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The Hurricanes will continue their eight-game homestand Tuesday night when the Central Division-leading Florida Panthers visit PNC Arena with two big points on the line.
Sebastian Aho, Brady Skjei and Rod Brind’Amour spoke with the media following Tuesday’s morning skate. Here’s a full breakdown of everything they had to say:
Rod Brind’Amour
On Brock McGinn: He’s not playing tonight. I’ll have more probably in the next day or two. They’re still kind of evaluating that. But he’s out for tonight.
On if Petr Mrazek and Alex Nedeljkovic are the team’s top two goalies: Nope. We’ve got three.
On if all three goalies will get starts going forward: Probably. Maybe. Tonight, no. We’ve got one guy going tonight and then we’ll figure it out tomorrow. You’re going to ask me this everyday, I’ll tell you the same, because I’ve got three guys that I’ve got to figure out how to work them in. I like all of them. Right now Petr’s got to get his game conditioning going so he can be get up to speed fully, feel good about everything. Obviously he played good the other night, but I’ve got to keep the other guys engaged too. It’s a bit of a challenge but it’s great to have. Great option.
Brady Skjei
On if he’s getting more comfortable: I think whenever you’re in a system and you spend some more time in it, you learn it more and understand it more. I think that I’ve been playing with a little more confidence with my abilities in that system the last few weeks. I feel like I’ve definitely learned more and try to contribute more whenever I can.
On if he expects a playoff-like intensity: I do, definitely. I think a lot of the games closing in on the end of the season here are going to be playoff intensity. We definitely had that the last two games. I think tonight and the following won’t be anything different than that.
On Florida: It seems like they’re all buying into a system and they’re not giving other teams much room. Their D are coming down the walls and keeping plays alive. And then obviously they have some high-end talent up front as well as on the back end. They’re playing well right now. They also play hard, which you need to do this time of year, so they’re a solid team and they’re playing well.
Sebastian Aho
On Florida playing without Aaron Ekblad: That doesn’t change what we’re doing one bit. You can’t really think about it. All we can think about is how we want to play and prepare ourselves for tonight’s game that’s about it.
On playoff-like intensity with Florida: I do expect that. They are one of the top teams in the league and they do it the right way. They’re a tough team to play against, so it’s going to be a fun night.
On Andrei Svechnikov: Obviously you want to do whatever you can to help your buddy out. Everyone knows how great of a player he is. That something happens. It happens to all of us. I’m not too worried about it, because I know his mentality is working hard. He wants to do it right and stuff like that. He’s still a great player to play with. I’m excited for tonight to play with him, and it’s another opportunity for us to play a good game.
On not getting power plays: The other night, there was no penalties either way, so that’s OK, playing 5 on 5. But obviously if you play PK the whole game and then you’re not getting power plays, that might be a little frustrating, but I haven’t seen that. I think it’s been more like less calls in general in those games. So that’s fine. We’re happy to play 5 on 5.
On Petr Mrazek: As we all saw, he was doing some good work on his time he wasn’t playing. That shows he’s a professional. He takes care of himself. He was ready from the first game and it’s great to have him back.