The Carolina Hurricanes cracked open their preseason with a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in PNC Arena.
Although the preseason comes with the caveat of, well, being the preseason, Canes fans got a good look at what will likely be the top nine forwards to open the regular season. Regulars weren’t nearly as present in the defensive pairings, but defenseman Dylan Coghlan made a strong case for a spot in Carolina’s wide-open third pairing.
“We put more of a veteran lineup in,” Coghlan said. “That was great, to get that chemistry with these guys and know how they play. It was fun.”
Coghlan notched a pair of assists in his Canes debut, both on the power play. The first came on a nifty cross-ice pass to center Jesperi Kotkaniemi to set up a screaming shot into the net by right wing Andrei Svechnikov. Then, just four minutes later, Coghlan fired a missile of his own from the center of the blue line. Center and fellow newcomer Paul Stastny redirected the puck past Tampa Bay goaltender Maxime Lagacé to double Carolina’s advantage, as well as Coghlan’s assist total.
“Anytime you throw a puck on that when Stast is in front, it’s most likely going to get tipped,” Coghlan said. “He’s a great person to have at the net front. If you fire a puck on net, he’s gonna get a piece of it.”
Centers Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis tacked on their own highlight-reel goals. Five minutes into the third period, Aho flew past Tampa Bay’s Roman Schmidt, who stumbled to the ice in the process, before going top shelf to make it 3-0 Canes. About a minute and a half later, Jarvis pulled off a nearly identical goal, but his shot beat Lagacé to the far side.
Right wings Alexander Pashin and Malte Strömwall also put together impressive showings in their Carolina debuts. While Pashin didn’t find his way to the scoresheet, the 20-year-old Russian facilitated some slick plays on the fourth line. Strömwall, for his part, put the cherry on top of the final score with another powerful shot coming down the flank.
“It was a great shot,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “He’s always got a good shot, that’s for sure. We can see that in practices. There’s a lot of guys trying to prove themselves here. … We will have some more guys coming in next game with that same opportunity and that same thought process.”
While the Hurricanes looked good for the majority of the game, they weren’t exactly facing off against the back-to-back Stanley Cup champs in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Tampa Bay elected to roll out mostly fringe players for their first preseason matchup. Nevertheless, the Canes put up a solid showing.
“It’s hard to find guys that didn’t play well,” Brind’Amour said. “But you’re more looking for ‘are they picking up on the way we want to play?’ I thought, for the most part, it was good.”
Goaltender Freddie Andersen also did well to shake off the rust of the offseason. Andersen’s 2021-22 season ended on April 16, so the quality return of the Hurricanes’ main netminder was a welcome development.
“You talk about the rust factor, that’s probably a lot of rust there,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s a confidence builder for the players. Shake it off a little, get a little game speed. Obviously, it’ll ramp up in the preseason as it goes along and as [opponents] dress their lineups, but like I said, just a good first step.”
Due to Hurricane Ian, the Canes’ preseason game against the Lightning in Tampa has been postponed. Thursday, Sept. 29’s matchup against the Florida Panthers is still on the docket. The puck will drop in FLA Live Arena at 7 p.m.
