For the second time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes shutout the Florida Panthers at PNC Arena, this time with a 4-0 final score Thursday night.
The floodgates seemed to finally open again for the Canes as Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Andrei Svechnikov all lit the lamp for Carolina while Frederik Andersen stopped 21 shots for his first shutout of the season.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Andersen, Kuznetsov and Jarvis spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: Everyone played well and that's what you have to do against a team like that. Obviously they were missing a couple of guys, so that helped us, that's for sure. But overall, it was a good effort.
On Evgeny Kuznetsov's goal: That doesn't happen very often, especailly against them, but he's a pass-first guy and we know that. He was looking at everybody to see who was open and then he was like, 'Okay,' and had to shoot it. Good night for him overall. Happy for him.
On Frederik Andersen: He was solid. He's been good in his three starts now and pretty solid. We talk about that at length. That's the most important position and if we can get that kind of goaltending or even close to it, that's a good sign for us.
On Dmitry Orlov: It always takes time to get adjusted to a new group and how we want to get things done. But I think he's really taken off here in the second half of the season. He's making plays, the right reads. That's the kind of player we knew we were getting.
On Jordan Staal's line matching up against Aleksander Barkov's line: I don't know if anybody has that guys number, but that's a good observation. [Jarvis] has really added that little element to that line and you saw that tonight. It was a great individual effort with [Staal] getting through there and then when the puck's on [Jarvis'] stick, he has that ability.
On the extracurriculars after the whistles: It is what it is. We know that's how it kind of goes. Not much really comes out of all that, you just don't want to get shorthanded from it, which is waht happened in the first period. There's a lot of emotions in these games.
On the Evgeny Kuznetsov line meshing: They were the difference tonight, I thought. Really good shifts most of the night. When you put three good players together, it should be a good line. They know how to play. I'm sure things will change a little bit and we'll try different things, but right now, it's obviously been working.
On the offensive ability of the D-corp: When you talk about our team, the strength is in the backend, for sure. We've got good forwards, but we rely on our defense a lot and not just to defend. To make plays as well and that's what you saw tonight.
On the team finally having more power play opportunites than their opponent: That was good. Our power play wasn't any good, but at least for however many you have, it's eight or ten minutes of stress not on you. That was good. Maybe we'll get a few more of these now.
Frederik Andersen
On registering a shutout: It feels good. Obviously a nice little cherry on top. I thought we had a really good game today. They came out pretty good on their side in the first 10 minutes or so, and then we had a couple of good shifts to turn that around and grab the lead and then I think we just held on really well. Played really good defense by being in their zone. Besides some power plays, they didn't have too much.
On the emotions of these last few games: I'm having fun. I don't show it too much, but I'm loving it out there. Really fun being in this room again with everyone. Some really good laughs and good times. I'm sure we'll go through some ups and downs, but it is really fun to be with the guys and in this locker room again.
Evgeny Kuznetsov
On getting his first goal: I understand why I'm here and why this team brought me in. Not just to be the funny guy who smiles. They need us to perform and they need us to eventually get the points and goals so we can help the team. It felt like today was the day we had to step up. It was dry three games for me, so it was very important not just to get the goal, but to get [Jake Guentzel] and [Martin Necas] going. I thought the first period, there was not a lot there. And then in the second and third, we really made that different style of game. I had fun tonight and I hope everyone in the building had the fun.
On the reason why his line has come together so quickly: I have no idea, to be honest with you. I'm not lying, I have no idea. We do not talk about hockey, but sometimes that's good. We can learn off of each other. We know the system and inside the system, we're good enough to understand when we have to put the puck deep and when we have to make the plays. We played a few hundreds of games and we know the times to make plays and the times to put the puck deep and work.
On the last time he broke out the bird celebration: A long time ago. A long time. I didn't want to do it, but I felt like the fans would like it... probably.
On if he was looking for a pass on his goal: I wanted to pass the puck. I wanted to pass it to [Necas] on the backdoor. First [Guentzel] and then [Necas], then I heard the people from the bench yelling 'Shoot, shoot, shoot' and it was a good pass by [Jalen Chatfield]. Just decied to shoot for some reason.
On if he was surprised by how much time he had: No. I knew that it was that type of play when I was in the middle and the defenseman was going to try and block the shot and stuff like that. I knew nobody was coming from behind.
On facing some high-end opponents as of late: The last two opponents are tough teams in the conference. But now, I feel like there are no bad teams in the league anymore. Even if you look at the team that's last in the standings, they still work hard, they compete, they have skill. So these days, you have to treat every game like a Game 7 and that's the mentality, that I'm going with.
Seth Jarvis
On being a part of a shutdown line: I'm super proud of our line. Playing with two, really good defensive players, so it makes my job a little easier. I think especially in that second period, I think we just kind of gave it to them and grinded real hard. As long as we keep it in their zone, they can't score from down there. I think we just did a good job staying above them and not giving them any chances.
On the new guys: You can just see that whenever that line gets on the ice, it's pretty electric. I mean, [Kuznetsov] might be the best passer I've ever seen in my life, [Guentzel] couldn't hit any more posts, so it's right there for him and then you have [Necas] with that speed and skill that kind of complements that whole thing. That line is unbelievable and a good little changeup I think, in our lineup. It's a little different, which is cool.
On his goal setting a tone: I think anytime you score, it makes a difference, especailly later in a period. I think the last few games, we got scored on late in a period, so we know how it feels, so to be able to do that was good. It was just nice to have a lead. Coming into the locker room, everyone knew that we needed a little better in the second and that's exactly what we did.
On the chippiness: It was fun. It's good. We obviously have a long history with them going back to last year. So it's nice that we showed that we won't back down. We had nobody that was scared to be out there. So it was just good to see that from the team. A nice little push back.