They Said It: Brind’Amour, DeAngelo, Fast, Aho discuss big win over Rangers

The Carolina Hurricanes are a goal-scoring machine.

The Canes scored six (or more) goals for the fifth time in seven games in 2022 Friday night, beating the New York Rangers 6-3 in a battle of the top of the Metro.

Carolina came out of the gate on fire, getting first-period goals from Vincent Trocheck and Seth Jarvis. Jesper Fast, Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter scored in the second period, while Tony DeAngelo, who also had two assists, made it 6-3 in the waning minutes of the third.

Following the commanding win over New York, Canes’ head coach Rod Brind’Amour

Rod Brind’Amour

On why the Canes have gotten off to such good starts in the last two games and on if these last two games against great teams have sent a message: There’s no message being sent, that’s for sure. On the starts, we try to start that way every game. Both teams do. There’s not one thing you can say. I think it just comes down to getting to that game and everyone being ready to go. With 82 games, it’s hard for that to happen. It just is. These last couple games for sure we’ve been on our game right away. And it’s paid off. It doesn’t always pay off. I’ve seen a ton of games where we’re on our game but don’t capitalize, and it’s 0-0 after one but we’ve had a great period. You’re not going to dominate three periods in the NHL. It’s really hard to do. It was nice to see us get ahead and get the win.

On if he can believe it’s been 400 games for Aho and on what he means in games like this against good teams: For me it’s been great to see him come through as a young kid and see his game mature and him mature as a person. His evolution as a player has been great. He wants to be one of the best players in the game. He knows there’s a certain way you have to play every night to get in that category and get talked about. I think that’s one of his individual goals.

On Aho getting it done in a number of ways: Again, when you’re talking about wanting to be that kind of player and leader for your team, that’s what you’ve got to do. Games aren’t always going to be one way or another way. If you can adapt and play that kind of game, maybe tonight you’ve got to win 1-0 and you’ve got to get in front and bang one in. You can do. Or we can make a skill play up the ice on the rush. He understands that that’s the complete game and what kind of player he wants to be.

On Svechnikov getting his 100th assist: He’s another young kid that has been great for me to watch him grow as a player. He’s a super intelligent hockey player with the puck. Everyone talks about his power forward game, but his ability to pass the puck is elite as well. He sees the ice really well. That goal tonight was a perfect example of it. His game is maturing too, and I think he still has another level that he’s working to get to.

On if he could pinpoint one thing from this game that he wants the team to do again Saturday what would it be: You’re always hoping to get off to these starts. It certainly makes your life easier. Every coach says the same thing, but that would be the recipe.

On if Teravainen’s absence in the third period was precautionary: He got dinged up there and couldn’t go. I’m not sure his status at this point.

On who will start in goal Saturday: We’ll assess that now. We’ve got a lot of options now, so that’s good. We haven’t made that determination yet.

Tony DeAngelo

On how special this night was: It was nice. It was very nice. I played there for a while. There’s no hard feelings with the players, we know that. But it was nice to put on that type of performance. I thought our team played great. Like I said before the game, we were battling for first place. We are right back to where we need to be and we’ve got some games in hand, so that’s what we needed to do.

On if he feels like they sent a message this week with two dominant performances against playoff teams: I don’t know if I’d say we sent a message. We don’t want to talk like that because it’s a long season. But we know what kind of team we have. I think we proved it the last couple games. But these are real good teams, too, with a lot of firepower. You’ve got to bring it every night. When you get in the playoffs it’s a seven-game series. The firepower that the Bruins have, the Rangers have, many other teams have in the conference, we’ve just got to keep playing the same way. When we do, we’re confident in what we are doing.

On what the difference was between the two teams: I thought we carried the play early. They had a real good push during the third. They make plays. They’re going to get chances. I thought in the first two periods we played really well. We created a lot. Our forwards were playing really well down low, controlling the puck and getting lots of chances. We were screening in front of them, got a couple of rebound goals and tip goals. That’s our game. The first two periods especially we had it going to a T there. It was a nice job.

On the traveling fans and the atmosphere in the building: They travel well. I actually knew a big group of people, a big fan club that are really good people, that came down. It was good. They made the game exciting. Obviously I would like to have a little more of our fans there. I know there was snow and stuff and there’s a lot of New York people are down here. But our fans pack the place.

On what he’s learned about Aho while playing with him: He’s in the back right now, so I don’t want to pump his tires too much. But no, he’s a superstar player in the league, and there’s only so many that we have. We’re fortunate to have one. It was his 400th game tonight, and he’s only 24. The numbers he has and what he does on the ice, he can play against anybody and is better than anybody on most nights. He’s a special player we have, and we’re lucky to have him.

On if he thinks it’ll be a special thing for him every time he plays the Rangers: The six of us the first time we go back to the Garden, I think [Antti Raanta] has been before, but it’ll be exciting to get back to the Garden. We had a lot of good memories there. I’m sure I’m speaking on behalf of them, and I think I can there. But tonight was a hockey game. It’s obviously exciting to play them, but I have a lot of good buddies over there. It’s not like there’s hard feelings and you hate them or anything. It’s just guys being competitive. You just want to win. That’s what we did. We’re just looking to win games.

Jesper Fast

On playing the Rangers and scoring and on how exciting that was: Yeah, of course. It’s a game that I’ve been looking forward to even though it’s been almost a year and a half since I was there. Of course I was very excited, and it’s a fun game to play. Great game for us.

On getting this performance in the first game of a back-to-back: When you look at the standings, we knew they were ahead of us at the moment, even though they have more games. We wanted to make sure we played the right way and send a little message there. But it’s the first of two games coming up, and it was a great start.

On if DeAngelo has answered the questions about him coming into the season: Absolutely. I knew what player he was coming here. He’s been doing exactly what I thought he would do. He’s such a good player on the ice. He skates well. The hockey IQ he has is one of the best of the league, in my opinion. He’s been really important for us, and he’s a big part of our team.

Sebastian Aho

On DeAngelo: He was great. Overall a great player. Great guy off the ice. Funny guy in the locker room. Keeps things light. He’s a perfect fit for us. Especially on the power play, he’s a sneaky guy and can see the plays. Obviously you can see he can shoot as well. He’s a great player for us.

On these past two games: Both games we had good starts. We definitely were ready to play. We were executing our game plan. We weren’t waiting out there for what was going to happen. We were driving the bus early on and got the lead in both games and built on that. You try to do that every night, but it’s easier said than done. But definitely good starts in both games.

On if he’s surprised it’s already been 400 games: They come one at a time, but time flies I guess. It’s already my sixth year here, and it feels like I just got here. It reminds me that you’ve just got to enjoy every day and live in the moment.

On not getting distracted after the hit on Teuvo Teravainen: It was huge. We definitely didn’t let that distract us too much from our own game plan. We keep putting the hammer down and even more play our game, play simple. It worked, obviously. We played quite well at the end of the second period. It was a good response by us.