Hurricanes at Sharks – The Recap

Sharknado Night!!  The Carolina Hurricanes were riding high heading into the night, winners of seven straight and looking to add to that total against, what I believe to be, an up-and-coming San Jose Sharks team.  We had beaten them earlier in the season in our building and I know the results have not borne it out so far this season, but this is a good young team with a lot of talent, headlined by none other than Macklin Celebrini.  We can’t take this game lightly.

Tonight was all about consistency in my eyes.  A road trip out west could mess with some of the body clocks, but otherwise, we should stick to what is working – winning 50/50 battles, forechecking, and playing sound defense.  

Below are my thoughts on the game:

• Word was that Dimitri Orlov would be back in to draw a start this game, and that is what happened.  While Scott Morrow has played well in his last few games, if the plan is to play Orlov in the playoffs, we need to see what he has and to ensure he is game ready.  As a sidebar to this – it was reported that Alexander Nikishin would be able to head to the US early and start his process of signing his entry level contract (ELC).  While I am excited to see him play, I firmly believe he won’t be playing come playoff time – his motivation for coming over is to get year one of his ELC burnt so he can be one year closer to the big pay day everyone is expecting.  So, calm down everyone – we’ll see him next year.
• The forward lines stayed the same, with Aho’s line taking the draws to start the periods (except the 2^nd, which we were on a penalty kill).
• Frederik Andersen was in net, as expected.  It was his turn in the rotation.  Early on, he looked to be dialed in, turning away a few shots.
• All four lines seemed to generate solid offensive zone chances, and it appeared we were valuing puck possession.  By the middle of the 2^nd period, we were dominating possession in the offensive zone – and it continued throughout the night.  While the Sharks did get their chances, as in the Philly game, they seemed to be few and far between after the 1^st period.
• With all that said, the 1^st period did seem even.  We looked as though we were trying to get our legs under us and get into the flow of the game.  We had a few mistakes during the latter half of the 1^st period that didn’t really hurt us, but we also had some solid zone time with possession, stacking good shifts on top of each other – overall, I’d say it was a bit of a mixed bag.
• The power play was, again, not great – the first power play of the night we gave up a couple odd man rushes the other way.  And the second odd man rush, they made us pay.  Our 2^nd power play unit was on the ice, with William Eklund rushing towards the goal with a teammate on a 2-on-1 and Brent Burns defending.  Burns dropped to the ice to take away the pass but in the process tripped Eklund, all while Eklund made a motion to shoot the puck to the net.  Eklund wipes out, ended up wiping out Freddie and the puck slid through with the net popping off.  The goal counted, as it should have, and it was 1-0 bad guys.  This is what the power play has become for us – we’re on the edge of our seats to just get through it, to go back to 5-on-5.  Not great.  The 2^nd power play (which we had in the 3^rd period) was a lot cleaner – good puck movement and zone time, but no results. 
• I want to take some time to focus on the “top line” – the Blake-Aho-Jarvis combination.  It is no secret that I have wanted this group of forwards together since Four Nations.  It took a bit, but we got there.  The rationale behind this is simple – it is a very comparable line to what Guentzel-Aho-Jarvis gave us last season.  Blake has a long way to go before he is Guentzel, but he plays such a complementary role to what Jarvis and Aho can do, it’s a natural fit.  And they were dominant yet again last night, not just on the scoreboard, but overall.  Some of the highlights of their game as a unit:
• Aho drew a penalty after some stellar zone time early in the 1^st period (this is what put us on the first power play of the evening).  During that shift, a shift that felt like a minute in their end, Blake had a couple solid chances that just missed to open the scoring.
• Aho had a couple good moments physically – he is the bigger frame on that line, so I guess it might be something that we need to come to expect a little.  Not saying he should be or will become an enforcer, but he probably will play a little bit more of a physical game.
• After the penalty kill at the beginning of the 2^nd, this line had another good shift that Jarvis just missed on a chance out front.
• The work in the neutral zone led to a couple chances for the boys on this line – they truly are pests out there. 
• Jarvis finally breaks through with a goal from the high slot – the puck was kept in the zone by Jackson Blake, who sent it deep.  Aho tried to feed it out from below the goal line, but it hit the bottom of the net and was touched up by a Shark, who lost it to Jarvis – Jarvis wasted no time and buried it – tied at 1.
• Speaking of the neutral zone, Jarvis was being a menace when he ended up stealing a puck and feeding Blake for a forehand, backhand beauty – sadly, he was a tick offsides because Jarvis had to hold the puck just a tick longer than he would have liked, so the goal was disallowed.  Either way, great pressure again by the boys on this line.
• Aho buried a one-timer from Jackson Blake – they both were working defenders off them cycling (Aho high, Blake low) – Aho found a clean space up top on the ice and parked, where Blake fed him and Aho fired away.  2-1 good guys.
• Final thing I’ll say about this combination – the defensive work they do in the defensive end can’t go understated either.  They don’t spend a lot of time there because of the way they work to ensure offensive zone time and the havoc they create in the neutral zone, but when they are in the defensive end, it isn’t for long – they handle their business.  Anyone saying to break THIS line up when Svechnikov comes back to insert Svech on this “top line” is clinically insane.
• It seemed like every time I looked up and saw the Kotkaniemi line out there (with Hall and Roslovic), they seemed to be stacking good shift after good shift – playing with pace in the offensive end, generating chances and working hard to get to spots.  This line was rewarded with a + in the plus/minus column, where Taylor Hall worked hard below the goal line to retrieve and then get out of the area with possession.  He found Sean Walker set up top in a one timing position to bang it home.  Great net front traffic by Kotkaniemi as well.   This all was after a penalty kill – this line always is the bump up after a kill.  Great complementary work by this line and great snipe by Walker!
• Knowing that Jack Roslovic can play up with Kotkaniemi and Hall (and it is probably more natural for him) is a bonus for us.  I suspect that Andrii Svechnikov will slot back on this line once he is back.  And if that doesn’t work, we know that Svech can play with the dads and Stankoven (or Roslovic) can move up.  He has looked decent with those two over the last few games.
• I felt as though it took about 30 minutes of game time to actually get to our game.  Once Seth Jarvis broke the seal, it didn’t feel as much of an ‘if’ we were going to win, more like a ‘how much’ we were going to win by.  While the Sharks generated chances and had good pushes in stretches, we were dominant in puck possession, zone time, shots on goal and defensively mucking it up wherever they had possession.
• Some 4^th line love – they didn’t play a ton (maybe 8 minutes and change for Jankowski and Jost), but they looked good when they were out there.  I get it – you can’t expose them too much on the road – but I think this line was still noticeable in a positive way in the chances that they got.
• Our penalty kill was solid again.  Just steady work by the boys on those kills.  That includes Eric Robinson, who is now essentially our 5^th penalty killer.  And he looks good doing it – he has a bit of an offensive flair to go along with Aho.  Solid work by those two. 
• We had to kill off a massive 6-on-4 late in this one (with about 3:30 to go).  The group of Slavin, Martinook, Burns and Staal killed the whole thing and then stayed on for another 45 seconds or so due to icings that we had no choice but to commit with the empty net there.  Mammoth effort by all four, but Jaccob Slavin had some exquisite stick plays – this man is a defensive unicorn.
• Freddie Andersen was great in net again – it seems more and more like him and Kochetkov are in a friendly competition to see who can have the better performance.  Freddie couldn’t do anything about the goal that was given up – this one could have been a shutout if not for a trip on William Eklund.  Saved 24 out of 25 shots – he was the difference in this game.  When it was still 1-0 them, he made save after save to keep it a one goal game.   He should have been the 1^st star.  Excellent work!

3-1 would be the final.  Early on, as mentioned, it really felt as though we were struggling to get to our game – it wasn’t crisp.  We generated some chances and had good zone time, but it seemed as though we weren’t quite in the fight until Jarvy blasted his goal to tie it. 

That makes it eight straight for this team – and five straight since the deadline. 

Next up:  A date in Los Angeles to take on the Kings.