Recap: Canes Continue Hot Start, Top Canucks

The Carolina Hurricanes continued their hot start, defeating the Vancouver Canucks, 5-3, to win their third consecutive game.
Andrei Svechnikov recorded the game-winning goal for the second game in a row, as the Canes improve to 3-0-1 on the young season.
Here are five takeaways from tonight's game.

One
The Hurricanes keep scoring and they keep winning. The Canes have now scored 17 goals through their first four games of the season. That's the third-highest total through the first four games of a season in franchise history.
"I just like the aggressiveness of our team. We're utilizing our speed. We're a fast team, and we're actually playing that way, too. We're being aggressive and going after teams, creating turnovers. We've given up a few maybe more than in previous years, but when it comes down to the end of the game, we feel like we should be on top," Jordan Staal said. "It's been fun to play that way."
"We want to play that way offensively. That's the way we have to play," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We have good talent, and we have to use it to our advantage. Now we have to get better at the other end. I think there's a lot of room for improvement, which is a positive that we're still finding ways to get wins."

As Brind'Amour said, there's room for improvement, especially on the defensive side of the ice. The Hurricanes are playing an aggressive brand of hockey, but they don't want to completely compromise team defense.
The Canucks scored their first goal on a stretch pass, in which Sven Baertschi snuck behind the Canes' defense, deked and beat Curtis McElhinney. Vancouver's other two goals were both scored on the power play.
"It's a fine line. You don't want to give up chances, but you're also creating a lot of offense because you're giving up chances," Brind'Amour said. "We've just got to shore up the things that are costing us, that we're not getting any offense out of anyway, like giving up stretch passes, things like that and special teams."
Two
Once Sebastian Aho finally found the back of the net once in October, it was bound to happen again. After scoring his first goal of the season Friday night in Columbus - the first time in his now three-year career that he has scored in October - Aho tallied his second of the season in the first period to give the Canes a 3-1 lead. The play developed when Micheal Ferland drove the net and got a shot off. He then wheeled around the cage, corralled the loose puck and dished to Aho from short range in tight for the one-timer.

Aho now has points in each of his first four games of the season and leads the team in scoring with six points (2g, 4a).
"That kid's obviously a talent," Staal said. "He's starting to create even more and find the holes better. That line's been really good for us, as well."
Staal, just 43 seconds in, and Brett Pesce tallied goals for the Hurricanes in the first period before Aho stretched the team's lead to 3-1. Staal has three goals and five points in his first four games of the season.
Three
Andrei Svechnikov may be just 18 years old, but he's built to compete in the dirty areas of the NHL. Elias Pettersson, Vancouver's prized rookie selected fifth overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, learned firsthand the strength and skill of Svechnikov. Early in the second period, Jaccob Slavin put a shot on goal. Svechnikov drove the net and simultaneously knocked Pettersson to the ice and banged in the rebound, the hockey equivalent of dunking on someone.

That goal, the Canes' fourth of the game, proved to be the game-winner.
"He's getting better and better," Brind'Amour said. "There are still lots of little mistakes. More than anything, I think he just takes a little breath here and there, and you just can't in this league when you're out there. But he's finding his way."
Four
After a back-and-forth first two periods - the two teams combined for three goals in the first three minutes and change in the second period - things settled down a bit in the third period. The team pointed to this as their best 20-minute segment of the game.
"It was an interesting first couple of periods. We didn't have our best start, and even in the second we were a bit off with a few penalties that kind of slowed down the game," Staal said. "I thought the third period was our best period. We kind of took over the game. We had the lead and continued to bring it to them. That's been the way we want to play, to continue to go at teams even when we're up."
"It wasn't what we wanted at the start. There's a lot of room for improvement, but we're finding ways to win, which is even better," Brind'Amour said. "I thought our third period was the best when we were up a goal, so that's a positive sign."
Warren Foegele tallied the Canes' fifth goal in the third, as he finished a pass from Justin Williams in one-time fashion. Foegele has now recorded five goals in his first six NHL games.

"[Playing two games last season] was huge for my confidence, learning to be more poised and calmed. Last year, I was so nervous for that pregame skate, more even than the game. Coming into this year, I was more comfortable with some familiar faces," Foegele said. "The entire team is working hard right now, and we're seeing results."
"He's really a fun guy to play with. You know what you're going to get every night," Staal said. "He's just a moose out there, to be honest. He hounds the puck."
"He's done a great job," Brind'Amour said. "He's what we want in a Hurricane. A young kid who does it right every shift. He's getting rewarded right now for it."
Five
The Canes fine-tuned their victory celebration. The team still lined up on the right blue line and clapped in unison, but this time it was led by Micheal Ferland at center ice. The mad sprint down the ice then commenced, and the team leapt into the glass.

"They're fine-tuning it. … Ferls had a little issue with the beat," Brind'Amour said. "That's something they've created. Hopefully they can enjoy it and the fans can enjoy it."
Up Next
The Hurricanes will hit the road for three straight games, as they head north and west to Minnesota and Winnipeg before finishing the trip in Tampa Bay.