The Little Things: Brind'Amour's Tweaks Paying Dividends

RALEIGH, NC - This time last week the Canes were 2-0-0, coming off of opening week victories over a New York Islanders team that's projected to be a serious Stanley Cup contender and the Nashville Predators, who have made the playoffs in seven straight seasons.

Yet despite their wins, Monday morning at practice Rod Brind'Amour shuffled around two of his forward lines, moving two of the team's studs in effort to find more chemistry amongst his forward pieces.
More chemistry? After scoring nine goals in the first two games?
Sounds like there would be plenty to be happy about, doesn't it?
While the Canes matched their exact output again this week by scoring nine goals in two games, it was how the offense came that made the head coach's adjustments feel as if there was more value in these nine.
The club got their first two victories without score sheet contributions from Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who was skating on the left wing of Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas. Brind'Amour, obviously cognizant that Kotkaniemi can be a big factor for the club when contributing, then flip-flopped Necas with Teuvo Teravainen on the wing opposite of Kotkaniemi to see if the three Finns would have some furthered chemistry. The result? Two of the team's four goals at Centre Bell Thursday night coming from the Kotkaniemi-Aho-Teravainen group, including one of which the team's new #82 tipped to the back of the net - the product of a lengthy shift of zone time for his trio. Saturday night in Columbus? A point for all three as well.

They weren't lights out, game-dominating performances from Kotkaniemi, but Brind'Amour wasn't looking for him to go from 0-to-100 with one swift change in linemates. It was just about starting the production and getting Kotkaniemi going.
As for the newly formed trio of Andrei Svechnikov-Vincent Trocheck-Martin Necas? A combined four points in Montreal, which featured an even strength goal that the three contributed on. Saturday? Five points for the batch, which does not include what looked like a sure-fire Necas goal that he was robbed upon by Joonas Korpisalo.

Surely changes in linemates throughout the season are going to transpire, but the reigning Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year) winner is once again proving why he is exactly that.
You'd have to imagine that most teams aren't trying to get more out of their team when earning two victories to start the season, especially with an average of over four goals per game. "If it's not broke, don't fix it" is an easy fallback and Brind'Amour has found the perfect hybrid between trying to sharpen his tools and knowing when to go with what he's got thus far.
"I appreciate that, but I'm not sure I can take a lot of credit on that one," Brind'Amour said, quickly deflecting attention when asked regarding the tweaks of his roster. "We've got some skilled players for sure and trying to figure out where they fit best is going to be an ongoing process for a while. As long as we work hard at it, good things should come with the group we have."
After the aforementioned production from the Aho and Trocheck lines, Jesper Fast having three goals in four games and Jordan Staal having four points in four games gives us reason to believe that the Canes busy week ahead will begin with at least three lines still in tact.
"Guys are playing well, understanding their roles and what's expected of them," Staal said of the team's offense through four games. "All throughout the lineup everyone is bought in and understands the speed we want to play at."
Armed with 18 goals in four games, the Canes now begin a home stand that covers four games in seven days at PNC Arena. Starting tomorrow against Toronto, the team will also see Boston on Thursday, Chicago on Friday and then Arizona to round things out Sunday afternoon.
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