How key Hurricanes skaters are handling scoring struggles amid injuries, losses
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Nikolaj Ehlers has three assists in nine games and still seeks first goal.
- Carolina dealt injuries and in-game penalties, forcing defensive rotations.
- Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho supply scoring pace while line chemistry develops.
Nikolaj Ehlers was hoping for a better start with the Carolina Hurricanes this season.
New team, new city, new contract, playing with new linemates ... the veteran forward wanted everything to fall into place quickly, neatly, successfully.
Instead, it has been more of a slow go. Ehlers has three assists in the Canes’ first nine games and was hardly a factor Tuesday as the Canes returned home from a long road trip and fell, 6-3, to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Canes (6-3-0) played a chunk of the game with four defensemen after Shayne Gostisbehere and then Joel Nystrom left the game, Nystrom taking a puck off the chin and coming away with a nasty gash. In the end, two goals apiece from Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofayev spurred the Golden Knights to the win at Lenovo Center.
Andrei Svechnikov scored his first goal of the season for the Canes on a first-period power play, and Jordan Martinook picked up his first on a hustling steal and breakaway in the second. Ehlers, Carolina’s big free-agent acquisition, is still waiting for his first as a Hurricane.
Some building frustration might have surfaced in the third period when Ehlers had some issues with Jeremy Lauzon of the Knights in front of the benches. When Vegas’ Brett Howden jumped into it, knocking off Ehlers’ helmet, Ehlers threw a couple of punches — both Ehlers and Howden picked up roughing penalties.
During an interview Monday with the News & Observer, Ehlers discussed how the early season has gone for him.
“Personally? Up and down,” he said. “I think at times I feel like I’ve been playing here for a while and other times I feel like it’s my first day, again. There’s some reads I’m trying to get better at.
“I’m not totally happy with the way I’ve started. But overall, I think the chances I’ve been able to create, and us as a line, have been a lot.”
Ehlers has played the left wing on the Canes’ top line with center Sebastian Aho and right wing Seth Jarvis. Aho extended his point streak to nine games against Vegas, winning a faceoff to start the Canes’ lone power play that set up Svechnikov for his goal.
Jarvis has had a torrid start. He had points in the first seven games of the season, scored the game-winning goal in five of the Canes’ six victories, and has seven goals and 11 points.
“He’s a guy who works extremely hard,” Ehlers said of Jarvis. “Got really nice hands, is strong on the puck, makes the right plays. He’s got a great shot, as we’ve all seen, and makes some really great reads. Aho is easy to play with, reads the game well, makes nice plays, can shoot the puck.
“We’re still learning how to play with each other, you can see that. Once I get a little more acclimated and more comfortable, I think it will all work out great.”
Ehlers spent the first 10 years of his NHL career with the Winnipeg Jets after being a first-round draft pick by the Jets in 2014. Ups and downs? He had a few.
Last season, he had four goals and 10 points in the Jets’ first eight games. The year before: one goal and three points in the first eight.
“This is my 11th year,” Ehlers said. “I’ve been through this (slow start) multiple times. They’re never fun but at the same time, if I wasn’t creating anything or doing anything out there, then I’d start looking at like ‘OK, what do I need to change, what do I need to fix?’ And maybe play a little bit more simple and all those things.
“But I’ve created chances since game one. There has been a game or two where maybe I haven’t created as much, but overall I’ve still had the chances to make things happen. So that’s why I’m not so worried about it.”
Ehlers’ run of three assists came in final three games of the Canes’ six-game road trip that ended in Dallas.
The Canes had a 2-0 lead over the Stars after the first period. The Stars’ first goal, in the second period, came when Ehlers got his stick on a Miko Heiskanen pass through the crease, the puck bouncing past Canes goalie Brandon Bussi.
Did Ehlers want that to happen? No. Did it totally deflate him? No. He said he sensed a Dallas player flashing in from behind him and did not want to allow a backdoor score.
Again, as a veteran you learn to accept the bad breaks and move on. There was more hockey to play.
As Ehlers approached free agency after last season, there were many suitors and options. In coming to Carolina, he joined a good friend in goalie Frederik Andersen, a fellow Dane. He also agreed to a six-year contract that would pay him an average of $8.5 million a season.
Ehlers has speed. He’s a proven point producer. Carolina general manager Eric Tulsky called him the top free agent available on July 1 and Ehlers might have been.
“It always takes a little while to get comfortable,” Aho said Monday. “The road trip was good for that, helping him get more comfortable.
“He could have scored a few already. He’s done a lot of things that might not show up on the scoresheet, creating plays and generating chances. I think our line has been playing fine, five on five. We’ve been playing against good lines. There’s room to improve, but our play has not been bad at all against tough teams and matched up against top lines.”
That includes Vegas, which beat the Canes for a second time, winning the big matchups in the end.
