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The Carolina Hurricanes got a much-needed win on home ice Tuesday night, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in a high-intensity contest.
The Canes took advantage of their power-play opportunities for the win, something they haven’t done much of lately, as both Martin Necas and Tony DeAngelo scored with the man advantage.
Sebastian Aho had the other goal for the Canes, who also got a great performance in net from Frederik Andersen. In a 27-save effort, Andersen outdueled Andrei Vasilevskiy in the other net.
Following the win, Canes’ head coach Rod Brind’Amour, DeAngelo, Andersen and Necas spoke with members of the media.
Here is what they had to say:
Rod Brind’Amour
On the relief of the win: Yeah, you always want to win. To me, that game was the same. Four of our last five games looked exactly the same, we just didn’t get the result. We played really hard. We do pretty much every night. And we were able to cash in on the power play, which was the difference. We hadn’t been doing that the last few games. It felt the same. It had the same feel. Obviously, you needed two points.
On Andersen making hard saves look easy: They both played really good games. I think we had a few better opportunities, but when they had theirs Freddie was there. That’s what good goaltending can do for you. It calms the game and allows you to keep playing your game.
On what was going on in his mind at the end of the game: First of all, I didn’t understand how we could get a penalty there at the end on the 4-on-4. It’s ‘well oh, take two guys off.’ But there’s no penalty there. So now, essentially what you’re doing is giving them a power play because they’re going to pull their goalie. And the worst part is you can’t ice it because it’s icing. The game is over at 3-1 with two and a half minutes. It felt like we were going, and then all of a sudden it’s a phantom call. Jordan [Staal] didn’t do anything. So they take the other guy off, and now it’s a power play. That’s what was frustrating to me. And it led to all of the chaos that went on after. It’s a little bit frustrating there. You’re referring probably more to the incident. I don’t know what to say about all that. It’s boys being boys, really.
On if the stuff at the end was message sending from Tampa: Yeah, I didn’t know what happened after. I don’t know. We’re about trying to win games. That’s the message. I don’t know anything else. I don’t know what they would say about it. It was a good game.
On if there’s concern when both teams face off like that after a game: No. The guys know. At that point, it’s a lot of phony toughness going on there. Everyone is smart enough to know that if you do anything there you’re going to get a huge suspension. I didn’t see what happened to cause it, so I can’t comment.
On needing Jarvis and Necas and on their good games: We’re going to need everybody. We’re built where we need everyone to contribute, and those guys are big parts of it. Everybody had good games. It’s hard to find anyone who didn’t have a good game tonight. Some guys were really good, but most everyone was good.
On Jarvis’ evolution: He’s getting better and better, and you can see that he’s out there more and more because he’s figuring these little things out. That’s the game. Just knowing how to play and when you have opportunities to take chances and when not to. That’s what young guys have got to learn.
Tony DeAngelo
On what happened at the end of the game: I don’t know. I didn’t see it. Kucherov maybe came out and gave a shot, somebody maybe said something. It’s no big deal. Everybody just kind of came out there and stared at each other for a little bit. It’s all good.
On if he thought he scored the second goal: I think [Vincent Trocheck] got it. It looked like it redirected right down. I guess they’ve got to go back and look at it. I don’t know. I heard they changed it, but I hope [Trocheck] got it.
On the power play: The power play was good. I thought we had good entries. We moved it around good. Like I said a couple days ago, it hasn’t been bad. We’ve been moving it around. We’ve had a million of those chances in the last 15 or 16 power plays, they just haven’t gone in. When you’re playing a team like Tampa those need to go in, and they did tonight. So, that’s good.
On his timing coming back from injury: What do you think? I feel pretty good. I skated pretty hard. I was able to skate quicker than I was able to do anything else. And you’re in such good shape as the season goes along, so it’s not as hard to get back into it. So, I feel fine.
On being able to exhale now that it’s past the trade deadline and they know who the group is: Yeah, and we loved our group as is. And we add a guy like Max [Domi], who is obviously a really good buddy of mine and a really good player in this league for a long time now. It just gives us a little more jolt. Every top contender added somebody, and we did as well. We like the group we had, as well. We’re a real confident group. We’re tight, and you don’t want to mess that up too much. We added a good player like Max, who is a great guy, and it’ll be good for our group.
On what Domi brings to the team: He’s got big-time speed. He shoots. He makes a lot of plays. If you look back at his seasons, he has a season where he scores 28 goals and a season where he has 40 assists. He can do a little bit of both. He’s feisty. He’s tough. He plays hard. He finishes checks. Getting to play under [Brind’Amour] and getting to play for a contender and a team that’s going to the playoffs is going to reenergize him a bit. It was time for him to leave Columbus, and this was a perfect spot for him to come in my opinion. I can’t wait to see him play with these guys.
On Andersen’s night: In our opinion, Freddie has been the best goalie in the league this year. The guys in New York probably say the same thing about Igor [Shesterkin]. The guys in Tampa say the same thing about [Vasilevskiy]. But there’s nobody we’d rather have in net than Freddie right now. He’s been unbelievable.
Frederik Andersen
On starting the stretch run of the season with a good win: Yeah, I think so. I don’t know if there’s an actual day on the calendar that marks that, but we’re getting closer. We’re still focusing on the day to day.
On if it gives him a little more juice to face a guy like Vasilevskiy: I mean, every goalie in the league can play — like you saw the other night — play a really good game. You never know what you’re going to get, so you’ve got to go in thinking about stopping the next shot. I think worrying too much about the other end can lead to some trouble. But of course it feels good to beat their team. They’re a good squad. We’ve been playing really good lately, and tonight we were more rewarded.
On how he felt: I felt good. Just try to be present and not get too far ahead of myself. I know we’ve wanted to come away with some more wins lately, but we’ve played really well and it just hasn’t gone our way.
On if it’s tough to refocus after having a misplayed puck early in a game: No, I think you just try to take the next shot.
On if he ever thinks about shooting on the empty net: Yeah, of course. I think if the chance is there, I’d love to get one. Today was not the right play to do it. I was trying to get [Aho] there, and I obviously missed the skate. But yeah, especially with a two-goal lead, why not?
On the animosity between the two teams: Yeah, I don’t know what was going on. I don’t know what the guys were saying. I think the atmosphere today probably brought it out a little bit extra. Guys are intense. That crowd is so cool to play in front of. And yeah, I think guys maybe get a little more tempered.
Martin Necas
On what happened at the end of the game: I don’t even know. I think [Aho] got hit by Kucherov and just didn’t like the call. I didn’t take a look at the replay to see how it ended. They were just a little frustrated that they lost, so.
On his success against Vasilevskiy: I don’t know. It would be nice if they would keep coming, especially against him. I don’t even know. I think it’s more coincidence that it’s against him.
On if there’s relief being past the trade deadline: No, not really. If something happens, there’s nothing I can do about it. Our job is to work on the ice. I don’t really think about it. We got Max Domi. I think he’s a great player who will help us. Nothing really changes.
On the difference in this game: I feel like the first period wasn’t great. I feel like we played really well against the Rangers, but sometimes the puck just doesn’t go in. We didn’t have any lucky bounces and stuff like that. In the second period we played way better. We played our game, and it worked out.
On the intensity of the game: Yeah, of course. There’s a good chance that you can play against these guys in the playoffs. It was a good game. Good atmosphere as well. We still have around 20 games to go, so we’ve just got to try get on a streak again and get ready for the playoffs.
On if he picks a spot or if he’s just trying to get pucks on net: It depends. If you have a clear shot, then you take a look at the goalie and if there’s players trying to block the shot. Sometimes I feel like it’s even better if you just shoot it as quick as you can because the goalie cannot read you as well. It depends.
On if he was just shooting as quick as he could on his goal: Yeah, I tried to shoot kind of far side. I don’t even know where it went, I haven’t seen a replay of the goal. I’m happy for that.
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