Carolina Hurricanes
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
CAROLINA HURRICANES NEWS CLIPPINGS • March 17, 2021 What happened as the Hurricanes’ 8-game win streak ends in loss to Red Wings By Chip Alexander you give up two on the penalty kill. Our power play got one but it wasn’t that good. There are no good ways for a team to have a long winning streak come to an end. “We didn’t execute it and that’s the game right there. Five on five I thought we were fine. We didn’t give up a heck of a lot.” There are bad ways, however. In the second, the Wings scrambled to keep the Canes from The Carolina Hurricanes had their eight-game win streak scoring shorthanded and take the lead. Bernier smothered snapped Tuesday by the Detroit Red Wings, who outplayed the puck among a pile of bodies in the crease. the Canes in a 4-2 victory at Little Caesars Arena. The Canes pressured Bernier in the third, forcing him into “I thought we played pretty well but they played a good some tough stops. On the Canes’ end, forward Brock game, they played hard,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour McGinn blocked a shot with Reimer well out of position to said. “That’s it. We move on. It certainly wasn’t from a lack of keep it a 3-2 game. effort.” The Canes again played without injured center Vincent It was Carolina’s first loss in March and the first since a 3-1 Trocheck, who missed his third game. Forward Warren defeat at Tampa Bay on Feb. 25. Foegele left the game with an upper-body injury and The Canes (20-7-1) had too many penalties. They allowed Brind’Amour did not have an update on his condition after two power-play goals. Their goalie, James Reimer, was the game. shaky much of the game. He twice lost his stick, gave up too Hamilton, who assisted on the Aho goal, has the longest many rebounds and was outplayed by the Wings’ Jonathan active point streak in the league. He tied Ulf Samuelsson Bernier. (1987-88) for the second-longest point streak in franchise The Canes had 37 shots as defenseman Dougie Hamilton history by a defenseman — Mark Howe had an 11-game finished with 11, a career high, while also extending his point point streak in 1979-80. streak to nine games. But Bernier made the big stops and The Canes next have another scheduling quirk: four straight the Wings helped him by blocking another 14. games against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The first two will The Wings took the 3-2 lead in the second on a rush into the be at PNC Arena, where they go at it Thursday. Canes zone as Dylan Larkin carried the puck up ice, dropped Injury report off a pass to Robby Fabbri for the score at 12:28. Filip Hronek had an empty-netter in the final seconds of regulation Brind’Amour was asked Tuesday if center Trocheck could be after Reimer was pulled for an extra attacker. ruled “day to day” or “week to week.” Trocheck missed his third game Tuesday with an upper-body injury while rookie The Canes have often found ways to win games this season center Morgan Geekie played in a third straight game. when they have not been at their best. They weren’t at their best Tuesday — and they couldn’t find a way to win against “I think when we get back (to Raleigh) we’ll have a clearer the Wings. understanding of what’s going on,” Brind’Amour said of Trocheck’s injury status. “We’ve been winning and sometimes you can get a little too satisfied and think things are getting a little easier,” Canes Goalie Petr Mrazek (thumb surgery) will miss his 23rd game forward Nino Niederreiter said. “But things actually get and forward Teuvo Teravainen (concussion) his fifth straight. harder and harder. The more you win, the more other teams Teravainen has been out 12 of the past 13 games. want to beat us.” Of note Niederreiter had the first goal of the game, his 13th of the season, scoring on a power play for the Canes early in the The Canes on Tuesday recalled defenseman Joey Keane first period. Sebastian Aho then scored his 11th early in the and goaltender Beck Warm to the team’s taxi squad from the second for Carolina to tie the score 2-2. Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. Defenseman Joakim Ryan and goaltender Antoine Bibeau But the Red Wings (9-17-4) always had a response. Adam were reassigned to Chicago. Erne scored twice on the power play in the first, taking advantage of Reimer without a stick to score the second. Keane, 21, has eight assists in 13 AHL games with the Both came off rebounds. Wolves this season. Warm, 21, has posted a 5-1-0 record with a 2.02 goals-against average, a .944 save percentage “We didn’t win the special teams war,” Brind’Amour said. and one shutout in six AHL games with Chicago. “We gave up those two early. It’s hard to come back when CAROLINA HURRICANES NEWS CLIPPINGS • March 17, 2021 Could an Eric Staal-Hurricanes reunion really happen? Rod Brind’Amour: ‘Everybody would want to have that guy around’ By Sara Civian As a reporter, you normally stay away from asking coaches about trade rumors — especially when they still sort of feel The Hurricanes looked like they were going to be relatively like pipe dreams — but this is Brind’Amour potentially dormant ahead of this year’s April 12 NHL trade deadline. reuniting with 2006 Hurricanes Stanley Cup teammate Eric Two recent developments have me raising my eyebrows and Staal we’re talking about, 15 years later to try and do it wondering if that won’t be the case: again. Oh, and Eric’s brother, Jordan, just happens to be the 1. The salary cap: It started with the unloading of Ryan captain of the red-hot 2021 team. I was curious how Dzingel’s $3.375 million cap hit a month back. Dzingel wasn’t Brind’Amour would feel about a reunion, even if he wasn’t working out in Carolina, and the Canes were able to get going to give anything away. So I asked. Cedric Paquette ($1.65 million cap hit) in return, creating “That’s a question that’s probably further up the chain than some space under the cap. Then this past weekend, they me, but I think we know he’s an awesome person,” he said. waived Jake Gardiner. The Canes did this so they can “I haven’t watched his game much this year, so I don’t really assign him (and his $4.025 million cap hit) to the taxi squad know where he’s fitting in, but we’ll have to address some on days he would have been scratched (they have a surplus things, I’m sure, at some point, potentially. But I like our team of defensemen), and a source told The Athletic they did it for right now. I don’t know why we would be looking at too much. the sole purpose of saving cap space. It’s not the kind of But everybody would want to have that guy around.” move that will have them drowning in Benjamins, and it only makes sense to put someone who has been in and out of the Brind’Amour and Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell lineup on the taxi squad, but still. They’re creating cap space often mention not wanting to change too much, and uh, the — for what? Canes are on an eight-game winning streak, riding a league- best .759 points percentage and have a 20-6-1 record — (If they place any of their injured players with bigger salaries without their starting goalie and leading goal scorer. Why — Petr Mrazek, Vincent Trocheck or Teuvo Teravainen — would they be looking to change too much? on long-term injured reserve, that only increases the space, although LTIR cap space doesn’t accrue and if the player Are we letting the chance of a fairytale ending cloud our returns during the regular season, the space would be gone.) judgment here, or would Staal to the Canes actually make sense? 2. Vincent Trocheck’s upper-body injury: Head coach Rod Brind’Amour told the media last week that Trocheck’s injury The Canes have done just fine without their top goal scorer, will keep him out of the lineup “longer than hoped.” I asked Trocheck, in the two games he has missed so far. That’s a Brind’Amour to clarify if that meant a matter of weeks or testament to their depth. But what’s the harm in adding a months and he said, “I don’t know yet. I just know he’s not proven veteran center at a $3.25 million cap with an expiring coming on this trip, so you can rule out a couple of games, contract, just in case? It boils down to three big things: for sure.” Speculating on injuries is always a dangerous game, but my sense is the Hurricanes are preparing to miss 1. When will Trocheck be back? Trocheck for at least a few weeks if not longer. The most important part of the equation is also the most These developments happen to forge a neat little path into fluid, and it’s clearly the main reason the Canes would want something Pierre LeBrun suggested last week that took to wait until April 12 to see if Staal is still available.