The Carolina Hurricanes are trying out a new first line this season with the addition of Nikolaj Ehlers.
The speedy Danish winger joins Carolina's established top duo of Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis in what the team is hoping can be one of the best trios in the league.
However, while the line looks like a surefire thing on paper, in two games and having played just under 23 minutes together, it's been mixed bag of results.
The three have been positive in terms of both chance generation (57.50 CF%) and expected goals (60.17%), but they're even on high danger chances (2-2) and are actually in the negative in terms of goals for (1-2).
In fact, the goals the top line has surrendered have both been late equalizers while trying to close out games.
It's an area they definitely have to be better at, but the trio also needs to score too, as they have just one 5v5 goal to show for themselves.
"That line has to be impactful every night," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It's just the nature of it. If you're gonna put those guys together, we have to get them on the scoresheet and they can't be giving up goals either. It's a tough assignment, but it's definitely something that we're gonna keep going with."
But the slow start is to be expected. Ehlers is brand new to the team and system and the trio didn't really get much preseason action together either.
Because while practicing is one thing, the best way to learn is to actually play games.
"We're definitely still finding our groove as a line," Aho told The Hockey News. "I liked the first game better than the second. [Monday's] practice was good. We had a lot of talking. There's lots of other stuff too and you have to kind of talk it out sometimes, but then you have to have the games to get the experience. We're gonna get there for sure. He's a great player and I have to find him a little bit more off the rush and use his speed.
"I'm sure we will be better, but at the same time, I already see some things that I know we can do just a little bit better now with a couple of games together. We're gonna be better."
The three have spent a lot of time communicating both on and off the ice throughout the early season, with extended chats going from the ice all the way into the locker room.
And, really, they're too talented to not figure it out eventually.
"I think it's working out really well," Jarvis said. "Obviously it's a work in progress and it's always going to take a little time, but I think, especially [Thursday night], as the game went on, we started finding each other a little bit more. We started figuring out where individually we like to be in the offensive zone."
Even though they've only converted once so far, the line has still generated a combined 12 shots on goal (and 23 individual chances at that) so far at 5v5, and the one they did score on in Game 1 was the game winner off of a nice redirect in front by Jarvis following some sharp puck movement.
There's no question that the three are expected to be a huge line for the Hurricanes this season, but it's still way early in the season. The results will come in time.
"I think we can all play better, we all know that, we're all hungry to get better," Jarvis said. "It's just a matter of time before it starts clicking and really takes off."
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