The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-2 Friday night at Enterprise Center.
Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots in the win and Jordan Martinook, Seth Jarvis, Jaccob Slavin and Jake Guentzel all scored for Carolina.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Slavin and Scott Morrow spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: I thought we had some real good individual efforts and our goaltending was great. We did have a good second half of the game. Second period, third period was okay. Some real high-end plays. Really, at crucial times. Had some good blocked shots. We kind of did enough to get the win.
On Scott Morrow: I thought he looked good. The pace was probably a little higher than he's probably used to, but I think he adapted and had some good opportunities in the o-zone doing what we kind of expected out of him. I thought he showed real well.
On the team's depth: We're missing four guys that are big parts of our group, but other guys got an opportunity to show what they could do. I still think our top guys were good tonight which you have to have and our goaltending, which I keep saying, was superb. That's a big deal.
On Frederik Andersen's first-period save on Zach Dean: I mean there you go. That's where we were a bit sluggish. A bad play in our zone, had full possession of the puck and then tried to do something we probably shouldn't and next thing you know they get those two grade-As. Those are key moments where you don't get down too much and have to really fight to get back. That might have been the play of the game right there.
On Jake Guentzel's two-goal night: Listen, they're empty-netters, but it was a big part of the game, the first one anyway. They had to make good plays and that's what those guys do. They know how to make plays.
Jaccob Slavin
On his goal: It was 4-on-4 and [Aho] got the puck in the middle and I just started to go backdoor and he hit me right on the tape. All I had to do was just touch it and it got across the line. About it.
On capturing a late lead: Freddie made some big saves there and we always talk about just continuing to put the stress in their zone and that's what happened and we got the goal there and we were able to seal the deal.
On facing a desperate team: They came out hard and strong. There was desperation from them and I think we got off to a slow start but we were able to match it eventually and obviously Freddie made some really big saves in the first period to keep us in it. We just competed.
On the team's depth: We've got depth. We've always known we've had it and when you're coming into the lineup, you know what the expectation is and that's just to compete hard and do it the right way and that's what happened. Guys competed, guys worked hard and then you saw the skill take over towards the end. It was good, but it's nice to see guys come into the lineup that have been out for a bit and play well, play hard and do it the right way.
On getting better as the game went along: There wasn't a lot of stress in the first period in their zone. There was a lot of easy breakouts for them and so during the second period, you saw some grind time in their zone and you see those things go the right way and getting those chances more and more.
On Scott Morrow: He had fun. I'm happy that he had fun and he played well. It's one that he'll always remember. So super happy for him.
Scott Morrow
On his NHL debut: It was pretty awesome. I'm glad I got to get it out of the way. The first couple of shifts were fast but then I felt like I adjusted pretty quick, so I was happy with it.
On the family he had at the game: I had my younger brother, younger sister, my dad, grandparents, a couple friends and my girlfriend so it was good. A couple of old coaches too.
On playing with Dmitry Orlov: He was awesome. Talking all the time and talking out there so it makes it easy. Obviously he's a workhorse. He's good getting back on pucks and kind of doing the hard stuff, so it made it easy on me.
On the pace of play: It was faster, but it wasn't too much faster where I felt overwhelmed. I was happy with that, but the thing I noticed was how guys are really talented and if you give them chances, they score. You just have to limit the grade-As you give up.
On the in-game communication: The communication was great and made it easy for me, especially when I was on the ice. We tried running one faceoff play and because of where the puck was, one of the vets yelled at me to do something different and I made a decent play off of it. Just little things like that helps you out out there.