So far, so good for the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2018 preseason. A night after a 4-1 win in Tampa Bay, the Canes beat the Lightning 6-1 at PNC Arena Wednesday.
The Canes got goals from forwards Janne Kuokkanen, Michael Ferland, Martin Necas and Julien Gauthier defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Dougie Hamilton. Kuokkanen (one goal, two assists) and forward Justin Williams (three assists) both had three-point nights.
The Canes (2-0 preseason) used an aggressive offensive attack, forecheck and proficient power play (3 for 6) to rout the Lightning (0-2 preseason).
“The puck’s going in,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’ve had some pretty good puck movement. We’ve done some things not so well; we gave up a couple shorthanded chances which I don’t like to see. I don’t put a lot of weight on preseason … It’s a process. We’ve got to make sure we’re doing things right. They don’t have their penalty killers in either. It’s a whole different ball of wax when the season starts. We’ve got to make sure we’re doing the little things right. That’ll hopefully move over into the regular season.”
The Canes struck first in this one with a power-play tally, as Williams dangled down the right side and fed a perfect pass across to Kuokkanen, who tapped it in for the 1-0 lead.
“I just tried to skate backdoor,” Kuokkanen said. “[Williams] got a good pass there and I got an easy shot to score.”
The Lightning had a golden chance to tie the game early in the second with four minutes of power-play time, including 28 seconds of a two-man advantage, but the Canes’ penalty killers were up to the task.
“There was a point where we had the 5-on-3, if they score there it’s just a different game,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s when you need a save. We got them and got them and got some big efforts killing the penalties.”
Scott Darling played about half the game in net for the Canes, and stopped all 16 shots he faced while being called upon to make several sharp saves. Darling looked to build confidence as the game went along.
“I felt good; I felt confident,” Darling said. “My cardio was better. Overall, I just felt sharp.”
Hamilton doubled the Canes’ lead late in the second, beating Lighting goalie Martin Ouellette with a clapper from the left circle. The Canes made it 3-0 with 24 seconds left in the middle frame, as defenseman Justin Faulk launched a shot from the blueline that Necas tipped in.
“That’s obviously big,” Brind’Amour said. “We need our D to contribute offensively. Dougie’s known for that.”
The Lightning got on the board less than a minute into the third, as forward Boris Katchouk tapped one in to a wide-open net to make it 3-1.
Ferland restored a 4-1 lead for Carolina with a power-play goal with about nine minutes to go, slamming home the rebound of a Kuokkanen shot from the right circle. Gauthier made it 5-1 with a shot over Ouelette’s glove from the left circle with 5:49 to play, and Slavin capped the scoring with a power-play wrister with less than three minutes to play.
The Canes will continue their preseason schedule with another home game against the Washington Capitals Friday night.
