Hurricanes on roll in playoffs despite top line being stuck in neutral

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Seth Jarvis is confident his line’s time is coming.

Though the Carolina Hurricanes have rolled through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs without losing a game, their top line of Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Jarvis has yet to produce a 5-on-5 goal together. They know that will likely have to change in the Eastern Conference Final for Carolina to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since winning the Cup in 2006.

“I think we're all big-game players and that's something that we pride ourselves on,” Jarvis said Friday. “So as the playoffs get tighter and you get deeper into it, I think that's when we can come and really make an impact on this run. 

“And that's kind of our plan.”

The Hurricanes are waiting to find out whether they will face the Montreal Canadiens or the Buffalo Sabres in the conference final. Montreal leads Buffalo 3-2 in their second-round series and can close it out with a win in Game 6 at Bell Centre on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ABC), which would set the start of conference final for Tuesday at Carolina. If Buffalo wins Saturday to force Game 7 in that series on Monday, the conference final will begin Thursday at Carolina.

In the meantime, the Hurricanes are trying to stay sharp, fine tune the things they did well in sweeping the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in the first two rounds, and work on the areas of their game that need improvement. Carolina has given up only 10 total goals -- not more than two in any game -- during its 8-0 start this postseason, but believes it has room for improvement, particularly offensively.

The line of Taylor Hall (12 points; three goals, nine assists), Logan Stankoven (eight points; seven goals, one assist) and Jackson Blake (11 points; four goals, seven assists) has driven the offense so far. Svechnikov (three points; one goal, two assists), Aho (four points; three goals, one assist) and Jarvis (four points; one goal, three assists) drew the tougher assignments playing against the Senators’ and Flyers’ top lines and limited them to one goal 5-on-5 -- in a 3-2 double overtime win in Game 2 against Ottawa -- but have yet to find their scoring groove.

Svechnikov’s lone goal came on the power play. Two of Aho’s three goals were empty-netters and the other came seconds after a penalty kill ended. Jarvis’ lone goal came when he was temporarily shifted to the third line with Nikolaj Ehlers and Jordan Staal in Game 2 against the Flyers. 

“The last couple games of the Ottawa series and then into the Philadelphia series, I thought our line created a lot of chances, and we're all just a little bit snakebitten right now,” Jarvis said. “But I think as long as the chances are coming, that means we're doing something right. And as long as the defensive part of our game doesn't lack in any way, I like where we're at.”

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour has stressed how well the line has played defensively, playing essentially even against Tim Stutzle’s line for the Senators and Trevor Zegras’ line for the Flyers at 5-on-5.

“If they scored 15 goals and gave up 15, that’s the same thing,” he said.

But Brind’Amour also said he believes it’s only a matter of time before Svechnikov, Aho and Jarvis start scoring.

“I love that we can be sitting in this situation that we are and we know those guys are going to get going offensively,” Brind’Amour said. “The fact that they recognize that they have another level is important, but also that they have played well. I want to make sure that’s clear; they have played well. So nobody’s satisfied here.”

Aho led the Hurricanes with 80 points (27 goals, 53 assists) in 79 games during the regular season. Svechnikov was third with 70 points (31 goals, 39 assists) in 79 games and Jarvis was fourth with 66 points (32 goals, 34 assists) in 71 games. Jarvis led Carolina in goals during the regular season, Svechnikov was second and Aho was third.

If it is frustrating the goals haven’t come as easily in the playoffs, Aho said it remains important they not let up on the defensive side. 

“That can't change,” Aho said. “It's just the effort factor and you don't want to give the other team much. You’ve just got to grind away and wait for your opportunities.”

Despite their difficult matchups, Svechnikov, Aho and Jarvis have a 31-30 edge in shots on goal and 85-70 advantage in shot attempts during 5-on-5 play this postseason, according to NHL Stats. Svechnikov’s nine high-danger shots on goal are third most on the Hurricanes behind Stankoven’s 13 and Hall’s 12, according to NHL EDGE, but Aho and Jarvis each has only three high-danger shots.

So they’ll probably need to generate more, whichever team the Hurricanes face next. Aho said number that matters most, though, is their win total. 

After victories in eight games so far this postseason, Carolina needs eight more to win the Stanley Cup.

“That’s a simple stat,” Aho said. “It's not more important. The only thing that’s important is winning these games. I've had some games maybe in the past when I've had success and we lose, and it doesn't matter. I know that we're going to need all of us to do our best, but I really don't think about that stuff. 

“You’re here to win.”