Three Takeaways - CAR vs. PIT 4-2 W The Carolina Hurricanes pulled off a big win against a divisional rival the Pittsburgh Penguins, defeating them 4-2 Saturday night at PNC Arena. The Hurricanes' top line put in the work with Seth Javis (2) and Sebastian Aho both lighting the lamp. Antti Raanta made 26 saves in the win. After the game, Rod Brind'Amour along with Jarvis, Aho and Raanta spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rod Brind'Amour On Seth Jarvis' development: He's growing as a player. Confidence... he certainly doesn't lack any of that. Trying to make plays, take pucks to the net, he's courageous for a little guy. I just think he's getting better in all areas. He's killing penalties now and we've kind of put a few more things on his plate. I think he's doing a great job with it. On the backcheck efforts: We had a few of those tonight. Almost empty nets and we were able just to get sticks on them. Making those extra efforts, that's what you've got to have. On the Staal line's effectiveness: It's hard to put into words what they mean. The way they play is hard for the other team. It wears them down. They've had some tough luck this year. Again, today Martinook hit the post, Staal had a chance that trickled by. 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. On playing the Carolina Hurricane way: Yeah. It was a great game. Both teams played really hard. I loved our game. Didn't have any lulls in it. Could of easily dropped our heads when we got a goal that was called back and then they score. And that happened in a matter of minutes. It was a great game. On his top line matching up against the Crosby line: That whole line was good. Teravainen had a really good game. 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. They were really good. 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. On switching up the defensive pairs: Yep. Gotta keep trying, right? We've got good ones back there. Just the chemistry and the fit. That might be a little bit of a work in progress, but we'll keep at it. On if Svechnikov can take any solace in his disallowed goal: I talked to him about it, but I don't know. We didn't need it, thankfully. Maybe we're saving them for another day. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seth Jarvis On his crash into the boards: That was heavy, eh? I just winded myself. I missed the opportunity on one end so I wasn't letting them score on the other. [Kotkaniemi] calls me a cannonball and I really feel like I went into the boards like one there." On pushing through adversity: There was a ton of adversity. 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. On taking faceoffs against Sidney Crosby: The first two he absolutely dominated me. Then I started to figure it out. Going in there, I'm trying to just not lose cleanly, which I did twice, but I was able to win one and that felt nice for my confidence to beat a guy like that at least once. He's probably the premier faceoff guy in the NHL so being able to do that is huge. On his line building chemistry: We probably could have had six or seven goals. [Teravainen] set me up like three times for wide open nets. He was unbelievable and so was [Aho]. It's nice to get a couple and hopefully we keep it going. On scoring at even strength: I had a lot of opportunities tonight and Slavin made a great play and I was just there to direct it in. It felt really good. I don't know if you could tell from my celebration. It was nice to get one. On Teravainen: He's too selfish with the puck. He's got to move it more. That was unbelievable. On the forecheck: We did a great job dumbing it down a little bit. I think sometimes we get a little too excited to use our skill and it cost us a little bit, so I think tonight we did a good job of knowing when to use it and making good reads. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sebastian Aho On Seth Jarvis: He was going. Whenever he's going like that, he's a fun guy to play with. Obviously Turbo was big doing his job too. I think we played a good game. On matching up against the Sidney Crosby line: He's done it for like 20 (18) years at a high level and he doesn't really have off nights. That was a tough task but obviously I thought we did a good job. We had Skjei and Pesce there too to help us. It was a good effort overall. On Teravainen finally getting his second assist of the season: I've been open the whole season. Finally he passed a couple. (Aho meant this as a very obvious joke) On the chemistry with his line: Sometimes you're kind of forced to shuffle the lines but at the end of the day, it's on players to get it going. Today, Teravainen and Jarvis, they were flying out there, so it made my job easier. I think we created enough to score a lot of goals and win the game, or at least our matchup. On the game: We knew going into it there was going to be a lot of battles out there. Both teams play a pretty similar way. It was just a great hockey game, I thought. Of course they're going to get their chances, their momentum. They're a really good team and they have elite players. But you just try to ride your momentums and keep theirs as short as possible. On staying locked in until Wednesday: The schedule is always... you cannot do anything about it. It's just taking it a day at a time and trying to win every day. Whenever we play next, we have to be ready. Nothing that we haven't done before. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Antti Raanta On the game being a step forward for the team: It was a huge battle. We know that we were going to play against a really good team and it showed. The first period was straight away, back and forth and they were forechecking hard and we were trying to do the same. Small marginals. Nice to get the one bounce for us and the winning goal. I think the last eight minutes were really good defensively. We kind of shut the door and played well. On his glove hand: I was playing around a little bit. I got a new glove this morning, so I went with that at morning skate and a little bit through warmups, but I think it was a smart decision to go with the old one which was a little more broken in. That's kind of the confidence where you see and track the puck well. A little bit of luck too when the shots are coming so close that you're able to get your glove there. Good feeling to make those saves. On the Jordan Staal line: 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. 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.
