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Hurricanes Split Two-Game Road Trip; Remain Atop The League Standings
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- Hurricanes Split Two-Game Road Trip; Remain Atop The League Standings
The Carolina Hurricanes split their most recent two-game road trip, losing in Nashville (4-1) before winning in New York (5-3).
The team moved to 13-3-2 on the year and remain at the top of the NHL as they prepare for one more home game before departing for Finland.
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Here's five takeaways from the recent road trip:
Depth Scoring
The Hurricanes are a team that needs everyone to be successful and so far that's been the case this season.
Over the past two games, the Canes got goals from three of their four lines and all three defensive pairings are chipping in as well.
Here are a few highlights from some recent goal scorers:
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Andrei Svechnikov snapped a nine-game goal drought
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Will Carrier scored his first of the season
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Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his fifth in the last 10 games
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Logan Stankoven moved into a tie for fifth in league scoring with his 11th goal
Brandon Bussi Back In The Win Column
It hasn't been the smoothest start to the year for Brandon Bussi.
The 27-year-old netminder had a storybook rookie season last year which culminated in a Stanley Cup victory.
This year hasn't come as easy for the Long Islander native, but Thursday's performance against the Islanders was a good step back in the right direction.
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Bussi made 24 saves on the night, including denying multiple breakaways, to pick up his first win since Oct. 13.
There were some shaky moments in the win, most notably getting caught out of position in Brayden Schenn's wraparound goal, but the saves he made were crucial and timely ones that helped lead the team to victory.
The Canes are going to need Bussi to help carry the load with Pyotr Kochetkov, so outings like this are promising signs for the American netminder.
Penalty Kill Getting The Job Done
The Carolina Hurricanes have a huge hole in their penalty kill with the absence of captain Jordan Staal and that was obvious with the way the penalty kill struggled when he first went out with injury.
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However, the Canes have started to figure things out a bit without him and the penalty kill as such has stabilized as of late.
The Hurricanes went 6-for-6 on this two-game road trip, with the team especially having some big kills in the third period on Thursday.
Overall, Carolina has killed off the last nine straight penalties and have killed off 88.24% of their total penalties over the last five games.
Similar Games, Different Results In Net
Overall, the games in Nashville and New York felt very similar.
In Nashville:
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Carolina outshot Nashville 30-20, generating 3.92 expected goals
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They surrendered 3.08 expected goals and allowed three goals in actuality
In New York:
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Carolina outshot New York 39-27, generating 4.06 expected goals
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They Surrendered 3.86 expected goals and allowed three goals in actuality
At the end of the day the biggest difference between Tuesday and Thursday was one goalie stood on his head all night and the other really didn't.
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Juuse Saros was a wall for Nashville, while Semyon Varlamov allowed two goals against on the first three shots he faced.
Regardless, Rod Brind'Amour wasn't a fan of either game, with his team being just too loose with the puck overall.
Turnovers and poor coverage were much too common these last two games and it could have cost them both rather than just the one.
"I didn't love our game in Nashville and I didn't love our game here," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. "We're not going to play great every night, but there's a certain way you have to play to win and we eventually got to it tonight. It's a tough league. You have to be on your toes every night or you don't win."
Taylor Hall Returns
It was a bit of a long layoff for Taylor Hall, as the 34-year-old forward had missed the last nine games due to two separate upper-body injuries.
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With that layoff, it seemed like the team also wanted to ease him back into the lineup, with him logging just 10:30 of ice time and taking only 14 shifts, the second least on the team.
In that span, Hall had two shots on goal, two blocks and was on the ice for two goals against.
However, in his 5v5 minutes, he had a 12-10 chance share and finished the night with an expected goals for percentage of 73.29%.
With a lot of penalty kill time and not a lot of power play opportunity on Thursday, it makes sense why Hall might have been limited too.
'We Eventually Got To It Tonight': Rod Brind'Amour On Third-Period Push, Win On Long Island
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