The Canes bounced back for a big 4-2 win over the Devils.
Solid.
From start to finish.
That's how Rod Brind'Amour described his team's 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night at Lenovo Center.
It was the kind of bounce back performance the Carolina Hurricanes needed after a flat season opener that saw the team lose 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"It was really the way we needed to play, need to play and are capable of, against a real good team," Brind'Amour said. "So that was good to see."
Perhaps an even bigger storyline from the game though was that rookie Jackson Blake scored his first career goal and it was the game-winner at that.
Blake made the team due to his high compete and skill level and it was once again on display for his goal as he executed a perfect drive-by redirect.
"I was just hoping it would come," Blake said. "I didn't care when or how. I just was hoping that it would just go in for me and thankfully tonight it did.
"I think everyday I just get more comfortable. Realizing that I think I belong here in this league and I've got to show it every night. I think every day is a tryout. I felt pretty comfortable tonight and I think I'll just continue to feel that."
It was obvious that the Canes wanted to set a tone early as they came out of the gate flying with aggressive forechecking and physicality.
While the Hurricanes weren't rewarded in the first with any goals, it was still important for the team to establish the standard after the disappointing season opener.
"Honestly, a lot of it was just getting it deep early, especially with our lineup," said Seth Jarvis, who finished the game two hits himself. "We have guys like [Andrei Svechnikov] who can rumble with the best of them."
Despite the strong start, it was actually the Devils who struck first as Jack Hughes grabbed his first goal of the season crisscrossing Brent Burns before shooting the puck through the five-hole of Pyotr Kochetkov.
But it didn't take long for the Canes to respond as Seth Jarvis managed to fight through a few bodies in front before spinning and sniping one past new New Jersey netminder Jacob Markstrom.
"Just keeping it simple and getting to the net," Jarvis said. "Sometimes it works out."
As the second period was coming to close, Jesperi Kotkaniemi used his size to fend two Devils off of the puck and managed to kick it out to Martin Necas who fed it out top to Shayne Gostisbehere.
From there, the defenseman took a second to dust it off and it was a good thing he did, because Markstrom drifted well out of position, opening up a big target for Gostisbehere.
"I just think we had sustained pressure down low that was really good," Gostisbehere said. "They really harped on us keeping tighter gaps and so I was already down there. [Kotkaniemi] made a great play behind the net and found [Necas] and he found me. I was just trying to get the shot through and thankfully the goalie slid the other way."
Circling back to the initial setup, the goal was all Kotkaniemi.
The Finnish center, who was playing in his 400th NHL game, was just battling down low and fighting off two New Jersey players as he worked to maintain possession of the puck along the boards.
Eventually he managed to get the puck positioned where he was able to kick it out to Necas for the quick-up to Gostisbehere.
"On that goal specifically, he was the reason," Brind'Amour said. "The second effort and just kind of sticking with it. A good shot and a pass by Necas too."
While Blake got to live up the moment of his goal halfway through the third period with an exuberant celly, he also got the full range of the NHL experience as the penalty he took just a bit later resulted in a Devils goal to make it once again a one-score game.
"It's not fun, the walk of shame back to the bench there," Blake said after the game, a smile on his face.
However, even as the game tightened up, Carolina didn't falter and the combination of timely defense and strong goaltending from Kochetkov kept the lid on until Sebastian Aho sealed the game with an empty netter.
Overall, it was a really strong performance for the Russian netminder who was making his first start of the season.
"He was good," Brind'Amour said. "They had a lot of tricky ones and obviously they got the one nice one. I mean, just talent. Tip your hat. You're not going to do much about that. And then at 5-on-3, not much you can do there, but in between that, it was a bunch of good saves that maybe didn't seem that dangerous, but they were."
If the Canes want to be successful this year, they're going to need good goaltending and more than anything, they need Kochetkov specifically to prove he can be a true starter.
It was good timing for the Hurricanes to get into the win column because they'll now be heading out on a season-long six game, two week road trip that will take them through Western Canada.
"It's huge," Gostisbehere said. "Especially when we came out kind of flat in the first one for our team. We knew we had better hockey in us and that was huge for us just to get out there and get two points before a big road trip and just get the first win of the year."