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The Carolina Hurricanes picked up a win in their final home game of the regular season today, shutting out the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0.
With Andrei Svechnikov returning to the lineup, we saw some line shuffling, with the winger taking Jesper Fast’s spot on the Jordan Staal/Jordan Martinook line, and Fast moving to the Jack Drury/Stefan Noesen line. Jesperi Kotkaneimi was back out of the lineup as a result, while Frederik Andersen got the start.
After a couple games where Carolina found themselves in a hole early, the Hurricanes couldn't have gotten off to much of a better start this afternoon, with a returning Andrei Svechnikov coming down the wing and beating Malcolm Subban with a great wrist shot only 17 seconds in, opening the scoring.
Carolina went on to dominate a lot of the period from there, spending a lot of the first half of the frame in the Blue Jackets’ zone, with Subban having to make some key stops to keep the Blue Jackets only down one. Then just after the midway mark of the frame and with Carolina on the power play, Sebastian Aho took a pass from Jake Guentzel and wired a one-timer past Subban, to make it a 2-0 game. So after outshooting the Blue Jackets 13-5 in the first period, the multi-goal lead through 20 minutes was a nice change of pace from recent games.
The Hurricanes ended up spending much of the first half of the second period on power plays, but despite several great chances, they just couldn’t convert. Columbus showed a bit of battle after that, and then did end up having the bulk of the third period shots, along with an early third period power play, but couldn’t beat Frederik Andersen. Teuvo Teravainen then ended up putting the game away with about six minutes to go, wristing a shot on net through traffic to extend the lead to 3-0, which is where the game finished.
It was a fairly complete performance for Carolina, taking control right off the bat and never really looking back. It was also good to see them take that early lead coming out of the first period, after a couple straight games of getting themselves into a hole.
It also marked the Hurricanes’ third shutout win in the last five games. It’s still a little wild to look back at how much of a liability the team’s goaltending was earlier in the season, compared to where it is now.
Another goal for Sebastian Aho tonight also marks eight tallies in his last eight games, putting him just three back from tying his career high of 38. Aho has taken a clear step this season and now playing with Jake Guentzel as well, there’s a real chance Aho could tie or beat that goal marker if he’s not rested down the final stretch of games.
Carolina’s forward lines have also seen some movement, but the current set-up looks very good. Aside from the top line, the Teravainen-Kuznetsov-Necas line has outshot opponents 16-4 over the last two games at 5-on-5, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. Meanwhile, swapping in Andrei Svechnikov to play with Staal/Martinook adds some skill to a line that’s able to force turnovers and pin the other team in their own end, while Noesen-Drury-Fast is about as good of a ‘fourth line’ as you’re going to see in the NHL.
It’s an unfortunate situation for Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who’s essentially becoming a 13th forward, but the Hurricanes just have a lot of great options. Kotkaniemi performed well on Friday, but just hasn’t really been able to solidify a role in the lineup as the season’s gone on, and with everyone else putting together consistent results, keeping Kotkaniemi out as the healthy extra is the right call.
But the win is a great way for Carolina to wrap up their home games for the year, now with only four games remaining in the season. It still seems very unlikely the Hurricanes catch the New York Rangers, but a lot of attention will continue to go to scoreboard watching all the Metropolitan teams fighting over the third divisional spot.
Also, in more signing news (following the entry-level contract announcements for Scott Morrow and Gleb Trikozov), the Hurricanes also announced today that they've signed Bradly Nadeau to an entry-level deal.
Nadeau was selected 30th overall by the Hurricanes last summer and had a huge season as a freshman with Maine, scoring 19 goals and 46 points in 37 NCAA games. The forward has a lot of skill and a high ceiling, and it's going to be great to see what he can do at the professional level.
The Hurricanes will be back in action on Tuesday for a rematch against the Boston Bruins.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM APRIL
- Canes look poised for success entering final stretch of regular season
- Canes recover from loss to Bruins, beat Capitals to split back-to-back set 
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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