The Washington Capitals defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in their exhibition game yesterday. This won’t be as long as the article I just posted on the Islanders/Rangers game, but I still wanted to provide some thoughts on the Hurricanes’ performance.
I thought Vincent Trocheck was one of Carolina’s best forwards. He drew multiple penalties and was creating chances in Washington’s end. Sebastian Aho had a strong game and Teuvo Teravainen was putting himself in good positions as well, but I thought Andrei Svechnikov started a bit slow. He wasn’t overly noticeable for a good chunk of the game, though he was driving offense at the end of the third period, as the Hurricanes were trying to tie it.
On defense, the absence of Dougie Hamilton was felt. Sami Vatanen can skate with the puck but he had a couple bad turnovers and doesn’t come close to being a replacement for Hamilton. Jake Gardiner also concerns me and I think his inability to stick with players driving down the wing could really hurt the Hurricanes against New York. The Hurricanes' blue line is supposed to be their strength against the Rangers and considering the number of quality chances that the Capitals were able to get, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit concerned about Carolina’s defense.
In net, Petr Mrazek allowed three goals on 16 shots but I don’t think he played overly poorly and can’t really be faulted for any of the goals. Reimer, on the other hand, only faced nine shots but looked great. He made at least two really solid saves while in movement that could’ve easily found the back of the net. To me, this just solidifies the fact that Reimer should be starting the series.
The team also had a ton of trouble making zone exits or even getting the puck out of the defensive zone. Too many times they had a chance to clear the puck but couldn’t get the job done.
The Hurricanes may have outshot the Capitals but I don’t think they outchanced them. It’s just an exhibition game but overall, I didn’t think the Hurricanes looked great.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Were you happy with Carolina's performance against the Capitals?
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