Seth Jarvis and Carolina Hurricanes Top Line Propels Team to Victory Over Pittsburgh Penguins

Heading into Saturday's divisional game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Carolina Hurricanes were looking for some chemistry and some consistency with their forward group.

And they may have found just that.

Last year's top line was reassembled for tonight's game, with Sebastian Aho centering Teuvo Tervainen and Seth Jarvis, and boy did they deliver.

On top of it being a three-goal night for the trio — led by Jarvis' two goals and three points — the line also had an expected goal total of 62.72% while being matched up against the Sidney Crosby line, which had entered the game with over a 60% expected goal total for the entire season.

"That whole line was good," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It's a tough matchup and Crosby's line was great. They had a couple of goals and he was all around it too, but I thought our guys did a great job."

Jarvis was a complete force tonight, playing hard in every end (including slamming himself face first into the boards on a goal-saving backcheck), and while he had been a bit snakebitten as of late, he finally got rewarded, twice.

"I had a lot of opportunities tonight and Slavin made a great play and I was just there to direct it in," Jarvis said. "It felt really good. I don't know if you could tell from my celebration. It was nice to get one."

Along with Jarvis, it was a good night for Teravainen too, who picked up just his second assist of the season on a slick one-touch feed to Aho.

"Teravainen had a really good game," Brind'Amour said. "He was engaged. It's funny, I looked at the stat sheet this morning for the first time in a while and he had one assist. I was like, 'How does that happen?' Then you see tonight, heck of a pass on that goal."

But perhaps the underlying current that led the way for the Hurricanes tonight, and has been doing so for a long time, was the Jordan Staal line.

The model of consistency, the trio of Staal, Jordan Martinook and Jesper Fast set the tone early with two heavy shifts right out of the gate and kept up that pace throughout the entire night. 

"It's hard to put into words what they mean," Brind'Amour said. "The way they play is hard for the other team. It wears them down. They've had some tough luck this year. They're going to get some goals here. It's going to start happening, but what I love about them is that they don't let that affect their game. They just keep it the same. We talk about consistency, just watch those guys play. That breathes through the group."

Netminder Antti Raanta, who also had a solid night, turning aside 26 shots including a few key shorthanded breakaways and multiple shots from the slot, agreed with his head coach's sentiment.

"Sometimes when you have a one-goal lead, you hope they can do the five minute shift and keep the puck down there and do the cycle in the corners," Raanta said. "What they do for the whole team, even if they don't score... They usually get the puck in deep and they get that cycle game going. It's not easy for the opponent to try and get the puck. They're going to be tired after that shift. It's just a huge, huge line for us and usually they play against the top line on the other side so, it's never easy for them, but it's a good example of what our hockey is."

The Hurricanes battled through a bit of adversity throughout the 60-minute contest.

For one, Rod Brind'Amour finally broke up the Dmitry Orlov and Tony DeAngelo pairing after they gave up the first Sidney Crosby goal in the first period, pairing each with one of Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce, although the dependable duo played together still for some crucial shifts down the stretch.

The Canes also had a goal disallowed on an offsides challenge, which would have been Andrei Svechnikov's first of the season, and moments later the Penguins tied the game 2-2 on a delayed call.

But Carolina stuck with it and managed to bring it home with Jarvis' first goal, followed by his second, an empty-netter at the end to seal it.

"There was a ton of adversity," Jarvis said. "A called off goal that was a little close, so it was nice to see us battle back. I think the biggest thing is we were positive. We never really lost hope and I think that was something that's changed in the last little while. The positivity on the bench has been really good."

The Hurricanes will look to follow up their winning effort, something they've struggled to do as of late, on Wednesday when they host the Edmonton Oilers.

"It's just taking it a day at a time and trying to win every day," Aho said. "Whenever we play next, we have to be ready. Nothing that we haven't done before.