Gold: Canes heading to Big D minus three of theirs

By Adam Gold radio host 99.9 the Fan

It was bound to happen.

In spite of being 21 months into this global pandemic, Covid-19 has not left the building. And, for the first time since the early stages of last year’s reconfigured season, the Carolina Hurricanes have been infected. And, because we have experience with how this works, we know that this is going to get worse before it gets better.

There’s a new variant coming -- ‘welcome, Omicron -- on top of the fact that our old friend “Delta” is still on the roster. And, it’s important to remember that vaccination is not a guarantee to avoid infection, but only to minimize the chances of illness and drastically reduce the severity of symptoms. So, you can still test positive even though you’ve gotten the shots.

It was announced the day the Hurricanes were set to play the Sharks (last Monday afternoon) that defenseman Ethan Bear had a positive test. The NHL’s rules for vaccinated players is still strict, a 10-day isolation. That means, that as we sit here, Bear is still ordering room service in his San Jose hotel.  What a bill that’s going to be!  He’ll finally be able to leave his room tomorrow and potentially return to the team in time for Thursday’s game with Ottawa.

That’s important because fellow blueliners Brett Pesce and Tony DeAngelo had positive tests announced yesterday. That means a week and a half under wraps for them and it likely means that there are more coming down the pike. As the Hurricanes were in the middle of their 6-game road trip at the time of Bear’s discovery it just exponentially increased the likelihood that there would be spread.

At home, you don’t ride the bus to the game or fly from city to city or all eat in one big room -- although I don’t know the social distancing rules in Sebastian Aho’s sauna. But, in the midst of a long road trip, spread was inevitable. And, since the CDC recommends vaccinated people who might have been exposed to wait 5-7 days to get tested, this puts both Pesce and DeAngelo in that window. This also means that over the next couple of days -- which has featured another road game and more plane trips and bus rides -- we’re likely to find more Hurricanes entering the league’s health and safety protocols.

Note: As of right now the NHL has made no announcement as to postponement of the Hurricanes schedule. Three players out would not rise to such a level anyway. Keep in mind however, the league did pause both Ottawa and the NY Islanders when their protocol numbers reached a point where fielding a representative NHL team was impossible.

As a result, the team has recalled defensemen Maxime Lajoie and Jalen Chatfield from Chicago of the AHL. Lajoie made his Hurricanes debut during the playoffs a year ago and leads all Wolves defensemen with 8 points (1g, 7a) in 17 games this year while Chatfield tops the blue line with 4 goals among his 7 scoring points.  Both have NHL experience as Lajoie has 62 games under his shorts from 2018-20 with the Senators. Chatfield played in 18 games with the Canucks a year ago.

Each will be in the line up tonight as the Canes are in Dallas to meet the Stars, a team they faced 8 times a year ago in the Central Division. The Hurricanes were 6-1-1 against Dallas, outscoring the Stars 28-18. Carolina scored 8 power play goals in 24 tries (33.3%), while yielding 5 in 25 attempts on the kill (80.0%).

Goals hard to find...

Aside from outlier games recently against the Flyers and Kings, Carolina has really hit the skids offensively. The power play, specifically has been a problem as the Canes have gone six straight games without registering a power play goal (0 for 14). At least as troubling as the drought is that Carolina has just 14 attempts, so they’re in a stretch where they’re drawing just 2.3 power plays per game while yielding 19 opportunities over those six (3.2 per game).  Fortunately, the penalty kill continues to be outstanding, allowing just 2 goals over that stretch.

One more ugly statistic from the power play woes. During this 6-game drought, the Hurricanes have also allowed two shorthanded goals. Though the silver lining would be that in each of the games where that occurred -- at Los Angeles and in Philadelphia -- Carolina ended up winning.

Hey, here’s another note about the power play and the absences of DeAngelo and Pesce, each quarterbacks power play units. So, their removal from the lineup further impacts the team in an area that has already suffered.

Here’s how those units looked at the morning skate in Dallas.

Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Vincent Trocheck, Martin Necas and Teuvo Teravainen. Yes sir, five forwards. Never ideal because, theoretically speaking, you like a defenseman on the unit just in case of a chance the other way.  But, Teravainen is very defensive-minded and often spends some time at the end of practice working at the blue line. So, expect to see him near the top of the zone if that unit does take the ice with the man advantage.

The second unit had Jesperi Kotkaniemi jump in with Nino Niederreiter, Jordan Staal, Seth Jarvis and Maxime Lajoie. If you have a rabbit’s foot, get it out.

Line ‘em up…

As always, grain of salt, as Rod Brind’Amour is still searching for combinations that work throughout the forward group.

Teravainen-Aho-Necas

Niederreiter-Staal-Fast

Svechnikov-Trocheck-Jarvis

Martinook-Kotkaniemi-Lorentz

Slavin-Cole

Skjei-Chatfield

Smith-Lajoie

Andersen

Will the stars align?

Individual scoring troubles have been well-documented of late. Though his value to the team goes well beyond scoring, Jordan Staal has now gone 13 straight without a goal and has just 3 assists in that span. But, if there’s a team to bust this slump, it’s Dallas. The Stars are Staal’s Sweet Connie. He’s got 10 goals and 25 points in 26 career games against Dallas, including 5 markers and 10 points in the 8-game series a year ago.

Vincent Trocheck has also gone dry, pointless in his last 6 games and just 1 goal in his last 10. But, he hit Dallas for 8 points (2g, 6a) a year ago and has 17 points (4g, 13a) in 20 career games against the Stars.

Teuvo Teravainen, after scoring in each of the season’s first two games, has just 1 goal in the last 18 and just 4 assists in his last 9 games.

Seth Jarvis has gone four games without a goal, which for a 19-year old is far from alarming. But, he played just 10:19 against Washington on Sunday, by far his lowest TOI since his first two games in the NHL, and looked every bit the 19-year old for the first time this season.

Wanna bet...

Carolina: -105. O/U: 5.5 goals.

Coverage of the Hurricanes and Stars begins at 8:00 with Alec Campbell and Storm Watch on 99.9 the Fan. Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy are along with the live action starting just after 8:30. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. A new episode drops the #MorningAfter every Hurricanes game.