The Carolina Hurricanes smashed the Vancouver Canucks Thursday night, defeating them 7-2 at Lenovo Center for the team's first home win of the season.

Logan Stankoven led the way with a hat trick and Andrei Svechnikov also had a two-goal outing.

After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Stankoven, Svechnikov and Sean Walker spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:

On Logan Stankoven’s production since late March: It's impressive. We know he's very talented too. We've talked about him a lot, and I think he his willingness to just keep getting better, trying to get better, work ethic. Can't say enough good things about him, so it's not surprising.


On Andrei Svechnikov: We say it a lot every year. We need him on the score sheet. He impacts the game in a lot of different ways, but, obviously, when you score, it just takes a lot of stress off the whole group. So that was what kind of happened tonight. He was big early, and that's kind of what put the game, not away, but gave us, certainly, a good lead.

On Stankoven being able to quickly contribute on the PK: He’s a good hockey player. I think we’ve talked about his willingness to do whatever you ask him to do. He wants to do it because that makes him a better hockey player. He’s a great Hurricane.

On getting a win at home: We’ve got to win at home. We want to make sure it’s a place that we have a good advantage. I didn’t not like our first two games. I thought we were OK. We played really tough opponents. But yeah, we’ve got to reward the fans that come out and watch us play.

On Sean Walker and him perhaps being overlooked: It's tough when you’ve got to play in a grouping that we have. It’s just natural it might get overlooked a little bit. We don't overlook him. We know his value. He's got an offensive flair. He can make plays, so it's not surprising that he was involved in all those goals tonight. You're right, he gets overlooked a little bit, but not by us.

On if it's difficult for a player to seamlessly jump into a new power play unit like Jackson Blake has: Not really when you're an elite, skilled player. Then you can play anywhere. Especially those opportunities where you get a little more room. Those kind of players can really make things happen, and clearly he has been.

On if Jordan Staal was okay after not playing much of the third: I didn't want to play him too much just for those reasons at the end. Hate when that happens, but, trust me, I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible. 

On if the team has stepped up from the start of the year: Yeah, we’ve played a great team game here the last little last stretch and got rewarded for it tonight. Tonight was kind of a weird game in that way. Once it kind of gets out of hand a little, both teams are not really sticking to the way you want to do it. But like I said, I’ve liked the way we’ve played here in the last few games.

On Pyotr Kochetkov’s play: Solid. He made some good saves. He didn’t have a ton of chances against, but when he did, there were some big saves. And he handled the puck really well tonight for the most part. So good job by him.

On his first professional hat trick: It feels awesome. I think it's just the preparation and work I've done over the summers. Each year I try to come back and just be a bit more of a better version of myself. I think goal scoring and finishing is something that's not easy to do in this league, so I'm going to continue to try and work on that. Some great plays by my linemates as well, so it was a fun night.

On being a consistent goal scorer: I think a lot of it is just confidence and preparation as well, but I think it's a hard league and you're not going to be able to score every night. There's a lot of good teams in this league. There's no slouches. So I think it's just confidence and sticking to my little details that I do. Eventually the chances will come if all three of the linemates are working toward the same goal.

On what was going through his mind when he scored that third goal: Obviously very excited. Hat tricks are hard to come by and I don't think I've had one since junior hockey, so it was nice to see that one go in. Just a great play by Hallsy. It was a fun night overall.

On scoring in three different situations (shorthanded, power play and even strength): I want to be a more versatile player and I think being able to get the opportunity to penalty kill now is awesome. I'm still learning and trying to grow and just try to be a sponge because there's so much you can learn whether it's watching video or just going through reps in practice. It's nice to be out there in different situations and cash in.

On going from his goal droughts last year to now: I think it's just growth as a player and as a person. It's the little things you do away from the rink. Taking care of your body and making sure you're getting enough rest because it is a long year. I think it was tough sledding up until the Olympic break there and then we kind of started to roll and our line got better and better. That's what we want to do again this year.

On giving the home fans something to cheer about: It's great when you can win at home. These people pay hard earned money to come out and cheer us on and support us and so we just want to give it our all and leave it all out there for them.

On if the team has fully shaken off the rust: I think so. I think maybe it was just the shorter preseason, I'm not going to make any excuses. We weren't at our best in the first two games and I think the last few games and tonight showed that we were getting better and better. It's nice to see everyone contributing and everything's kind of flowing. It's great to see.

On reaching 100 NHL points: I didn't really realize it until a couple of days ago. Then I was like, 'Oh wow. I'm pretty close,' Honestly, it didn't even key in tonight when I scored the third one that that was 100, but it's awesome. Hopefully a lot more to come.

On if we can now expect more hat tricks from him after getting the first out of the way: I hope so. Like I said, you don't focus on the big picture. It's just one shift at a time and focusing on details, being good in my own zone and I think with the skill that our line has, if we're all on the same page, things will eventually open up for us.

On the power play carrying over its success from last season: Definitely confidence, you know. I think we just kind of know the spots where everyone is going to be. Obviously great preparation from the coaches this morning. We did what they asked and scored three or four goals. I don't know. I don't remember.

On Jackson Blake integrating seamlessly into the top power play unit: Blakey, he moves the puck very well. He sees the ice very well. So it's a very easy fit.

On his teammates passes: Big passes. I just kind of had to be there with my stick and that's what I was doing there.

On if he was competing with Logan Stankoven for the hat trick: No, that's his first one. So happy for him. Just so happy. I remember scoring my first one, that was a special day for me. I wasn't able to fall asleep that night and so that's going to be him. So excited for him.

On his first goal: As soon as I got that puck, I wanted to shoot right away, but I saw that he slid down so much. Just tried the backhander and yeah.

On having a hot start to the year: It gives you lots of confidence. Just right away from the start, trying to play hard and play my game. Hopefully it's going to be staying that way.

On his four-point game: I don't know if I've ever had one before. Maybe early in my career. But yeah, I got some lucky bounces tonight, a lot of guys making really nice plays, and I’m just happy to be a part of it.

On his shorthanded 2-on-1 pass to Logan Stankoven: I knew we had a two-on-one, and honestly, I was going to shoot, but once I saw the D kind of coming at me, I thought if I could get it over Stank, he'd basically have a little breakaway. So I just kind of tried to find the hole there, and it squeaked through, and Stank made a great play to score the goal.

On noticing the momentum from a fast start: Yeah, for sure. Obviously we got to our game early there and got some goals, and that helps a lot. But I think the most important thing was that we stuck with our game the whole night. We didn't really stray away from it, and special teams were great all night. That’s something we'll be looking forward to keep going the rest of the year.

On having a three-game winning streak after losing the first two: It was great. I think you're seeing every game we're getting closer and closer back to our style of play and how we wanted to be starting the year, but obviously it wasn't like that. These last couple games have been more Hurricanes hockey, and when we do that, we’re really hard to play against. 

On giving the fans a win at home: Obviously the first two were not the way you want to have it after the year we did last year. But it's a long year and we got back to our game and hopefully we'll have many more nights like that.

On believing in the team identity: I think just, again, that narrative of the Cup hangover and stuff is going to be around all year. Maybe those first couple games weren't our best, but I think you're seeing us get back to our game, and we can dominate teams when we do that night in, night out. So I  look forward to doing that the rest of the year.

On Logan Stankoven’s hat trick: It’s great. Stank works his ass off every night, and he's a guy that deserves to get rewarded. So it was awesome, his first hat trick. I'm pretty surprised. I thought he would have one already. A really cool night, special for him, happy to be on the ice for some of his goals.

On having to play goalie after Pyotr Kochetkov's adventure out of the net: A little oopsie moment there, some miscommunication. But you know, Koochie’s one of the best puckhandling goalies we have, so he gets a free pass if he's going to do that once in a while, that’s OK. I just kind of tried to help him out there, and I’m glad it hit me and didn’t go in the net.

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