Svechnikov, Gostisbehere shine in critical win. Key players discuss overcoming adversity and igniting the Hurricanes' crucial bounce-back performance.
The Carolina Hurricanes finally got back in the win column Saturday night with a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Andrei Svechnikov and Shayne Gostisbehere each had a three-point outing, while netminder Brandon Bussi stopped 18 shots in the win.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Svechnikov, Gostisbehere and Jalen Chatfield spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: That was a great game. We deserved to probably have way more and that was the frustrating part after the first period. To be down when I thought we played great. But I loved the way we played. Yeah, they had their little push there, the power play goal got them going a little, but Bus made some nice saves to settle it down. The third period, you knew they were gonna come a little bit, but I liked the way we kept playing and a big goal by Svech, right? That kind of settled it down and put the game away.
On if the win feels a bit more meaningful with the way things had been going as of late: It's always good, especially with what we had just gone through. Played a great period and we were down. It's just the way things have been piling on. Another injury tonight as Miller doesn't play. But everyone just played and did their job. That was good enough.
On having Jordan Martinook and William Carrier back in the lineup: People have comfort foods, I guess, and that's our comfort line. You just watch them play and you wouldn't want to play against that every night. That's just hard, heavy, doing it right and they lead for us. Having both those guys back, that's huge for so many reasons.
On Shayne Gostisbehere: He was lights out and should have had another one. He was all over it and he played really well defensively. He was holding down the fort there. Again, with what we're missing, you're looking for guys to have to do a little more, play situations they don't normally have to play and he's stepped up.
On Andrei Svechnikov: He was impactful. We need him on the scoresheet, obviously, but we need him... on the number one line, you notice him. For the most part, he had a lot of good shifts and that was a big goal. At the end of the day, they were coming and that just silenced it. Big game for him.
On Jackson Blake bouncing back: We have all the confidence in the world in him. We talked about it. You're going to have mistakes and everyone is going to make them, it's just, can you learn from them? That's what's going to make you better down the line and in the future. We know he's going to be better moving forward.
On if he's been surprised at all by how well some of the young guys have been doing in elevated responsibility: We're having to force guys into minutes and penalty kill, things that when you start the season, you wouldn't really think those guys would be out there in these situations, but we're forced to do it and they're doing their best.
Andrei Svechnikov
On holding onto the lead in the third: It's been a little bit of a problem, but it was huge for us to just stick with our game. To be honest, even if you take the previous game, we got unlucky somewhere. A couple of bad bounces. And it just happens. It could have happened today as well. But we just stuck with our game. Kept pushing everywhere and stayed on top of them.
On winning the 50/50 battles: That's the game. 50/50 battles. You try to win as many as you can and that's how you create chances in this league.
On not having much time to think on his move for his goal: As soon as I got the puck, I think I actually scored one goal against Seattle a few years ago and it was exactly the same thing happen. I think it was in my head right away that I knew where I was gonna shoot. That was a good thing.
On the opportunity developing out of nowhere: It just happens obviously. It sucked for them, but good for us. Just happens. He blew his tire and the puck was right in the middle.
On playing with Shayne Gostisbehere: It just makes it easy. He's always making those plays, skating with the puck, creating room for the forwards and that's huge. You just want to play with him.
On setting up Jordan Martinook's 100th career goal: Not many guys score 100 guys in this league, so he better put up lots of money next game.
On having Martinook and Will Carrier back in the lineup: Huge. Cares killed a few guys today. We have to be physical and that's what we're trying to do. You always want those guys on the ice.
On Brandon Bussi: Huge. Just so confident and it seems like he's been in the league for 10 years. Hopefully he'll continue doing that.
On his break: Actually, I had a fever, so I was just laying in bed, not thinking about anything. Just get healthy.
Shayne Gostisbehere
On if the break was beneficial for the group: For sure. We had some emotional games before the break obviously and it obviously didn't go our way either. For us to respond against a really good team, who's playing really well right now, it's big for our group. Especially having a bit of a lead and we managed our push and Bus came up big for us.
On not getting down on themselves after falling behind: It was a stick with it kind of approach. We had our chances and it could have been 2-1, 1-1, for sure, but they're a good team over there and they're obviously gonna be good on their chances, but Bus came up big for us when it mattered. We stuck with it and it worked.
On if there's a sense of relief getting back into the win column: For sure. It's a learning curve. It was a good test for us again to have a lead going into the third period and you know, they get a quick one early on the period, but for us to hang on and play the right way and get rewarded for it was nice.
Jalen Chatfield
On the game: We wanted to get back at it and were eager after a couple of days off and with the way the other games finished. We were happy that we were able to close this one out.
On the mood following the first: We can't look at the score sometimes. That's just how hockey is. We just want to keep doing what we were doing and we knew we'd get the results if we played that way.
On holding onto a third period lead: It was a good moment to see what we are made of and bear down on it. Like I said, we wanted to do better in those other games, closing them out, and tonight, we don't want to give up a goal to just be up by one, but to see that we can close out a game and gain more confidence on that, shows we're capable of doing it and we know that. Just have to keep pushing from here.
Recent Articles
10 Questions with Carolina Hurricanes Defenseman K'Andre Miller
New Look, Same Swagger: Nikolaj Ehlers Fitting In Perfectly With Carolina Hurricanes
A Perfect Storm: Hurricanes Rookie Defenseman Joel Nystrom Making Most Of Opportunity
Hurricanes Rookie Goaltender Brandon Bussi Chasing NHL History On Unfathomable Start
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
Stay updated with the most interesting Carolina Hurricanes stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.