2024-04-24 10:00:00
Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho (20) congratulates forward Jake Guentzel (59) on the shootout goal won against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Raleigh
The final tally featured Jake Guentzel with a goal and an assist.
Nothing new for Guentzel, a proven point producer in the NHL, except that the forward did it for the first time for the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Guentzel’s goal Monday was a late empty netter and the Canes’ last of the game. His assist came on a nice pass to Teuvo Teravainen for the Canes’ first of the game, a much-needed power play goal after Carolina fell behind the New York Islanders 3-0 in Game 2 of their first-round series.
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The Canes won at PNC Arena with a comeback for the ages, scoring the tying and go-ahead goals in a nine-second burst late in the third period that had the arena on full tilt. They will head to Long Island with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series after the thrilling 5-3 win in Game 2.
“The way we responded and came back shows a lot of character and says a lot about this team,” Aho said.
The Hurricanes already had a lot of talent on this team before the NHL trade deadline in March. But they traded Guentzel to make an impact in the playoffs, breaking the team’s unwritten rule — passed down by owner Tom Dundon — to prevent them from acquiring a player at the trade deadline because of ‘ an unrestricted free agent. In other words, a “rent.”
Guentzel is a perfect fit
Guentzel played with Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh for several years and was a big part of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup run in 2017, putting up 13 goals in 25 games as a rookie. His trade to Carolina, after more than 500 games with the Pens, left Crosby visibly disheartened.
“We sat next to each other and played together,” Crosby told the Pittsburgh media. “Obviously, when you win a Stanley Cup, there’s always a unique bond when you do it together. Over the years there has definitely been a strong one there.”
Now Guentzel shares a line with Aho in the middle.
Asked about similarities to Crosby, Guentzel smiled.
“Yeah, they’re both incredible playmakers,” he said. “Sebastian plays 200 feet and he is so highly skilled. And he has a very good shot. It was also nice to play with him.”
Guentzel was the perfect fit with Aho and the Hurricanes. Again, perfect. His style of play and the Canes’ style immediately merged.
“It’s kind of a new situation in a way to get a player like him at the trade deadline,” Aho said in an R&D interview last week. “With him it’s quite natural. He is very smart. He fits well in our system. He plays the game the right way.
“I play the game pretty much the same way he does, so the chemistry was kind of there right away. He seemed very comfortable playing our game from day one. Smart guy that he is, he figured it out pretty quickly.”
Crosby could sense it too, even though he was now watching from afar.
“He’s got really good hockey sense and I think he can adapt to whatever game you want to play, whether it’s a tight test and you have to grind a little bit, or it’s up and down and you have to game plays out of the rush,” Crosby said in Pittsburgh. “He can adapt to any style. He seems to have settled in nicely.”
‘It was quite nice’
Don Waddell was counting on it. The Canes’ president and general manager believed he had his team just right and ready for a cup run after last year’s trade deadline. Then power forward Andrei Svechnikov tore an ACL.
“It was a big loss last year,” Waddell said. “It’s one of those things when you talk about things you learn. We didn’t add much at the deadline and then lost ‘Svech’ to injury.”
This year, Waddell made the big move for Guentzel just before the deadline, while also taking a calculated chance on center Evgeny Kuznetsov, the former All-Star and Cup winner with Washington who has been trying to overcome off-ice issues.
“We were looking to build our team with impact players who had success in the playoffs,” Waddell said.
In 58 career playoff games with the Penguins, Guentzel had 58 points. After Monday, he has two points in two games with Carolina. Make it 60 for 60.
Kuznetsov scored the Canes’ first goal of the 2024 playoffs – a power play in the 3-1 Game 1 win.
Aho, who players call “Fishy,” laughed when jokingly asked if Guentzel had made any reference or comment to him about being a lot like Crosby.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Aho said. “Sid is Sid. I don’t want to compare myself to him.
“It’s just with me and (Guentzel), we pretty much think the same about the game, so that helps. It was fast. And it was quite nice.”
Injury Update
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday he had no further information on defenseman Brett Pesce, who suffered a lower-body injury in the second period of Game 2.
While it’s possible that Pesce could be replaced by Tony DeAngelo in Game 3, Brind’Amour said, “We’ll reevaluate in the next few days. We will find out more about ‘Pesh’ (Tuesday). I think we’re in wait-and-see mode now.”
Forward Jesper Fast missed the first two playoff games with a neck strain. Brind’Amour said Fast won’t play Game 3 unless he can practice Wednesday before the team leaves for Long Island.
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