They Said It: Brind’Amour, Stepan, Slavin, Jarvis talk Canes’ big win in Boston

Wow.

The Carolina Hurricanes had a mightily impressive win Tuesday night in Boston, dominating the Bruins from start to finish on the way to a 7-1 route in the TD Garden.

The Canes, who have now scored seven goals in both of their road games in 2022, piled it on from the start, scoring five goals in the opening period to jump out to the big early lead.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored two of those first-period goals, with Teuvo Teravainen, Derek Stepan and Seth Jarvis scoring the others. Jaccob Slavin and Andrei Svechnikov added goals in the third period, as the Hurricanes put a beating on the Bruins.

Six different players had multi-point games for the Canes, led by three points a piece from Slavin and defensive partner Tony DeAngelo.

Following the massive win, head coach Rod Brind’Amour, Stepan, Slavin and Jarvis spoke with members of the media via Zoom.

Here is what they had to say:

Rod Brind’Amour

On if he is no longer surprised by what Jaccob Slavin can do: No. I think you get to a point where you just expect it. I mentioned it this morning that you kind of take for granted what he can do. He’d been out for a few days there and wasn’t able to do anything, but it doesn’t look like he missed a beat. Special player, special person. It’s great to have him.

On killing off the five-on-three in the middle frame: It’s tough… it’s not tough, I’ll take being up 5-1 any day, but you’re just trying to get through it and not have that happen. Where you give them any type of momentum. Obviously on a five-on-three. Guys came up big, did a great job on that. It kind of, I don’t want to say put the game away, but it certainly made it a lot easier.

On the common denominator in the first period success being going to the net: Obviously, that’s where the puck has to go to get in the net, but I think there was a purpose in what we were trying to do. Listen, we scored on our chances. It doesn’t happen a lot. A lot of the time, you’ll have that exact same period and be down 1-0. It’s just the way it works. We were able to capitalize and everything we did seemed to go in the net, which was nice. We’ll take it for sure because it doesn’t happen very often.

On how much easier Jaccob Slavin makes his job: I’ve got to come up with some new words to describe him or his impact on our team because he does everything. You get him out there to defend against the best players, okay, check. You want him to score and provide offense and he can do that too. And then you need him to log a lot of minutes and he can do that. Every situation he can do. Check, check, check.

On having one of their best games in response to one of their worst just a few days ago: I think we made more of that when we came back in the last one and played pretty well. You’re going to have one of these nights every once in a while where everything we shoot goes in. It happened against us against Columbus where every chance we gave up was all of a sudden in the net. It happens. It’s rare, but it happens. I think the response really from me was the next game we played. This was just a good follow up. Continued to play, looked a little more in rhythm. Getting more into a flow. Obviously, I loved the result.

Derek Stepan

On the exchange today between Vincent Trocheck and Brad Marchand and on if that fired them up a little bit: No. I think our mindset coming into the game was in the right spot in the beginning. I don’t think any of that stuff added to the fire at all.

On if this was the most complete game they’ve played: I think we had some early on, too, but this was one of the good ones right from the start of the game. We did the things we wanted to. That’s what we need on a consistent basis. Nothing changes going into the next one.

On getting to the front of the net: I think every single night it’s important to be there. When you look around the league, that’s where the goals are scored. It takes hard work to get there, but a lot of times when you do you get rewarded.

Jaccob Slavin

On not having any rust: It’s easy when the team plays that well to step back into it and play simple and the way that I can play. Use my strengths and let guys do the work. It was an easy game to come back to with how hard the guys competed.

On the fast start: We’ve had some rough starts this year, especially the past little bit. A lot of our focus has been on making sure we’re getting off to a good start and not getting behind in games. Everyone’s mindset was that way going into it. Guys are keeping it simple but working hard. I think a perfect example is the Stepan goal with [Jordan Martinook] going hard on the forecheck, winning the puck battle and Stepan being there. That speaks volumes to how hard our forwards work and our mindset as a team.

On the penalty kill bouncing back after finally giving up a goal: The penalty kill is something we take pride in. Obviously we’ve got great forwards who are smart and can kill with great sticks and good reads. As a D corps, it’s definitely something we take pride in. We need to do a job whenever we go a man down. And obviously you can’t have a good kill without a good goaltender, and Freddie plays a huge part in that too. Freddie and [Antti Raanta]. That’s huge to be able to have someone back there in the crease that if there are breakdowns, he has our back. It’s something we take pride in.

On having Tony DeAngelo on the blue line this year contributing offensively: It’s awesome. Obviously we had Dougie [Hamilton] last year, and Dougie was that guy that got a lot of points. [DeAngelo] has stepped in and done a great job. He’s an awesome player. It’s great to have that point production from the back end. And obviously [DeAngelo] and I have been playing great together and are continuing to build that chemistry together. But it’s awesome. Giving him the puck is never a bad option.

On his offensive production this season and on if there’s anything he’s doing differently: I went down five in my flex I guess, if you want to say that. But no, nothing too crazy. I’m just trying to shoot a little bit more, but also just trying to find open guys and find those passing lanes. I’m just trying to keep it simple for the most part by getting pucks to the net.

On how special this night was with the Willie O’Ree ceremony and big win: It’s a special night. Obviously the ceremony was beautiful, and it’s awesome for Willie to have his number up in the rafters. That’s huge for the league, huge for the Boston organization. But as a team for us to go out and play the way we did was huge. It’s another two points, and we’ve just got to keep chugging along.

Seth Jarvis

On if it’s hard to stick with their game when they’re up so much: I think it could be, but we have such great leaders on the ice and [Brind’Amour] behind the bench, and he’s not letting that slide. He came in after the first and obviously you could be relaxed, laid back about having a 5-1 lead, but he came in and told us to forget about the period and that we had another one to go after. Obviously in this league you can’t really take a breath because every team can score and get back in that game. But our leaders on the ice and behind the bench really keep us in check.

On using his speed to score and on getting contributions throughout the lineup; That’s the key to winning, being able to get contributions from every line and even the D-men. Our D-men played a great game today, and so did every line. We all contributed in different ways. And yeah, I guess racing [Steven Lorentz] got me prepared for that one.

On the exchange today between Vincent Trocheck and Brad Marchand and on if that fired them up a little bit: I didn’t. I heard guys talking about it, but I didn’t really care. We have a job to do. I love [Trocheck] and the way he plays and carries himself. So, I’m gonna back him regardless.

On playing hard for 60 minutes and on how hard that makes it on other teams: It’s just about kind of killing their hope. I think when you play that consistent hard game from the first puck drop to the final buzzer, I think throughout the game it just kind of wears on them. At some point they say ‘uncle,’ and that’s when you really pour it on them.

On Slavin’s abilities: I’m gonna be honest, before I got to Carolina I had never really watched too many Hurricanes games. It’s tough to watch on the west coast. He is criminally underrated. He is so good. Everyone is lucky to watch him on a daily basis, especially our fans. He’s special. He’s a special player. He’s someone that really drives our team from the back end.