The Canes proved something with a 6th straight win. To the Bruins. To the NHL. To themselves.
The games that matter against the Boston Bruins and their ilk will come later, when the weather is warm instead of this gathering damp chill. The Carolina Hurricanes know as well as anyone that the stakes are lower now, in October, at the beginning of a long season.
Still, when you haven’t lost and the team that ended two of your previous three seasons comes to town, a game that would have been a measuring stick anyway — honestly, the first good team the Hurricanes have played — takes on slightly more resonance than it would otherwise, or probably does for the Bruins.
And not only did the Hurricanes measure up, they managed to raise their game from their first five wins.
To the extent you can verify legitimacy in only six games, the Hurricanes are legit.
The Hurricanes proved something with this 3-0 win Thursday night, to themselves as much as the Bruins or the rest of the NHL, although everyone is paying attention now.
“We’ve been through a lot against that team,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “We wanted to have a good showing tonight. It’s a very good team and I thought we were on top of this one.”
All those years everyone fretted about how essential it was for the Hurricanes to get off to a good start or they’d be sunk, and in a season everyone knew it was going to be far more important how they finished they’re off to the best start in franchise history.
There’s absolutely no reason why it can’t be further extended, either, with the woebegone Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes coming in to finish out this homestand.
Thursday, the Hurricanes killed off a pair of two-man advantages, benefited from a pair of uncredited screens from Jesperi Kotkaniemi to set up the first two goals, got a stellar two-way performance from Sebastian Aho and saw Nino Niederreiter — excellent in the first five — be rewarded with a fluke goal after playing even better in the sixth.
Frederik Andersen, meanwhile, became the first goalie in more than 75 years to win the first six games of the season with a new team, and he was again more than up to the task, perhaps with a little more help from the metal behind him than in outings previous but it doesn’t matter how they stay out. The Hurricanes continue to feed on his calm as it radiates out from the net.
He may even be the first goalie since World War II to get benched after a 33-save shutout and six straight wins, but with the back-to-back it’s probably time to get Antti Raanta in the net, and if that switch does happen it’ll be another reminder that hot starts and hot goalies aside, the Hurricanes are playing the long game.
As October games go, though, this one had weight. That was clear not only by the pace but the way the Hurricanes matched Boston’s physical edge, whether it was Staal knocking Charlie McAvoy and Patrice Bergeron down simultaneously or Jaccob Slavin dumping Jake DeBrusk in the final minute.
The ill feelings may be almost entirely one-sided, but they exist nonetheless.
“We’ll talk about the next game tomorrow and this one will be forgotten, but that team’s proven it over and over for a long time,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s nice to at least go toe-to-toe with them in some respects. Again, it’s not — they’ve moved on from it probably already and we’ll move on from it tomorrow, but it means a little something,”
It’s far too early to say the Hurricanes have been relieved of their Bruins bugaboo, but this can’t hurt. And whether hostilities are renewed in six or seven months or not, this was the first time the Hurricanes could take a step back and feel like they were unquestionably the better team.
“With the history and bitter feelings they’ve given us a few times now, it’s still a regular-season game, but it’s always nice to win this one,” Staal said.
The Hurricanes didn’t have much to say about winning six straight to start the season. But the sixth coming against the Bruins? They’ll remember this one — not immediately, perhaps, but in months, when it matters.
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 10:51 PM.
