Despite zero goals, the Hurricanes' top line excelled defensively, neutralizing opponents, but they're confident they can bring both to the table in Round 2.
Diddly squat.
That's what the Carolina Hurricanes' top line did in their first round series against the Ottawa Senators according to head coach Rod Brind'Amour.
And, objectively, he was correct.
Over the course of the four-game series, the trio of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov combined for zero 5v5 goals and even had zero power play points as well.
"We know moving forward that they're gonna have to be better and they will be," Brind'Amour said.
But while the line didn't wind up on the scoresheet, overall, it wasn't necessarily a bad series for them.
The trio was hard matched against the Senators' top line and, at the end of the day, they only allowed a single goal against in their 5v5 minutes.
"I thought we did a really good job defensively," Jarvis said. "That was something that we were struggling with in the regular season, so it was nice to have that part of our game going. The offense will come, but to be able to shore up our defensive side of the game was huge."
"I really liked how we played without the puck throughout the series," Aho said. "The top lines pretty much played each other the whole series and we didn't give them too much. Obviously having said that, you'd probably like to create a few more chances and get on the scoreboard to help the team."
Over the years, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour has started to give his top line more and more defensive responsibility, often matching them up with other team's top skaters.
While the Jordan Staal led shutdown line played 43% of their 5v5 minutes against elite competition this season according to PuckIQ.com, the Aho line was just behind them at around 41%.
So while the top line would certainly have liked to have gotten on the scoresheet, part of their job is to keep some of the other team's best players off of it and they did a great job at that.
"At the end of the day, if you give up a goal, you have to get two," Brind'Amour said. "If you give up none, you only have to get the one. There was a lot being made about that top line going against that top line and they both kind of cancelled each other out. That's okay as long as we get contributions somewhere else."
"It's definitely frustrating, but whatever you can do to help the team win and keeping pucks out of the net is a big part of that," Jarvis said.
The three also never really had to open up their game much either because Carolina never trailed at any point in the series.
In all four games, the Hurricanes were either was either tied or leading and in those situations, you're always more concerned about not giving something up.
"When you're playing with the lead, you don't have to push," Aho said. "If you're down two goals, maybe you're trying more to create that offense. Obviously we did a solid enough job to stay on top of every game. When you're in the lead, you can still make plays and you're supposed to make plays, we're all capable of that, but you really don't want to make that risky play for no reason."
"Especially in the playoffs, whenever you score first, you kind of then try to defend a little bit more than score," Svechnikov said.
There are many ways to win a hockey game and with a team as deep as the Hurricanes, you don't have to rely on just one or two guys to pick up the offense.
For example, because the three were getting a shutdown matchup, the second line was free to run rampant, which was a big key to the first round sweep.
And so as long as the Hurricanes are continuing to pick up wins, the top line is perfectly happy to play their role.
"I don't really care about the points," Svechnikov said. "If I get zero points and we win the Stanley Cup, I'd be the happiest person in the world."
"It's the playoffs," Aho said. "I don't really care about the stats. Those things don't matter. It's all about whether you win or lose."
But don't confuse those quotes with a lackadaisical feeling of contentedness.
No, the fires of competition burn bright with all three of those players and you just know they're burning to get some goals, which they're probably due for a few of anyway.
The line was credited with 24 scoring chances in the series according to Natural Stat Trick and had 33 shots on goal and 67 shot attempts and, for my money, I thought Andrei Svechnikov looked dangerous throughout all four games.
"I just felt like it didn't come for us," Svechnikov said. "When you score that first goal, you feel the confidence and you know you're gonna get that second goal. It just felt like it didn't come for us as a line, so hoping to see that in the second round. We score a couple goals and we're gonna then feel more confident and we'll go from there."
"I don't have any worry in my mind for any of us," Aho said. "We know we're gonna go into the next game and try to play the same way. Not give them anything and then trust that when we have the chances, we're gonna be able to put them in. It's going to happen."
For them it just feels like a matter of when, not if.
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.