Hurricanes skate past Stars 4-1 after goalie Petr Mrazek leaves with injury early
The Carolina Hurricanes continue to deal with early season adversity. And, for now, deal with it well.
The Canes on Saturday had starting goalie Petr Mrazek leave the game with an apparent hand or wrist injury, clutching his arm in pain. Later, forward Max McCormick, the player who collided in the net with Mrazek, left with a shoulder injury.
But the Canes again showed resilience, staying on the attack and skating past the Dallas Stars 4-1 at PNC Arena. James Reimer took over for Mrazek in net. Vincent Trocheck had a pair of first-period goals, and Andrei Svechnikov and Ryan Dzingel scored on second-period power plays for the Canes (4-1-0), ending the night for Stars goalie Anton Khudobin.
“The guys are buckling down and getting it done,” Canes coach Rod BrindAmour said on the postgame media call.
They did it Saturday after Mrazek went out 2:47 into the game. Mrazek, after a 32-save shutout Thursday against Tampa Bay, the 2020 Stanley Cup champion, was all set to face the other team that reached the 2020 Cup final.
And then he was gone.
Brind’Amour said after the game that he did not know how long Mrazek might be sidelined. Forward Martin Necas, asked about his fellow Czech, said the injury might be “better than it looked like.” And it did look — and sound — bad.
“When there are no fans in the stands ... you can hear him screaming on the ice,” Brind’Amour said. “When there are fans you don’t hear that noise. When it’s dead silent and you hear a guy in pain on the ice it’s not good.”
McCormick was crunched in the boards later in the first. His injury, Brind’Amour said, “Looked bad, was bad. I think he’ll be out a lot longer.”
Despite playing nearly the entire game, Reimer should be able to go again Sunday when the Canes and Stars face off again at 5 p.m., Brind’Amour said, adding, “I don’t know that he was overly stressed.”
Not by the Stars. Playing with forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin out of their lineup, the Stars found little shooting room and managed 11 shots in the game. Dallas (4-1-0) had negligible five-on-five offense, the Stars’ goal coming on a Joe Pavelski power-play goal in the third after the Canes had built a 4-0 lead.
“They made us look bad tonight,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said after the game.
The Canes again played without five regulars in the lineup because of COVID-19 issues. Some good news for the Canes was that defenseman Jaccob Slavin and forwards Teuvo Teravainen, Jordan Martinook and Warren Foegele all are off the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list and skated Saturday before the team practice and are closer to getting back. Only forward Jesper Fast remains on the protocol list.
“It brings some energy for everyone seeing those guys again,” center Sebastian Aho said.
The Canes again won with what Brind’Amour called a team closeness and a “next-man-up” mentality. Trocheck scored at even strength — rookie forward Steven Lorentz earning his first NHL point with an assist — and then on the power play off a Jordan Staal pass. He also earned an assist on the goal by Svechnikov, who beat Khudobin with a smooth forehand-to-backhand move after taking an Aho pass.
“The skill players here work their butts off, so it makes it easy on me,” Trocheck said.
Dzingel benefited from a well-placed pass from Necas, who scored the overtime winner Thursday against Tampa Bay as the Canes ended a long layoff caused by COVID-19 issues. Necas and Aho both finished with two assists.
It was a chippy game at times. Brind’Amour fumed on the bench over a few calls and no-calls. The Stars’ John Klingberg put a big hit on defenseman Jake Bean that briefly forced Bean out of the game.
Khudobin beat the Canes twice last season with a 1.00 goals-against average and .970 save percentage and had a 6-1-1 career record against his former team. He had a short night Saturday after allowing four goals on 16 shots and could be back again Sunday.
“For sure the last couple of games have (been against) two of the best teams in the league,” Aho said. “It’s been a great challenge for us, especially when there’s been a few guys out of the the lineup and some guys just starting to play in the NHL. It’s been awesome to see those guys step up.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2021 at 6:41 PM.
