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The Carolina Hurricanes picked up a 4-0 win at home last night, shutting out the Eastern Conference-leading Florida Panthers.
For the second game in a row, the Hurricanes started a little slow, in what turned out to be a pretty chippy first period. They gave up some good chances early, including on an early Florida power play, but Frederik Andersen made some key saves to keep the game scoreless. Andersen’s saves ended up making a difference in the opening frame, as the tides turned a bit late in the period. After a couple unsuccessful power plays of their own, Seth Jarvis opened the scoring in the final minute of the period, with the puck being poked right to him off the stick of Jordan Staal, for Jarvis to beat Bobrovsky with a great shot to put Carolina ahead through 20 minutes.
Carolina really took over in the back 40 minutes from there, and only minutes into the second period, Martin Necas chased down a puck to get a slapshot off, putting it through Bobrovsky to extend the lead. Then a little later in the frame, Jalen Chatfield put a great pass over to Evgeny Kuznetsov, who had time to pick his shot, scoring blocker-side to make it a 3-0 game. You know just based on the celebration that Kuznetsov’s first as a Hurricane was an important goal for him, and it’s great to see some early success after a tough final stretch in Washington.
We saw more chippy hockey and scrums from there, but Carolina managed to take the three-goal lead into the second intermission after a really strong middle frame.
The third period was somewhat less eventful, with the Hurricanes really limiting chances against. Then with the Panthers pulling the goalie late, Andrei Svechnikov sent a puck down ice off the glass and into the empty net, securing a 4-0 shutout win for Carolina
Bouncing back from a hard-fought shutout loss against the New York Rangers earlier in the week, the Hurricanes took control of the game after the Jarvis goal and really didn’t look back. Carolina outplayed Florida for most of the back 40 minutes, outshooting the Panthers by a huge 23-11 margin over that stretch.
The Guentzel-Kuznetsov-Necas line continued to click in their second game together as well, managing an expected goals for percentage of 79 percent at 5-on-5. They also saw the results come this time around, with goals from both Kuznetsov and Necas.
It’s still very early into Guentzel and Kuznetsov’s tenure with Carolina, but it’s already really noticeable how much they add to the strength of the team's offense. Every time they’re on the ice, they’ve been fun to watch and with three very dynamic offensive forwards on a single line, they’re a threat to score as soon as they enter the offensive zone.
Despite Carolina really outshooting Florida in the back 40 minutes, Frederik Andersen had to be good as well though, especially early on. He continues to be very good since returning, posting a .955 save percentage across three wins since returning. With strong goaltending from both Andersen and Kochetkov, the Hurricanes’ goaltending has gone from a complete liability early in the year to an asset.
In addition to the Hurricanes’ win, the Rangers also suffered a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, pulling Carolina right back to the same position they were before the loss to New York, sitting four points back of the division lead. With 16 games to go, the Carolina win/New York loss combination last night puts the Hurricanes into a better position to possibly overtake the Rangers.
In smaller news from today: the Hurricnaes also completed a post-deadline trade to send Jamieson Rees to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft. Rees, a second-round pick in 2019, showed a lot of promise after making the jump to professional hockey. It's too bad it didn't work out for him in Carolina, but it's been a tough year for Rees, going goalless through 37 AHL games.
The Hurricanes will face another tough test though, starting a back-to-back set this weekend with a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM MARCH
- Canes acquire Jake Guentzel from Penguins, Evgeny Kuznetsov from Capitals
- How much do Guentzel and Kuznetsov improve the Hurricanes’ Cup chances? 
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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