Carolina Hurricanes bounce back for 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars
The Carolina Hurricanes and Dallas Stars played Thursday for the third time in 11 games this season, before a few thousand fans at American Airlines Center, after rapid testing for the coronavirus before the game.
Welcome to the NHL, circa 2021.
No extensive video work or skull session was needed to prepare. The two teams know each other’s tendencies. It was just throw the puck down and go as the Canes won 5-3 for their third victory over the Stars.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour called it a “gritty win” and that best summed it up.
“We made some nice high-end plays to get some goals and then buckled down,” he said on the postgame media call.
It was a game with a lot of ebb and flow. Jordan Staal had a goal and assist for the Canes (8-3-0), setting up Sebastian Aho for a power-play goal in the first period with a neat no-look pass -- one of those high-end plays -- and then hustling to score in the second, lunging across the ice to knock the puck past goalie Anton Khudobin.
With the Stars (5-3-3) leading 3-2 late in the second, Brock McGinn tied it for Carolina, scoring for the fourth straight game, a personal best. After Brett Pesce’s shot from the point, McGinn followed up the rebound for his fifth of the season.
“The most important goal of the game,” Canes forward Nino Niederreiter said.
Niederreiter’s goal at 3:58 of the third was the game-winner. Taking a stretch pass from Dougie Hamilton for the breakaway, he beat Khudobin with a quick backhand-to-forehand move for a 4-3 lead. Make it another high-end play.
Warren Foegele had a late empty-net goal after Dallas pulled Khudobin for an extra attacker, with Aho earning an assist.
The Canes hunkered down in the third around goalie James Reimer, who saw a lot of rubber Thursday, facing 37 shots in improving his record to 6-1-0.
“They didn’t have as many chances as we did, not even close,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said.. “That’s probably the best offensive output we’ve had and give Reimer a lot of credit. He made some huge saves.”
The Canes took five penalties in the first two periods that Brind’Amour said “sucked the game from us.” The Stars had a 5-on-3 power play in the second period and Joe Pavelski scored for a 3-2 lead, his eighth, before McGinn tied it with 27 seconds left in the period.
“We were flirting with disaster,” Staal said. “That’s not how we want to play. It’s never going to be perfect every night. Good teams find a way to win.”
Pesce had a pair of assists for the Canes as did center Vincent Trocheck, who returned from a lower-body injury that kept him out the last game.
The Canes and Stars play the second game of the Central Division mini-series on Saturday.
New COVID protocols
The NHL and NHL Players Association announced Thursday new COVID protocols to heal stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Among the measures: In addition to daily, lab-based PCR testing, the NHL will provide each U.S. team with point of care (POC) rapid testing to be conducted on game days to all players and the team personnel who work around the bench area during games.
The Canes and their bench staff went through rapid testing Thursday before the game.
Another measure is a stay-at-home order except to attend practices and games, to exercise outdoors on an individual basis, to perform essential activities or deal with family or other emergencies.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 8:17 PM with the headline "Carolina Hurricanes bounce back for 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars."
