Ehlers nets hat trick as Hurricanes crush Panthers 9-1. Brind'Amour, Ehlers, Nikishin, and Svechnikov break down the dominant offensive explosion.
The Carolina Hurricanes put the beatdown on the Florida Panthers Friday night, beating their new rivals 9-1 at Lenovo Center.
Nikolaj Ehlers had a hat-trick and nine different skaters registered multi-point outings in the win.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Ehlers, Alexander Nikishin and Andrei Svechnikov spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On finally getting a win over Florida this season: Well, there was just so much made about the last couple of games, and I get it. So yeah, it's nice to not have to talk about that anymore and move on. Got another one tomorrow.
On Nikolaj Ehlers playing with Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook: The way that we're mixed right now, Jarvy goes up and didn't really want to put Svech down, so just to balance it a little bit and I talked with Fly about it yesterday and he was... I mean, everybody wants to play with Jordo and Marty. You know what you're getting out of them and obviously tonight they had a nice game. ... That's a line that generally, when they're going which is most nights, they create a lot of zone time. So now you're getting your best players with room and in the zone and a little bit of space. That should work in Niki's favor because that's where he really excels, when you give him a little bit of room. Hopefully that line continues to play well.
On a 9-1 win: Everything just kind of... well, actually it didn't at first, right? Like I thought, 'Holy moly.' We were having a really nice game and their goalie was playing out of his mind. Three or four breakaways that he stopped. What I liked though is that we didn't change our game. Even when they tied it up, we just kept playing. Maybe it's been a long time coming against this team. We just never seemed to be able to break through with goals and tonight we finally did.
On the power play: Clearly, special teams is so important and when you get a bunch of power plays, then it's that much more important to cash in. Obviously we did tonight. I thought the kill was really good tonight too. So that helped. I think the second goal, the Jankowski goal, was big. Because we were playing so well and it kind of broke the ice a little bit. It should kind of look like that. Maybe not that much, but they were missing four of their top guys. I mean, that's a big deal and you do have to realize that too.
On the physical response from the team: That hit [by Sean Walker] might have been the turning point in the game because it was a good, hard, clean hit and they came in and do what they do and so we had to capitalize on that power play and we did. I think that's where the game might have turned in our favor.
On Alexander Nikishin's offensive game: I think we understand that that part of his game has always kind of been there. It's such a learning curve playing defense in this league on the other side of it and that's still where we got to still grow as a player here. We're seeing signs of it for sure. The offensive part of it will keep growing, but there's not much more that he needs to do there. It's just the other part of the game and I think he's coming along.
Nikolaj Ehlers
On his first hat trick as a Hurricane: It felt fantastic, of course. To be able to do that at home as well, makes it even more special. I think we played a great game tonight and we were able to capitalize on our chances.
On jumping into the rivalry with the Panthers: The last two games against them, we actually played really well for 40 minutes and weren't able to finish it off. Tonight, I think it was 1-1 for too long. I think we had the chances and the way that we played, I thought that we played unreal. But the goals came because we kept on doing the right things. Of course, to be able to win this game tonight after, for me the last two games, btu maybe for this team, a little bit longer, felt great and you could feel that in this game.
On the power play: We played direct. We wanted to get the puck to the net and we were able to get the rebounds and capitalize off of that. I think when you're able to do that and you don't just pass it around, and pass it around and then maybe shoot it, but maybe pass it around, you don't really get the box running around too much. When you're able to get pucks to the net and get the rebound back, that's when the box starts running and that's when the little holes open up to make the plays that we were able to tonight. I think we did a great job and that was something we want to take with us.
On playing on a line with Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook: It was great. I knew I was going to be playing with them yesterday and the way that they battle, the way they play the game, win pucks back, I knew I would be able to get some more space out there, which is something I've kind of been looking for. It was a lot of fun. That first goal was an incredible play. We want to keep on building off of this game.
On the penalty kill's success: It's huge. Special teams in this league is extremely important and even more important in the playoffs. That's what wins games in the playoffs and I think we're working toward something is going to be good. Special teams tonight was huge. So that's something that we want to look at and not get comfortable with, being one good game.
On keeping momentum rolling into Saturday: It's very important. Whether you win 2-1 or 9-1, it's still just two points. We've given up too many points in the last little bit, so we want to get back to playing the right way, which we did tonight. Not just doing it for one game at a time. We want to do it and keep doing it. We play again tomorrow, so it's a quick turnaround, but now we know how we need to play to beat these good teams.
Alexander Nikishin [Translated through Andrei Svechnikov]
On the game: We always work together and just stuck with it and played a physical night tonight. If we had opportunity, we scored.
On beating the Panthers: Obviously it's always a tough match against Florida. We lost a few times in the playoffs against them, so tonight was a good win. We had to finish it with a win against the Panthers this season.
On coming close to getting a Gordie Howe hat trick: If I knew I was going to get a penalty, maybe I would have done something [more]. Keep it that way. We don't need to fight. It was a good score.
Andrei Svechnikov
On registering his 400th career point: It took me probably five games or so, so at some point I had to get that point, but Jarvy made a nice play at 5-on-3 and I kind of popped out from the middle and he just made a nice play.
On Alexander Nikishin's shot: I always tell him that he has to shoot the puck because he probably has the hardest shot on our team. When we were out there on the power play, we knew that he has a good shot and so we tried to make that play for him, just being at the net. Also, and whenever he shoots the puck from the middle, it opens up space on the side too, so it's kind of always nice to have that.
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