Hurricanes owned the ice, outshooting Islanders 40-16. A shorthanded streak and the top line finally breaks its even strength scoring drought.
If you just glanced at the score this morning, you probably wouldn't think too much about Saturday's game against the New York Islanders.
Carolina wound up winning 4-3 to move even closer to locking up the top spot in the Metropolitan Division and it seemed like a close game, which would make sense for a team like New York who are desperate for points.
But in actuality, that was one of the more lopsided games of the year despite what the final score was.
Carolina absolutely dominated the Isles for 60 minutes and it was much closer than it ever should have been.
1. Shot Share
For 40 minutes, that was one of the most lopsided games I have ever seen.
At one point in time, shot were 36-6 and the Canes had a 14-4 edge in high-danger chances, all while still just leading 3-2 (talk about the difference goaltending can make).
Every Hurricanes line was more dominant than any one of the Isles' and each one just cycled their opponents into oblivions, generating chance after chance.
In the end, the Isles did have a big push at the end of the third period with the goalie pulled, but overall Carolina outshot the Islanders 40-16 and outchanced them 82-32 overall.
"I thought from start to... well, the last minute got a little hairy, but overall, I can't say enough," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. "That was pretty impressive considering what was at stake. I thought our guys just played the way we want them to and I think we got what we deserved tonight."
2. Shorthanded Hot Streak
Sebastian Aho's shorthanded goal on Saturday was the third time in as many games that the Canes have scored while down a man.
That matched a franchise record set back on Dec. 3-7, 1980 when the Hartford Whalers scored four goals across three games.
Aho's goal was also his 22nd career shorthanded goal, which ties him for the most such goals since he entered the league (2016-17).
In fact, since then, no player has more shorthanded points than Aho's 37.
"It's just knowing what the number one job is and that's to kill the penalty," said Seth Jarvis. "I think when you start flirting with cheating too hard, that's when it kind of bites you in the butt. So just knowing what the number one goal is and then being on the power play, you know you're not always hustling back as hard as you should. So just knowing you can take advantage and kind of just knowing when."
3. Top Line Back On Top
The Carolina Hurricanes' top line of Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis has combined for over 80 goals this season, however they had gone 11 games without a 5v5 tally before Seth Jarvis' two tallies on Saturday.
The line had been dominant for a while, controlling an expected goals for percentage of around 60%, but the bounces just hadn't been going their way as of late.
So it's good to see them finally able to convert.
"Nice to score on a goalie and not an empty net, so that's a stepping stone," Jarvis said. "I've had a lot of chances and, you know, that's one thing. You know you're doing something right when you're creating like that, but to see it go in is huge."
"I thought they had a great game," Brind'Amour said on his top line. "I thought they had a lot of opportunities. A lot of almosts, which is certainly what you want."
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