Hurricanes need to quickly find a hero or get a break against Tampa Bay. Or else.
The Carolina Hurricanes need a hero, badly.
They need a few good breaks, badly.
They’ll also need to show their resolve on the road if they hope to extend their playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning. If not, the Canes will have played their last game this season at PNC Arena.
It would be good for the Canes if, say, Steven Lorentz took a sharp-angle shot that was just thrown at the net and have the puck somehow squeeze through goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Or if, say, Jesper Fast collected the puck inside the Tampa Bay blue line, turned and just let it rip and somehow had it find the net.
The Canes can’t count on that. Coach Rod Brind’Amour again said after the 2-1 loss Tuesday in Game 2 that his team was “right there” with the 2020 Stanley Cup champions but couldn’t get the one bounce needed or the one big, game-deciding shot. They’re down 2-0 in the series against a very good team but not being overwhelmed, he said.
“I don’t think we’re getting outmatched one bit,” Brind’Amour said. “A play here or there is the difference. There’s a lot of positives to draw on moving forward.”
It’s seemingly similar to the Canes’ second-round playoff series in 2019 against the New York Islanders. The Islanders lost the first two games on home ice at the Barclays Center in New York, both in tight games. Isles coach Barry Trotz then was adamant, almost defiant, about his team being able to go into PNC Arena and win the next two games, given how his team had played.
We all remember how that ended. The Canes came home and won two more games and that was that for the Islanders -- the series over in a sweep.
The Canes not only have lost the first two at home but lost two key offensive contributors, winger Nino Niederreiter and center Vincent Trocheck. Making it worse is that Niederreiter was injured in a practice Saturday, quietly leaving the ice, and Trocheck was hurt in the second period of Game 2 when he collided with teammate Warren Foegele and appeared to injure his right knee.
“It doesn’t look good,” Brind’Amour said of Trocheck’s injury.
So as coaches like to say, what now?
“Our team never gives up,” forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “We’re going to try to win the next two games.”
Maybe Svechnikov can be that hero the Canes need. The winger, after an uneven regular season and modest first-round playoff series against Nashville, is capable of being a game-changer. He has the power and the shot and the willingness to make a difference.
It was Svechnikov who finally got a puck past Vasilevskiy on Tuesday when the Canes scored with a sixth attacker. Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal worked the puck behind the net and Staal centered to Svechnikov, open in front of the crease.
Svechnikov had a game-high six shots Tuesday. While he did misplay the puck into a few giveaways, he was looking to attack and made a strong power move to the net in the second period.
Svechnikov is capable of going off and scoring in binges. He had six goals in the first eight games of the season, looking the part of one of the league’s best young dynamic forwards.
Svechnikov’s scoring touch disappeared much of the regular season. For the Canes, it would be an opportune time for it to reappear.
If Svechnikov isn’t the hero the Canes need, Martin Necas might be. Or Aho. Or Staal, the captain. But someone needs to step up and step it up.
“We believe in our group,” Staal said after the game.”Those games were tight. We’re going to have to go into their building and play the same kind of game they played here, and that’s not giving up too much and playing a good road game. We have to find a way to get a win.”
The Canes need to find a hero, get a bounce, whatever. If the Canes don’t, and quickly, what has been a special season will come to an agonizing end.
Carolina Hurricanes vs Tampa Bay Lightning
Game 3, Stanley Cup playoff series
Thursday, 8 p.m. Amalie Arena, Tampa.
TV: USA
This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 7:30 AM.
