Gold: Canes host Coyotes in Sunday matinee
Posted October 31, 2021 11:02 a.m. EDT
Updated October 31, 2021 11:14 a.m. EDT
And then there was one.
The Carolina Hurricanes are the lone unbeaten team in the National Hockey League at 7-0-0. The Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers in a shootout Saturday night, snapping the Panthers’ winning streak at 8 and “dropping” them to 8-0-1 in their first nine games.
The Canes will go for their 8th straight win this afternoon against the Arizona Coyotes who -- like the Chicago Blackhawks -- is seeking their 1st win of the season. The Coyotes played reasonably well Friday night in a 2-0 loss in Washington, but at 0-7-1 and with a league-worst -25 goal differential, the odds favor Carolina going to 8-0-0.
However, as this isn’t a test of likely outcomes but one of speed, skill and strength, the Hurricanes will still have to go out onto the PNC Arena ice and earn those two points. And, they’ll do so with a new face in the line up.
Seth Jarvis has entered the chat for the Canes.
Yes, people. Jarvis, the 13th overall pick in the 2020 draft, will make his NHL debut this afternoon, in large part because of the lower body injury to Nino Niederreiter. Nino appeared to have injured his right foot in the 3rd period of the Hurricanes 6-3 win over Chicago on Friday night, and will be sidelined indefinitely.
Jarvis comes with an impressive body of work for a 19 year old. He punched home 42 goals and 98 points in 58 games for the Portland Winterhawks in his draft year. Then, before the WHL began their season, Jarvis was allowed to play until he had to return to junior hockey. All he did was score 7 goals in 9 games for Chicago and looked very much like a player who was not going to spend a lot of time below the NHL.
In spite of not registering a point in the preseason, Jarvis made an impression on head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “He looks like he belongs in this league”, Brind’Amour said after the Canes fell to Nashville in overtime. “He doesn’t look out of place.”
How long Jarvis stays depends on a couple of factors. How long Niederreiter will be sidelined and how Seth performs. As there won’t be a morning skate, we won’t have an idea where in the line up Seth will slot. But, since he’s a highly skilled, scoring threat, I would guess that it will be in Carolina’s top three lines.
Either way, one of the top prospects in the NHL is drawing into the lineup, adding even more firepower to a group averaging almost 4 ½ goals per game.
Freddie Andersen and his 1.33 GAA/.956 SV% will man the crease for the 7th time in Carolina’s first eight games.
To say that the Coyotes are a team in transition would almost be doing a disservice to the word. Gone from last year are head coach Rick Tocchet, half of the club’s top ten scorers -- including Conor Garland and Christian Dvorak -- two of their top defensemen and 55 of a possible 56 starts in goal.
The growing pains are evident. Arizona has yielded a league-high 37 goals, 11 of them while shorthanded and have gone just 2 for 22 on the power play. The ‘Yotes are -11 at 5-on-5 while Carolina is a +14 with the full compliment of players on the ice. Arizona has also gotten behind early and that hasn’t helped a team with limited catch up ability. They’ve been outscored 24-5 in the first two periods, including 15-2 in the second.
Clayton Keller (3) and Lawson Crouse (2) are the only Coyotes with more than one goal on the season. Carolina has nine with multiple goals, four with at least three. Andrei Svechnikov leads the team with 7 goals and 11 points. Sebastian Aho has 5 goals and 10 points. Each have gotten at least one scoring point in every Canes game this year.
Carolina has won 10 of the last 13 games (10-1-2) against Arizona.
Coverage on 99.9 the Fan begins at 12:30 with Storm Watch starring Alec Campbell. Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy have all the action starting at 1:00. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. A fresh edition drops after every Hurricanes game.
