The Carolina Hurricanes kept rolling Saturday night in Chicago, and the biggest swing of the night may have come while they were killing a penalty.
Carolina beat the Blackhawks at United Center for its fourth straight win, getting goals from players on all four lines in a game that never really drifted away from its game plan. The depth showed up, the structure held, and a shorthanded goal helped tilt everything even further in the Hurricanes’ favor.
Rod Brind’Amour said the first two periods were where Carolina did most of its cleanest work.
“I thought for the first two periods we were playing pretty solid. It was a big goal at the end of the first.
Janks makes a great play. I think we had one almost against us, got a save, and then we go down and score.
Then I thought the second period was solid. Then kind of cruised from there.
It was a good effort from pretty much everyone. I liked it.”
That late first-period swing mattered. Brind’Amour pointed to the shorthanded marker as the kind of play that can flatten the other bench.
“It's probably a backbreaker. You're expecting to maybe get one and get back into the game and then it goes the other way and kind of deflates that group. Certainly, for us, it put us in a real good spot.”
He also highlighted Sebastian Aho’s goal as one of those plays that comes from instinct and awareness as much as execution.
“It was a pretty nifty little play and the understanding too of the situation of the guy without a stick. That's just the hockey sense, right?
And then obviously the shot to finish it off. That was a big point in the game.”
Aho said the scoring sequence started with K'Andre Miller making the right read instead of forcing a dump.
“It was a heads up play by [K'Andre Miller] not just chucking the puck away. Obviously got a little lucky since the D-man didn't have a stick, right? But nonetheless, great play by Key and I was kind of looking for him to beat his guy, but it was just how it happened and I was able to pull a nice move and put the puck in the net.”
He said the shorthanded goal added even more life to a Carolina team that was already moving the puck well.
“Obviously if you kill the penalty it gives you some momentum, but if you score on the PK, it gives you even more and takes some life out of the [other] team, for sure. But I thought we came ready to play.
We were ready to play and I liked our first two periods. We were definitely playing the way we wanted and it was kind of waiting for that next chance to put the puck in the net because I thought we definitely had some looks even earlier.
It was a good job by us.”
Aho also said the Hurricanes were finding openings in the slot, with his line working different layers of the zone.
“Obviously it depends a little bit on what kind of system they play, but you try to go out there and execute. I can only talk about my line.
I thought Will and Svech were working hard down low and I was kind of more in the high slot area and they were able to find me and we were able to move the puck in the o-zone. We created definitely enough to score a 5v5 goal, but yeah, saving it.”
And in the room afterward, the tone was simple.
“It's good. I think we definitely, after the first couple games, we got to our game.
Just play Hurricanes hockey and that usually gives you a chance to win. Just gotta keep on working.”
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