The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 on Sebastian Aho’s game-winner.
A few little wonky things there to have that be your first game back against that team. Yeah, I mean, that’s, I mean that you, everything that went on in that game was kind of what you, you knew was coming. Um, we just kind of got off to obviously a good start and then, um, you know, the power play, they clicked right away and, um, you know, Kucher off with a nice delay, rips it in the net like they just. And a lot of talent and he’s, like we said, coming in the game, that that’s the player you gotta, you know, when he’s on the ice and he certainly had a good game, but I thought we battled hard and like I said, the start was the key obviously. Did you like how you settled down in the 3rd? They, I think they only had 6 shots and 3 of them were once they pulled their goal, right? I, I, I, I thought the game got a little better there in the 3rd. I liked our game, um, not giving up as much. That was the key. We were giving up a little bit too, too many, uh, good looks for them. But in the 3rd I thought we’d settled down a little bit and got to our game a little, a little better. The Steinhoven line has been generating chances for you plenty throughout the year, but it seems like the goals have been a little harder to come by for them. But tonight, obviously some big ones for you. Yeah, yeah, they got obviously they were huge tonight, a lot of pretty goals. You don’t always see that, but I, I think that line in general, um, creates a lot for us, and like I said, they’re not always on the scoresheet, but they’re always around it, and they have the potential every shift to, to kind of make something happen. So they were obviously our best line. You mentioned Najo was, was run down. He said, he said he was gassed a little, but when you have a power play, I guess that’s a chance to maybe, yeah, I mean, I, it came through, right? It wasn’t the best of the shots, uh, but, you know, if you look at the, The play he made on the wall, it was under pressure. He kind of held on to it had composure to settle it down, and then, I mean, I know they had full possession. They fired it right to Jarvis, so they’re gonna be not happy about that. But, uh, you know, Joe’s in front that did his job and you know, it’s, uh, it’s obviously when you can match their special teams and go away and say, well, they got one, we got one, that’s, that’s really what you need to do against that team. Logan Stanoven talked about how Taylor Hall constantly is having conversations with them out there throughout the game. What have you seen in how Hall has complimented that line? Yeah, it’s a good pickup. He, he, he, um, he’s a veteran and he knows us, uh, certainly on the offensive things. I mean, he’s on it and, um, has a great awareness for that and, and helping out, you know, those playing with two younger, younger players in the league. So I think that’s been, he’s been really good for those guys. How vital has the defense been kind of generating offense for you guys? It seems like throughout the year stepping up in the neutral zone and being able to read those plays to push play the other way has been so vital that that the way they do it in the neutral zone, it’s, you know, they’ll, they’ll stretch you out and then come back and then hit the next wave and, you know, it’s. It’s tough to defend and, and I thought we did a decent job, but, uh, you know, like, I mean, Ghost actually did a real nice job with it tonight. He was really break breaking up the play before they could get the next wave and create some turnovers. So, so what you have to do against them. It’s not easy to do. I mean, uh, you know, it’s impressive to watch, you know, Kutra. You gotta tip your hat. I mean that guy is world class. You mentioned that at the end though Slavin gets him in the corner. I mean that’s, I guess that’s maybe the way to, to go with. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean you’d love to try to. It’s not, like I said, it’s easier said than done, and, uh, you know, that’s, that’s one way at least, you know, and try to eliminate them a little bit. I thought we did a nice job at the end of the game. I thought they didn’t really get any super good looks. We had, I think, 4 or 5 good looks at the empty net, and, you know, we, we make it interesting. That’s for sure.