Here’s where Hurricanes need to improve vs. Flyers, even after first-round sweep
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour was blunt in his assessment of his team’s top line in the playoff series against Ottawa.
“That line did diddly-squat the whole series,” he said after a four-game sweep of the Senators in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Sebastian Aho had three goals, the final two empty-netters late in Game 4. Winger Seth Jarvis had two assists, both on the empty-netters, and winger Andrei Svechnikov was held without a point in the four games.
That didn’t cost the Canes in the Ottawa series. Brind’Amour was quick to note that the Aho line was matched up with — and basically canceled out — the Sens’ top line of center Tim Stutzle and wingers Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux — Stutzle had one assist, his only point.
“We know moving forward they have to be better,” Brind’Amour said of the Aho line’s offense.
Carolina, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, next faces the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round, hosting Game 1 at 8 p.m. Saturday at Lenovo Center. The Flyers advanced by topping the Pittsburgh Penguins in a six-game series in which the Flyers won the first three games, lost two, and then held off the Pens in Game 6.
Goalie Frederik Andersen and forward William Carrier were not at Friday’s practice, but are expected to play Saturday, Brind’Amour said.
“Any team that’s playing this time of year, you know they’re dialed in,” Brind’Amour said of preparing for the Flyers. “One of the things you notice about them the last quarter of the season, after the Olympic break, is I just felt like they played great hockey and were doing it as a team, the way you want to play.
“They’ve been one of the hottest teams out there. They’re really playing well together right now.”
The Logan Stankoven line, with Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake on the wings, carried the Canes in the Ottawa series. Stankoven, ever active around the net, scored a goal in each game and Hall had a team-high seven points.
Svechnikov, coming off a 31-goal season in which he finished with a career-high 70 points, managed 18 shots against the Senators but did not score. But he did have an impact in the series.
Carolina handles physicality
The Senators challenged the Canes physically — Svechnikov’s game. And when Canes defenseman Alexander Nikishin, a fellow Russian, absorbed a huge hit from Tyler Kleven in Game 4, causing a concussion, Svechnikov quickly came to his defense, unloading a few big punches on a fallen Kleven.
“Scary hit, you know,” Svechnikov said. “I saw ‘Niki’ lying on the ice and I just tried to jump the guy, you know, because when you play a physical game and you try to hurt someone, that’s what’s going to happen.”
Svechnikov more or less shrugged off the lack of points from his line — and himself.
“I don’t really care that much about the points,” he said. “If I get zero points and we win the Stanley Cup, I would be the happiest person in the world.
“I felt like we played good, had some good moments in the offensive zone. The points obviously didn’t come, but I felt like we had some good looks and good moments and were creating those moments as well.”
Another area the Canes will look to improve upon is the power play. They were 2 for 15 in the Ottawa series but managed to win four tight games with minimal 5-on-4 help.
Hurricanes goaltending solid
The Canes are hoping Andersen will keep on keeping on after his stellar effort against Ottawa: a .955 save percentage. Brind’Amour said after the series that it was Andersen’s best play with the Hurricanes and reiterated it this week.
“You tell me when you’ve seen him play better,” Brind’Amour said. “I can’t remember. Especially over a week’s worth of games, it was just solid start after solid start.
“Very calming back there. We never felt like we were under any real duress, although we certainly were at times. I think it was his demeanor in net, and obviously making key saves at critical times.”
For much of the series, it was Andersen matching saves with Linus Ullmark of the Sens. Many were routine. Several were spectacular.
“Ullmark played as good as any goalie we’ve ever played,” Brind’Amour said. “They went toe to toe, and our guy got the little better of it. That was the difference.”
This series, Andersen will be matched up against Flyers goalie Dan Vladar, who started the six games against the Penguins and had a 1.61 goals-against average and .937 save percentage, with two shutouts.
One lingering question for the Canes: did they have too much time off after the Ottawa series?
“It’s a gift and a curse,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said Friday. “It can go either way. If we play good people will say it’s the rest, and if we play bad it was rest. It goes both ways.”
