That’s more like it: Hurricanes brush off shaky start, escape Avalanche to cap homestand
Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis said he was choked up on Wednesday when he called to tell his mom he had been picked for Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
A day later, the winger looked the part of someone who belonged with the best.
Jarvis, energetic and constantly in motion, had a power-play goal, received a cut on the nose and had a smile on his face Thursday after the Canes took a 5-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at Lenovo Center.
The Canes had lost their past three games, all in regulation — “our dip,” as coach Rod Brind’Amour called it. But it was a much sharper, intense effort against the Avs, who had five players selected for the 4 Nations international event in February.
Brind’Amour was not a happy coach after a 4-2 home-ice loss to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
“Our top guys have to come and that includes everybody,” Brind’Amour said. “There’s a lot of top players here that weren’t good and if we’re going to win, we’re going to need those guys being top guys. They have to look the part.”
The top guys looked the part Thursday for the Canes (17-8-1). Jarvis scored. Martin Necas had a power-play goal. Jack Roslovic scored. Eric Robinson, continuing to be a hard-working contributor, had the Canes’ first goal with a deflection of a Brent Burns shot.
But no one had a bigger night than Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov, named the game’s first star after his first career four-point game. Constantly engaged Thursday, using his strength, the power forward earned three assists and scored an empty-net goal late.
“It should give me confidence, for sure,” Svechnikov said. “I hope it’s going to continue,”
Jarvis’ goal, on a shot from the right circle, came on a second-period power play. Necas scored in the third for a 4-2 lead before the Avs (14-13-0) pulled goalie Scott Wedgewood for a sixth attacker and made things interesting — Val Nichushkin scoring the second of his two goals to make it a 4-3 game before Svechnikov’s clincher.
Jarvis also was active defensively and joined with linemates Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook in blunting the Avs’ top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen. MacKinnon and Rantanen each were on the ice for more than 25 minutes.
“Our group played really well tonight, a 60-minute effort,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought it was on-point.”
Jarvis was crushed four years ago when he was not picked for Team Canada in the World Junior Championship. Now 22, he’ll be a part of Team Canada in the 4 Nations competition in Montreal and Boston, which could be a prelude to being on the Canadian team in the upcoming Olympics.
Jarvis called his selection “incredible” during an interview on the FanDuel Sports Network telecast and related his emotional call home to his mom to give her the news. He’ll join the Avs’ MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Devon Toews on Team Canada and such stars as Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby in the 4 Nations event, which replaces the NHL All-Star Game this season.
How cool is that?
Jarvis said it would be quite the experience being on the same team with that collection of “world-class” players, and he may have to face off against Canes teammates Jaccob Slavin (Team USA) and Sebastian Aho (Finland).
“I hear so many good things about him in the room and the kind of guy he is,” Boston forward Brad Marchand said in a TNT interview on Wednesday.
While the Canes’ game was much better Thursday in all three zones — they had 15 shots in the first period after 19 in Tuesday’s game — there were some slippages. Lehkonen scored on a breakaway for the first goal of the game, and there were a couple of other breakaways that challenged Canes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov, who earned his 11th win.
The Canes killed off a 5-on-3 Avs power play in the third period. Colorado had its chance but could not convert against the Canes’ penalty killers and Kochetkov.
“That could have flipped the game, but our guys stepped up,” Brind’Amour said.
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 9:45 PM.
