The Hurricanes have made the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season and did so in dominating fashion. The top line of centers Sebastian Aho, Jake Guentzel and Seth Jarvis combined for eight points in a 4-0 win over the Red Wings. This combination has been on fire for the Canes, finding instant chemistry since they were put together.
With the win, the Canes (46-21-7) now sit one point shy of a triple-digit point total with nine games remaining. Carolina is still in contention to win the President’s trophy, although, for the superstitious, that may not be a good thing. On the other side, the Red Wings (36-30-7) continued to struggle and couldn’t match what the Canes brought to the table.
The first period flew by with large segments of uninterrupted play. Each team created chances in the offensive zone; however, only the Canes got shot attempts to the net. Despite not netting a goal with a 15-3 shot differential, the Hurricanes played well and matched the intensity of a team that currently sits outside the playoff picture.
“[The first period] was great,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “We didn’t get anything, we didn’t get rewarded, but I thought it set the tone for the game. It was a positive period and then we were able to carry it over and got rewarded in the second period.”
Although the shot count evened up in the second, all the goals went Carolina’s way. All four scores came in the middle frame, and Aho, less than five minutes in, kicked the scoring off. Going three-on-three, the top line in transition each recorded a point when Guentzel with his backhand found Aho at the back post who tucked the puck past Red Wings goalie James Reimer.
Ten seconds later Guentzel put the Canes in a position to score when he drew a tripping penalty below the goal line. While on the power play, Guentzel drop-passed the puck to Aho who dangled through four Detroit players and fed Jarvis who ripped a shot under Reimer’s blocker arm.
After an entire period of knocking on the doorstep of taking the lead, in the first six minutes of the second, the Canes found themselves with a two-goal lead. With the primary assist on Jarvis’ goal, Aho earned his 300th career NHL assist.
“Points are always nice, but I try to look at it a bit differently,” Aho said. “[I look at] all three zones, and if I’m on it, then it’s a good game, and that’s why we were able to get those scoring chances.”
Detroit’s defense got lazy in the second period, and when you play like they did, the top players will find a way to punish you. Center Martin Necas lost his man by circling the net and center Evgeny Kuznetsov found him at the back post with a cross-slot pass through a Red Wing defender’s leg to make it 3-0.
Defenseman Brady Skjei put an exclamation point on the win by going coast-to-coast with the puck and beating Reimer on his rebound from an angle no one should ever score from.
Although the scoring came only when the top-six were out on the ice, the bottom-six forwards were generating plenty of offense on their own but just weren’t as lucky. Brind’Amour did a classic line shuffle to try and breathe life into some struggling forwards such as right wing Andrei Svechnikov who played in his 400th career NHL game.
With all 12 forwards unloading shots on the Red Wings net, Canes goaltender Frederik Andersen was making every save look easy including those from deflected shots right in front of him.
Since coming back from injury, Andersen has been at the top of his game. Yet to lose, the Dane has seven wins in seven starts, a 0.957 save percentage and a 1.14 goals-against average. Andersen didn’t see a shot for the first 10 minutes of the game, but nonetheless, a lack of shots didn’t faze the netminder.
“I try not to think about shots against or anything,” Andersen said. “I just try to play the situation and not focus on anything else other than what’s in front of me.”
The Hurricanes did just enough for Andersen to earn his shutout as the Canes bounced back from a 4-1 loss to the Penguins a couple of nights ago. Carolina resumes action on Saturday, March 30, when it takes on the Canadiens in Montreal at 7 p.m.
