The Carolina Hurricanes welcomed their fans back to PNC Arena with a flurry of offense as they poured it on the Tampa Bay Lightning in their 5-2 win Tuesday night.
It wasn't the prettiest game by any stretch of the imagination, but the Hurricanes capitalized on the opportunities presented to them.
The Bolts struck first late in the first period, but just nine seconds later, PTO forward Jayden Halbgewachs jumped on a loose puck that settled in front of the Tampa crease and put it home.
Then just moments after that, Caleb Jones rifled one through traffic to give his team the lead after 20.
The Canes kept the offense coming as this time Tony DeAngelo blasted one to the back of the net after a rebound bounced right to him.
“If it wasn’t for Pyotr coming out of the net, I would have given them a breakaway," DeAngelo said on his goal, which Kochetkov ended up getting the assist on. "I tried to make a little backhand pass and it flew off my stick. He makes a good play and then we got lucky down on the other end. Sometimes good things happen.”
And then to open the third period, Dylan Coghlan sprung Noel Gunler on a breakaway and the Swedish forward snuck it by Hugo Alnefelt.
The Lightning would get one back, but Kieffer Bellows put the final dagger into the Lightning, cleaning up a loose rebound in front.
Frederik Andersen, who started the game, stopped 13 of 14 shots and Kochetkov stopped 13 of 14 as well.
“You always like the win," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "The people leaving the building think it’s good that you win and all that. The game was not great though, that’s for sure. We capitalized, which was good. Our goaltending was good too. There’s probably wasn’t as good. That’s the difference in the game. But the effort was there."
Brind'Amour wasn't too concerned with the game not being the best overall showing from his group.
"We’re throwing out a forward group where everybody is trying to make an impression," Brind'Amour said. "No guys from last year's team were out there up front and then we’re throwing all this new stuff at guys. You could see on the goals where we’re way out of position and that’s cause guys are just not sure and that’s expected.”
So what is the head coach looking for?
“First and foremost, you’re looking for compete. Making sure they’re working hard every shift. Then on those little plays, are they picking up on the nuances of the system? Are they doing what we asked them to do? Is your positioning right on this faceoff, are your first few strides the right way? It’s just things that nobody would notice, but these are all little things that we talk about and those are the things, as coaches, we’re looking for constantly.”
There were three players who really stood out for Brind'Amour.
The first two were his top pairing of DeAngelo and Dmitry Orlov.
“He’s a very skilled, offensive player," Brind'Amour said of DeAngelo. "He’s looking to make plays and you saw that tonight. His passing was sharp.”
“[Orlov] was great," DeAngelo said about his partner. "Really good, really solid. We moved the puck really well together. Overall, he’s real good with the puck. Real patient, good stick. Can’t ask for much more in a partner.”
The final standout for Brind'Amour was 18-year-old Felix Unger Sorum.
“I actually thought the youngest kid on the ice was pretty good," Brind'Amour said. "To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure. Kid just turned 18. You’re not sure how he’s gonna take the moment and he looked like he had no problems. He was hanging onto pucks, almost too much at times. He was trying to make plays all the time so you like to see that, especially in these kinds of games. He was solid. He caught my eye for sure.
“You don’t teach some things which is that poise and some guys just have it and you can see he has it. Now it’s just a matter of… he’s just a kid. There’s definitely a bright future I think.”
Unger Sorum ended the game with a primary assist and made just some absolutely unreal passes.
The Canes will be back in action Wednesday night as they host the Florida Panthers at 7 p.m.