THREE REASONS : HOW THE HURRICANES WON THE CUP

BY MIKE RIFKIN

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in six games to capture the franchise’s second Stanley Cup (the first in 2006). Here are the three main reasons they won the Cup in my opinion.

1. Rod Brind’Amour : The coach is a big reason why the Canes won the Cup. People can talk about the Eastern Conference being weaker this season, but the pressure was on the Canes and they dominated through the East. They swept both the Senators and Flyers and beat the Canadiens in five games. So there was no real adjustments to be made until the Stanley Cup Final., and in the Final Brind’amour made adjustments that really helped his team. We can talk about the switch in goal to Brandon Bussi, who was sensational when put in (3-1, 1.60 GAA, .931 save %). Bussi gave up six goals on 87 shots. But another move that Brind’Amour made was swapping Seth Jarvis for Jordan Martinook. Jarvis, had been on a line with Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, while Martinook had been with Jordan Staal. Placing Martinook with Aho and Svechnikov gave them an aggressive forechecker, who helped them get some better opportunities, while Jarvis got some great looks on Staal’s line. Brind’Amour made adjustments, when his counterpart John Tortorella didn’t and that played a major factor. 

2. JORDAN STAAL – Yeah, the Conn Smythe winner deserves a lot of credit for how he played in the Final. Staal was matched up against Jack Eichel for the majority of the series and it was a factor. Staal won almost 70% of the faceoffs, and he held Eichel to four assists and was a -3 in the series. Staal on the other hand was a scoring machine, he scored six goals, and only didn’t score in the clincher. Staal was also a major key on the Penalty Kill, which held Vegas to two power play goals in the series. 

3. DEPTH SCORING – Eventually guys like Svechnikov and Aho got their’s, but the depth of the Canes was massive in this series. The Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall, Jackson Blake line continued their playoff dominance throughout the series. Nik Ehlers had a big series with four goals and nine points, Mark Jankowski even gave them a goal. When you have the depth and the fearlessness of playing anyone against any Vegas line it’s a massive advantage, and combine that with Carolina’s defense to move the puck and the Canes really did a number on Vegas. 

Carolina had all the pressure on them, to win the East because of how the season went. They got over the Eastern Conference Final hump and were able to achieve the ultimate goal. Repeating is difficult, but this Carolina team is deep and most of their key players are all signed long term.