A Night of Firsts
The Hurricanes' second game was a night of firsts. First win as an NHL head coach for Rod Brind'Amour. First goals with the Hurricanes for Jordan Martinook and Micheal Ferland. First win with the Hurricanes for Curtis McElhinney. First NHL point for Andrei Svechnikov.
"I can't say enough of the guys," Brind'Amour said. "They're working hard."
After not denting the scoreboard until the last 95 seconds of regulation on Thursday, the Canes took a 1-0 lead in the first 120 seconds on Friday, as Svechnikov forced a turnover in the neutral zone, took the puck the other way and dished over to Martinook in the middle for the snap wrist shot that beat Sergei Bobrovsky high.
"It says a lot about the group. It was a tough loss last night. We probably deserved better, I think," Brind'Amour said after the game. "We expressed with the group that, if we keep that mindset of how we want to approach the game, we'll be all right."
Facing a team for which he played from 2013-17, McElhinney was sharp and made 31 saves to earn first-star honors.
"I've got a lot of former teams, unfortunately, now. It feels great. I think I played them three or four times when I was in Toronto and didn't get a single win against them," he said. "Just trying to make a good first impression for everybody, and it was nice that it was against a former team."
Aho Scores an October Goal
It took until his third NHL season, but Sebastian Aho finally found the back of the net in October. It took until game No. 14 in his rookie season and game No. 16 last year. This time around, it didn't even take five periods, as he banged in a backhander off a pass from Ferland in the second period of Friday's win.
"It's good for him. I wasn't even really aware. I didn't realize he hadn't scored in October," Brind'Amour said. "He was happy this morning. You could see it relieved a little pressure he probably had on himself."
PROJECTED LINEUP
After playing wing for much of his first two seasons in the NHL, Aho has shifted to the middle in his third year. Brind'Amour said the output has been a mixed bag thus far, but that's to be expected.
"What I like is he responded to what we asked. We said, 'Look, it's not good enough in our end and this and that,' and they're the line that came back and got us the goals and provided the offense for us," Brind'Amour said. "It's a tough position to play. People don't understand that, and that's why you take for granted the guys who are good at it. They cover a lot of ground. They're in the play all the time. He's got to figure it out a little bit."
The Opposition
The Hurricanes get the Rangers on the tail-end of a back-to-back. New York was bested by the Sabres, 3-1, on Saturday night in Buffalo, as they fall to 0-2-0 on the young season.
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS KEYS TO THE GAME
