The Carolina Hurricanes enter their second game with momentum following a thrilling OT win in front of a sellout crowd last Saturday. Tonight they are set to face the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first match-up the Hurricanes will have against a Metro division opponent this season – surprisingly, this will be the only Metro team the Hurricanes will play until the two meet again on November 10th for the Hurricanes’ 14th game this season.
Let’s first address the injury to Trevor Van Riemsdyk (TVR) that occurred in the third period. He went into the boards feet first and did not return for the rest of the game. He did not practice yesterday, and after practice Coach Peters said his knee and ankle were sore and that he was likely not going to be available today.
A new development is that this afternoon Coach Peters said that TVR was diagnosed with a concussion. This comes as a bit of a surprise as he was specifically asked about this on Monday and noted that he didn't believe that was the case.
Hopefully, the loss of Van Riemsdyk is short-term as he looked sharp with his D partner, Haydn Fleury. The pair was solid on Saturday and was the only D pair that wasn’t toggled throughout the game. Also, their performance is even more impressive when you take into account that it was the first NHL game for Fleury.
Looking at their usage on even strength zone starts (offensive faceoff v defensive faceoff use) according to Hockey Reference, TVR was used on 66.7% oZS%, and Fleury was 70% oZS%. Also, looking at their Corsi on Hockey Reference the pair led all D, as TVR posted a 66.7 CF% and Fleury had a 64.5 CF%.
Granted, looking at the usage it suggests that the high Corsi comes from trying to utilize the third pair more in the offensive zone and limit their D exposure. Given the Hurricanes were one of the top faceoffs teams last year, it wouldn’t surprise me if Coach Peters tried to get Fleury offensive chances given his abilities and shot.
Coach Peters was also asked about Janne Kuokkanen on Monday, and it should come to no surprise that he will be back in the line-up. He looked very comfortable in his NHL debut and created some great chances throughout the game. One of his best looks was a sweet feed to Noah Hanifin who was robbed on a glove save by Alex Stalock.
The most impressive side of Kuokkanen’s game was how well he adjusted in the second period with his new line-mates. While the lines are back to what they were on Saturday to start, it is worth noting how well they all did.
All three of them were the top shot suppressors for the Hurricanes, and they led the team in even strength CF%. Koukkanen had a 17 CF and 3 CA for a 85.0 CF%, Rask had a 18 CF and 3 CA for a 85.7 CF%, and Teuvo Teravainen (TT) had an 18 CF and 4 CA for a 81.8 CF%.
I doubt each of hem will be as efficient as they were on Saturday, but the statistic is certainly impressive. I am not entirely shocked to see TT on the high-end of the Hurricanes shot suppression, as last year he was one of the team’s best. His HERO chart has his shot suppression as a 9 out of 10.
Speaking of D, the Hurricanes used the fourth line in even strength zone starts in the D zone against the Wild’s top lines quite often. I wouldn’t be surprised to continue to see this trend throughout the season. Much of the success for the team will depend on how consistently they can lockdown the opponents.
In fact, the dZS% for all three of them was 100%. They had one offensive zone faceoff at the end of a Hurricanes PP and ended up scoring a gritty goal off an in tight play that bounced off a Wild player and past Stalock. Any offense that the fourth line contributes should give the team an even better chance to win.
One player that had a good game but could improve is Jeff Skinner. He led the team in shot attempts with seven, however, only managed to hit the net once. It wouldn’t be shocking if he produced similar shot attempt numbers as he is a key component to the offense.
Coach Peters appeared to try to be getting Skinner as many offensive looks as possible on Saturday based off his usage. Looking at his even strength zone starts, his oZS% was 100%. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him used heavily again offensively.
One player that flew under the radar but deserved more recognition in the first game was Victor Rask. I already commented on how well his line did with shot suppression, but he was also the only one on his line who found some offense.
He helped get the PP going with an assist in the second period and had a wonderfully placed one-timer off an Aho dish for the fourth goal. It was the type of two-way game that Coach Peters has to be proud of between shot suppression and offensive production.
The one area that Rask could’ve improved on was in the faceoff circles. He only won 5 of 14 draws and was 35.7% in FOW%. As a whole, the Hurricanes struggled in the dots which was uncharacteristic of them. This is a trend that most likely will improve over the next few games. %. It isn’t the end of the world, but worth noting.
One thing that I will be interested to see is if Elias Lindholm gets a few D-zone spot draws tonight. He won three of four and was one of the top performers on Saturday in the dot.
Puck drop is at 7:00 and is on FSCR and FSOH.
The lines are:
Aho-Staal-Lindholm
Teravainen-Rask-Williams
Skinner-Ryan-Kuokkanen
Nordstrom-McGinn-Kruger
Slavin-Pesce
Hanifin-Faulk
Fleury-Dahlbeck
Darling
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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