What the Carolina Hurricanes believe needs to improve, despite dominant defense
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Wednesday night that he wouldn’t nitpick his team’s 4-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canes scored three first-period goals in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final, stifled the Canadiens with smothering defense, got a shutout from goalie Frederik Andersen, and took a 3-1 lead in the series.
The victory left the Hurricanes one win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, with Game 5 of the ECF set for Friday at 8 p.m. at Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
Center Sebastian Aho, asked after the game if the Canes still had room for improvement, quickly said, “Absolutely.”
Aho scored the Canes’ first goal on the power play, but a 5-on-3 power play later in the game produced nothing. There was an abundance of passes and no shots, and the Canadiens, briefly, had some life after the penalty kills.
“I don’t think our power play was great,” Canes center Logan Stankoven said. “I don’t think it gave us a lot of momentum at times. There’s always things to work on and get better at.”
But Brind’Amour didn’t want to go there Thursday, the day after.
“That wasn’t good, but again, I’m not going to nitpick that game,” he said. “It didn’t really matter, so it will be a good teacher for us if we get another one.
“I’m not pointing to any negative on this game. No chance.”
By almost any analytical measure, the 4-0 win was complete, dominant, almost overwhelming. The Habs couldn’t get the puck and when they did couldn’t keep the puck. They could not muster serious offensive threats and get their top guns — Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov — engaged in the offensive zone with good looks.
At 5 on 5, the Canes had 18 high-danger chances to the Canadiens’ four. Four, in 60 minutes. The Canes outshot the Habs 37-16 at even strength.
Hurricanes defense ‘playing well’
Canes defenseman Jaccob Slavin called it a matter of textbook defense by the Canes’ D corps: Slavin and Jalen Chatfield, K’Andre Miller and Sean Walker, Shayne Gostisbehere and Alexander Nikishin.
“From start to finish that was a full 60 minutes for us,” Slavin said Thursday. “We’re playing well back there. And the forwards. We talk all the time about playing as a five-man unit, and they’re doing a great job, allowing us to be tight-gapped, allowing us to be aggressive.”
A year ago, injuries to Chatfield and Walker had Nikishin and Scott Morrow thrust into the lineup on D in the conference final against the Florida Panthers. Nikishin had just arrived from Russia and was trying to learn on the fly, and Morrow an AHL callup not ready for what was being thrown at him.
The Canes added Miller in the offseason and the rangy D-man is earning a lot of praise in the playoffs from Wayne Gretzky and others. Nikishin has put in a full season and it shows. Chatfield and Walker have stacked good games. Slavin has been Slavin.
During Game 4, Gostisbehere blocked a Habs shot on one end that resulted in a Canes goal on the other end. He was slow leaving the ice but quickly returned.
Game 1 in the ECF, a 6-2 Canadiens win, was an aberration, for Slavin and the rest of his teammates. But since then …
“As a D corps, we’re on it right now, and we have to keep doing it,” Slavin said.
‘We’re having a lot of fun’
Slavin smiled Thursday when it was mentioned Game 5, as important as it will be, won’t be the biggest game he has played in this year. He was a member of Team USA’s gold-medal winners in the Milan Olympics, an ultimate stress test.
“Whether it’s the Olympics or trying to close out this conference final, my mindset never changes,” Slavin said. “But my experience helps for sure.”
Jordan Staal won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. Forward Will Carrier earned a Cup ring with Vegas in 2023.
For many of the others, Friday’s game will be something new, exciting. Win it, and the games will be even bigger, more exciting.
As Stankoven put it Wednesday, “It’s so much fun when you’re winning. We’re having a lot of fun, and we’re doing it with a smile on our face.”
