Hurricanes dominate Islanders 4-3. Brind'Amour, Jarvis, Miller, and Blake dissect the stellar team performance and young talent's impact.
The Carolina Hurricanes won for a third game in a row, defeating the New York Islanders 4-3 Saturday night at Lenovo Center.
Despite the score, the game never really felt close, with the Hurricanes absolutely dominating the Islanders for 60 minutes.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Seth Jarvis, K'Andre Miller and Jackson Blake spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: I thought from start to... well, the last minute got a little hairy, but overall, I can't say enough. That was pretty impressive considering what was at stake. I thought our guys just played the way we want them to and I think we got what we deserved tonight.
On shorthanded scoring: Those guys in particular are just smart hockey players. You have to know when it's an opportunity to go. Really, Slavo makes the play. He has full possession and so guys are going to go and he makes a great bank pass. Then the talent takes over after that. There is a fine line, for sure, and these guys seem to have a pretty good feel for it.
On enjoying the milestones throughout the regular season: I wish I was better at it because you go through the whole grind of the season and then it's not that big a deal. It's not with the way it's structured, maybe we need to structure it differently so that the regular season means a little more, but I think we all know the prize is still out there. This basically qualifies you to go after it and that's what we're all here trying to do.
On Logan Stankoven playing bigger than his size: We've talked a lot about those two, Stankoven and Blake. Both are very similar. They're little in stature, but they're fearless. Not only that, but they're also great hockey players. Sometimes that gets overlooked because they're small and tenacious and so you forget these guys are super skilled. That's showing up pretty much every night. It's been a pleasure for me to sit there and watch it. I'm sure it is for you too. It's entertaining. It's also exciting because they're still young and figuring it out.
On the top line: I thought they had a great game. I thought they had a lot of opportunities. A lot of almosts, which is certainly what you want. Felt like they played most of the game, well for our whole team, most of the game was played where we wanted to play. I don't know what you could even talk negative about in that game.
On Will Carrier's physicality: He's done that all year. Earlier in the year, we had him up with Jordan and Jordan and he was great there and very noticeable with a little more minutes. Now it's a little less minutes down where he's playing now, but he's still as impactful. There's a guy that shift in and shift out, he's about as noticeable as anyone. His impact, because of his style of play, is crucial for us.
On Shayne Gostisbehere adapting his game: Overall, it was obviously something we talk about as a group and individuals have to accept that. You have a job to do and I think his reads are really good, which helps him play defense. That's what really is his strength.
Seth Jarvis
On his celebration following his first goal: I've been working on trying to dunk, so working on my vertical. Gotta shout out Billy B [Strength and Conditioning coach Bill Burniston] for getting me right and yeah, I'm getting there.
On getting some goal luck: Nice to score on a goalie and not an empty net, so that's a stepping stone. I've had a lot of chances and, you know, that's one thing. You know you're doing something right when you're creating like that, but to see it go in is huge.
On missing out on the hat trick empty netter: I thought Svechy was going, so I was holding it and then all of a sudden, I held it too long and had no idea how much time was left and so I was just like, 'Just get it in.' I mean, I'm not looking for the hat trick there, but it would have been nice.
On playing desperate teams down the stretch: It's huge when you play teams that are kind of on that bubble, it's good for you to prep for the playoffs. I think it's better than playing teams who are maybe eliminated and are just going out there looking for points and stuff like that. So we played a really good team and I'm really proud of how we came out and handled it.
On the schedule: No, not really. It's been a lot, but we hold ourselves to a high standard, so I expect us to come out the same way we did tonight and kind of carry that momentum we built on today. I'm expecting the same hard game. [Ottawa] is trying to make a push, so we just have to be ready for it.
On setting up Sebastian Aho's shorthanded goal: Slavo made a great play there kind of holding onto it and letting me and Fishy get up ice. I think that's something we've gotten a lot better at with our D, at least when me and Fishy are out there. They know we're looking for offense, so they've done a really good job of just holding onto it and letting us get space. I mean, great pass by Slavo and then just executing was the biggest thing. Fishy scoring was huge.
On the key to balancing offense and defense while on the PK: It's just knowing what the number one job is and that's to kill the penalty. I think when you start flirting with cheating too hard, that's when it kind of bites you in the butt. So just knowing what the number one goal is and then being on the power play, you know you're not always hustling back as hard as you should. So just knowing you can take advantage and kind of just knowing when.
On appreciating the moments as the season winds down: Obviously goal number one from the start of the season is making the playoffs, so being able to clinch, and now it's just about making sure we're ready for when that time comes and whoever we play against. Just one step at a time, but clinching is definitely a cool feeling.
On playing with Sebastian Aho: It's just about having fun. We're getting a lot better at knowing what each other is thinking, so whenever there's a chance, I know he's going to be up the ice, so it's just trying to feel where he is on the ice and read off of him. He does such a good job of getting open and creating chaos a little bit out there. It's a lot of fun to be out there with him.
K'Andre Miller
On the game: I don't think we gave them all that much. I think we played good defensively, limited their chances through the neutral zone and not allowing them to get to Bus all that much. We did a good job.
On the key to staying tight defensively: Just trusting that the next guy up is going to do their job. I think we've done a really good job this year of just playing your man hard and everybody is doing their job. That's making life pretty easy right now.
On the blueline's ability to make stretch passes: We've been doing that all year. Just trying to get the puck into our forwards' hands as much as we can. Obviously that's a big part of our game. I think when we deviate from that, it shows.
On facing a desperate team: You look at our last couple of games and I think that desperation type of feeling has been apparent in each game. Obviously we're closing in tight on the end of the year and the playoffs are right around the corner. Those are good games for us.
Jackson Blake
On the game: I just think it was an everyone effort tonight. It's awesome to see that when every line and every defenseman and Bus is making saves like that. It's fun to watch. It was a great team win and I'm glad we played the way Rod wants us to.
On Ilya Sorokin: I don't know how many shots we had, but he still played an unbelievable game. We had a lot of good looks. He's one of the top goalies in the world, for sure. When you shoot that many pucks though, I think you're gonna get the bounces once in a while and as a goalie, I'm sure it's tough to stop 40-something shots every night and he played last night too. But hats off to him, he played a good game, but happy we got a couple past him.
On Logan Stankoven taking a hit to set up his goal: I mean, I would honestly say the other guy took a big hit from Stank. Stanky I think maybe even jumped at him a little bit. Just laying the body a little bit. But I mean, that goal is all credit to him. I had the easy part just finishing it. He made a unbelievable play there and you know he's a smaller guy, but he doesn't play like it.
On Logan Stankoven: He's a junkyard dog out there and he's a quick little guy out there, for sure. I wouldn't want to play against him just because of how quick he is and how tenacious he is. I mean, I get to be on his side and he made some great plays. I like playing with him a lot.
On facing a desperate team: Roddy pointed it out before the game and I mean everyone kind of takes a peak at the wild card and everything like that with what's been going on around the league. They're a great team, a lot of key guys over there and a lot of depth. That one felt good tonight.
On having another game tomorrow: A quick turnaround tomorrow against Ottawa, but we're excited and hopefully we can play similar to the way we did tonight.
On his growth: Obviously I'm a guy who always wants the best for myself and pushes myself to get to that standard. To not only have success, but just help the team win and play my role. I think there's still even more in me too. Last year was more of a learning curve for me, but this, I think, has gone pretty well for the most part and I've taken a big step and hopefully I can just continue to grow.
Recent Articles
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.
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.