Consistency, experience: Jordan Staal line big part of Carolina Hurricanes’ success
For those impressed by big numbers, try these: 2,281 games and 37,646 minutes.
That’s the combined total for the Carolina Hurricanes’ line of center Jordan Staal and wingers Nino Niederreiter and Jesper Fast. That’s a lot of time on ice, a lot of miles, as they say.
There’s nothing overly fancy about the line’s play. It’s solid, it’s heavy, it’s effective. It comes from three experienced players who know what does and doesn’t work in the NHL and how best to help a team win.
While Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour has tinkered with his lines during the season and during games, the Staal line has remained for the most part intact. Brind’Amour just jots down the numbers — 21-11-71 — and goes from there with his lineup.
Brind’Amour opened the Canes’ road game at Pittsburgh on Sunday with the Staal line. He opened the second period with the Staal line, and the third period.
Staal scored nine seconds into the second, the puck bouncing off him in front of the net. Fast scored off the rush nine seconds into the third, after the Penguins won the faceoff to begin the period and turned over the puck. The Canes won 4-3.
Then, the line did it again, with another sudden score. At Philadelphia on Monday, Niederreiter scored 24 seconds into the second period for the game’s first goal. The Canes would win in overtime 4-3 to improve to 35-11-4 and move to a four-point lead in the Metropolitan Division.
“I think for us, we know we have to lead the way when we get the first shift and set the tone as much as we can,” Niederreiter said after the Flyers game. “It’s been working over the last couple of games. It’s something we try to do. We are all veterans on our line, so we try to move the team in the right direction.”
Staal, 33, is the Canes captain and has more “miles” than anyone else — 1,062 regular-season games and 19,756 minutes on ice (about 329 hours). Niederreiter, 29, played his 700th career game against the Pens and has 10,284 minutes in ice time. Fast, 30, has 518 games and 7,606 minutes.
Staal’s biggest problem this season has been in scoring goals, finding the net. After scoring twice in the Canes’ first seven games, he did not get his third goal of the season until Feb. 10 at Boston.
While many of Staal’s hockey metrics, the numbers used to help gauge a player’s performance, were about the same as last year’s, one had a precipitous dip: shooting percentage. He went 35 games and 61 shots without a goal before he scored late in the 6-0 victory over the Bruins on the redirection of a Brady Skjei point shot.
.jpg "AP21290035093033 (1).jpg")
“He does so many things the right way and is so important to our team,” Niederreiter said. “He wins faceoffs, he wins a lot of one-on-one battles. Whenever he scores it’s just a big plus for him. He definitely deserved that goal. He had a lot of chances and was a little snake-bitten and got that monkey off his back.”
Staal said during the scoring drought that it was a “little frustrating” but noted the team had not suffered because of it.
“I love winning the games,” Staal said. “Obviously we’ve played really well and I haven’t been leaned on to score goals. We seem to be doing that just fine.”
Added Brind’Amour: “He’s the leader of our group and the measure for me on his success is how well the team is doing.”
In the win over the Penguins, Staal won the draw to start the second period and went to the net. A Brett Pesce shot was stopped by goalie Tristan Jarry, only to have the puck glance off Staal in front and past Jarry.
Lucky bounce? “I told the guys my left leg was due,” Staal joked after the game.
Niederreiter, who had 20 goals in the 2021 season, has backed that up with another productive season and has 15 through 44 games. Fast, quietly efficient, has been more of a surprise with 10 goals in 50 games and is on pace to top his career high of 13 with the New York Rangers in 2017-18.
Staal calls Fast the Canes’ “worker bee.” Brind’Amour says what he likes best about Fast’s game is his “consistency factor.”
“If you really think about it his game never changes,” Brind’Amour said Monday. “He’ll score a goal here or there, yeah, but it’s just the way he goes about his business. He plays as hard as he can every shift and every game.”
The Staal line has been the Canes’ best checking line and it doesn’t have the flash and flair of Sebastian Aho’s line with Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen. But consistency, shift after shift, was always one of Brind’Amour’s strengths as a player and is appreciated as a coach.
Carolina Hurricanes vs Columbus Blue Jackets
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh
TV/Radio: Bally Sports South, WCMC-99.9 FM.
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
