Rachel Barkley
Offense was great, defense was strong, and goaltending was fantastic. It was the perfect storm.
The Carolina Hurricanes were on their game Sunday afternoon as they handed the Pittsburgh Penguins a shocking 5-1 loss. Carolina played a complete game and capitalized on Pittsburgh’s shortcomings in what appeared to be an off-game for the home team.
Going into the 3:00 PM game, the Penguins sat atop the league standings in the penalty kill with a sharp 84.2 success rate, but the Hurricanes’ power play (ranked 12th leaguewide) managed to crack through not just once, but three times in less than 40 minutes.
Carolina’s first three goals were all extremely similar in where they came from and how they reached the net. The first came from Sebastian Aho just 47 seconds into the game after Nikolaj Ehlers drew a tripping penalty on Ryan Graves.
A long-distance wrist shot just between the faceoff circles and blue line, through a screen provided by Jordan Staal.
The next, in the second period, also came on the man advantage. Once again, at the same distance through another screen, Ehlers sent a slapshot buzzing into the back of the net.
Then, just near the halfway point of the game, Jalen Chatfield smacked a slapshot through another yet another screen from the same distance to get the Hurricanes up by three.
Afterwards, the pattern ended as Ehlers sent an incredible pass through the legs of Parker Wotherspoon into the slot and onto the tape of Seth Jarvis for another power play goal. It was Jarvis’ first after a five-game drought.
In the third period, the Penguins finally got a goal on the board thanks to Egor Chinakhov, but the Hurricanes’ defense – and defense through offensive pressure – helped Frederik Andersen to hold them to a single goal allowed throughout the contest.
After a few attempts gone awry, including a stopped blast towards the empty net by Andersen, Mark Jankowski got the empty net goal to make things 5-1.
Hurricanes Succeed in Key Areas in Final Game With Penguins of Regular Season
Throughout the game, one of the Hurricanes’ greatest advantages was their effective use of screens on Stuart Skinner. When it comes to those screens, it’s hard to expect any goalie to stop what cannot be seen. They can’t use the force (even if they seem as though they can sometimes).
Their defense was something else, as they held the Penguins shotless through nearly 12 minutes straight at the opening of the game.
Special teams were one of the biggest things for Carolina, which went two-for-two on the penalty kill and three-for-five on the power play. It also didn’t hurt that calls actually went their way for once.
And last, but certainly not least, Andersen played exceptionally well – something he has greatly improved on since returning from the Olympics. Despite the Penguins’ late start to generate offense, they still managed to put 19 shots on net. On top of that, 15 of those were high-danger scoring chances – five more than the Hurricanes produced.
It was a great game for the Hurricanes, who rocketed to the sole lead of the Eastern Conference.
(Psst! This game was with another team covered by the National Hockey Now Network – sneak behind enemy lines yet again and check out Vince Comunale’s recap from the Penguins’ perspective!)
