Howard.

Williams’ line, with Jordan Staal at center and Warren Foegele at left wing, hounded the puck throughout the game at Little Caesars Arena as the Canes kept the pressure on the Wings in the offensive zone.

After the Colorado game, Williams had said of the losing streak, “The thing is to not let it become bigger than what it is. Nip it.” The Canes had done just that against the Wings.

“When times are tough is when you see captains take over,” Brind’Amour said. “Everyone can do it when you’re winning and everything is going great.

“But they recognize it. The players know it when they’re playing great and when they’re not. You don’t really need to be told that. Sometimes it’s a reminder that you don’t want to get too high or too low on anything, and it’s on to the next day and always about the next game.”

Aho, Svechnikov

That’s Williams’ approach -- “We’re confident in our group” -- although he handles it with a varying tone of voice.

“On practice days he’s the funny guy,” Canes center Sebastian Aho said. “But still, when he needs to, he can be tough and speaks up and let everyone know we’re serious here.

“He has both sides to him and I like it. Everybody listens to him when he speaks up. It’s not all the time like that but once in a while when it’s necessary.”

Aho sits next to Williams in the Canes’ room, and probably not just by happenstance.

“I think it’s really good for me to see such a professional athlete, just how he gets prepared for every practice or game,” Aho said.

Williams is more than twice the age of Canes rookie forward Andrei Svechnikov, who was born in 2000, the year Williams began his first NHL season with the Philadelphia Flyers. But the guy everyone calls “Willy” has an easy time relating with his teammates, younger or older.

After one recent practice, he was battling defenseman Brett Pesce on the bubble hockey game in the Canes’ players lounge at PNC Arena. During preseason, he played golf with defenseman Haydn Fleury and tennis with forward Martin Necas, two former first-round draft picks now assigned to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL.

Recently, Williams and the Canes had a team outing at the Topgolf facility in Tampa, Fla.., the captain showing off the swing that made him a scratch golfer.

Staal, Faulk

In a way, Williams is much like one of his favorite athletes, tennis superstar Roger Federer, perpetually young, still highly competitive, still winning at 37.

“I’m feeling good, that’s the most important thing,” Williams said.

And still learning, he said. There’s also a learning curve to wearing the “C.”

“Part of it just being natural,” he said. “You don’t want to be someone you’re not. You don’t want to force yourself upon somebody. You go about your business and you do what you think is right and you hope the guys follow you that way.

“At the same time you need to lift other people up as well and create new leaders, too. It’s one letter but collectively as a team we’re only as good as everyone else.”

Staal and Faulk were chosen by former coach Bill Peters to be the Canes’ co-captains last season. Jeff Skinner, since traded, was the only alternate captain and Williams was without a letter.

Williams also was a leader without a letter. He spoke up, on the bench and in the room. He offered advice based on his experience. He also knew when to keep his mouth shut.

“You don’t want to make a point to say something when nothing needs to be said,” Williams said.

Brind’Amour’s choice

Staal had Sidney Crosby as a captain when he played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and then his oldest brother, Eric, as captain when he was traded to the Hurricanes in 2012. Last year, he had a “C.”

But Williams, he said, is the right choice by Brind’Amour.

“He’s got a great voice,” Staal said. “He’s not only smart on the ice when you watch him but just in general he’s got the right words to say, on and off the ice.”

As he sat back in his stall Sunday, bare-chested, the day’s work all but done, Williams spoke to a reporter as if he was talking to his teammates. And in a way, he was. The message, another one, was being sent, captain to team.

“It’s not always going to be a fairytale out here,” Williams said. “It’s a long, long season and there’s a lot of ups and downs. You just want to manage the downs well. because stuff can get away from you in a hurry.

“So the hanging of the head, the woe is me, the power play stinks, the penalty kill stinks, all that stuff is moot as long as we address it and we work on it, because we have the personnel to do it. On to the next.”

For the Canes, the Detroit game was “the next.” Now, it’s San Jose on Friday.

This story was originally published October 23, 2018 at 3:10 PM.