Coach Rod Brind’Amour prioritizes chemistry over panic, trusting his struggling top line to rebound while potentially eyeing a power-play spark from blueliner Alexander Nikishin in Game 2.
Despite dropping the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final, it doesn't look like the Carolina Hurricanes will be making any adjustments to the roster or the lines for Game 2.
The team took to the ice Thursday morning for practice and everything was as it has been throughout the postseason, with the same lines, pairs and starting goaltenders.
There were some wondering whether or not Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour would shake up the lines a bit given the top line's struggles these playoffs, but it doesn't seem that like that's going to be the case.
"Yeah, you always think about it, but, again, we just really haven't had the need to do it," Brind'Amour said on Thursday when asked about shaking up the lines. "I mean, we've got to get some guys going, so maybe we've got to flip things, but for everybody else the results have been there."
The biggest hurdle to making changes really is the fact that the rest of the lineup has been playing very well.
The second line has been the team's best all playoffs (and has been getting the most 5v5 minutes because of that) and the third and fourth lines have been effective in their roles too.
We've seen the top line work many times throughout the year and so the team is just relying on those guys being able to get back to their game.
Obviously if things continue like they have been, we may see some minor swaps in game, but Brind'Amour is going to at least trust his guys to respond in Game 2.
"I'm not gonna overreact on really one bad period of hockey here," Brind'Amour said. "We gotta just let it materialize a little more and then obviously you're making adjustments when you have to."
While it doesn't look like there will be any changes to the 5v5 lineup, it does seem that Alexander Nikishin may be getting bumped back up to the second power play unit.
The team didn't necessarily do much power play work Thursday morning, but they did do rushes with each unit and the Russian blueliner was back with PP2 in place of K'Andre Miller for those rushes.
The Canes need the power play to get going as well and Nikishin has not only the biggest shot on the team, but he also has one of the highest offensive ceilings as well, with 10 power play points under his belt from the regular season.
If he does indeed make his way back into the power play rotation, it could potentially be a big boost for that unit.
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