Between last season’s thrilling playoff run and this year’s 3-0 start, it’s a fun time to be a Carolina Hurricanes fan — and not just because the victory celebrations are back.
But 2019-20 is also proving to be a little stressful so far, considering how they’ve won.
After settling their home opener against the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout, the Hurricanes have won back-to-back matchups in overtime against the Washington Capitals on Saturday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. All three wins have seen the Hurricanes come from behind, shutting out opponents in the third period.
Call them a bunch of jerks, call them the Cardiac Canes — however you address the Hurricanes — just make sure you’re talking about their defence.
We’ve measured Carolina’s rebuild by the fast, young forwards they’ve developed, but it’s their solid defence that took them on a surprise playoff run last spring and has them undefeated so far this season.
Sunday’s victory over Tampa Bay, the most impressive of the bunch so far, saw Carolina limit the Lightning to just 13 shots on goal and held them to zero shots in the second period before rallying back to force overtime.
“Tampa’s one of those teams that, they can over-pass it at times and they had some opportunities,” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said during an appearance on Hockey Central on Monday.
“I think I heard (Lightning head coach Jon Cooper) talk it about it after the game a little bit, where they could’ve shot some pucks and they look for those pretty plays and when it’s on they can light you up. And fortunately for us that period they overpassed a couple and it enabled us to kind of get our game going.”
The young core of Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Dougie Hamilton shone under the playoff spotlight and are off to a hot start this fall, while the void left by Justin Faulk’s departure is lessened by the presence of Jake Gardiner, Joel Edmundson and youngster Haydn Fleury.
“If we’re going to be successful, those guys have to play like they have so far,” Brind’Amour said. “I mean, it’s obviously three games — not a very big sample size — but last year as well, those guys were the ones that really pushed us forward.”
That small sample size includes two game-winners from two different defenders. Gardiner’s first Hurricanes goal won them the game in overtime against the Capitals while it was Slavin — the club’s best-kept blue line secret no more — who tallied the winner against Tampa.
“If they’re playing like that, we have a chance every night to beat anybody,” Brind’Amour said. “So we rely on them, they’re a big part of our team, and obviously they’ve been good so far.”
Next up, the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. Prepare for overtime.
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