Svechnikov, Gostisbehere, and Staal ignite a furious comeback, scoring three in the final two minutes for a thrilling 5-4 victory.
The Carolina Hurricanes snatched victory out of the tusks of defeat Thursday night at Lenovo Center as the Canes scored three goals in the final two minutes of the game, winning 5-4 in regulation over the Utah Mammoth.
Andrei Svechnikov and Shayne Gostisbehere each tallied twice, while Jordan Staal netted the eventual game-winner.
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After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour along with Gostisbehere, Svechnikov and Staal spoke with the media. Here’s what they had to say:
On the team’s resiliency: I mean, I don’t know how you draw them up, but at the end of the day, we found a way. Kind of a crazy last couple of minutes, but we’ll definitely take it.
On Andrei Svechnikov: He had a great game. I mean, I thought he was our best forward and maybe the best on the ice. He was impactful the whole night and was really driving play. That’s the kind of player he can be and if he continues to do that, it bodes well for us.
On the fan support: When we got the tying goal, for sure, you could really feel it. You can’t understate that. That emotional lift that the crowd can give you.
On Jordan Staal: He had a great move on the penalty kill too in the third. I don’t know if he’s just getting better. I don’t know how to say it on the offensive side of things, maybe a little more confidence around the net, but he’s certainly been impactful in that regard this year. He’s always been getting opportunities, but they seem to be going in this year a little bit more frequently and that’s great.
On the net-front presence for a few of the goals: Power play wasn’t great, but we got a couple of opportunities and need to have that net-front presence. Obviously the goalie couldn’t see the one and even the other one, it was probably just late because he couldn’t see it on the rebound where it was going. You have to have that guy there and I think that’s why we got two of those goals.
On Shayne Gostisbehere shaking off a few big mistakes to deliver with some bigger goals: It was weird the way the game was going. A couple of turnovers in the neutral zone when they really put no pressure. It’s not like you were under siege. He falls down on one, another we just shoot it right into their guy. That talented team is going to make you pay on that and that’s what they did. On the other one, they forechecked us and we kind of bobble it. It was more than just him on that, there were a couple of other mistakes made, but it is always about your next shift, good or bad. You score a goal, you don’t sit there and pat yourself on the back. You have to go do something about it. You give up a goal, Ghost, he’s been around. I don’t think he gets too flustered.
On Jordan Staal’s production: To me, I love that he’s doing it because now we’re talking about him. He’s kind of a guy we’ve talked a lot about this year, which is good, because it’s well deserved, but even when he’s not scoring and it’s not going in, his game is the same and it still really has the same impact with the way he plays for us. There’s a reason why he’s our captain and it’s not just because he’s now scoring. No, that’s how he goes about his business to do that and how he prepares to play at 37. That says it all for me.
On the team’s discipline: That was weird. There was a lot of stuff going on. I don’t really… it’s not like we play these guys a bunch, but yeah. You’ve gotta be disciplined. You can’t take penalties. That’s a killer. We saw it today as it worked in our favor. They take one at the end and that’s really what cost them the game. You have to be that.
On knocking off the rust: Every time you don’t play, coming back is a little harder, but it was good to contribute and help the team win.
On the come from behind victory: It starts with Bussi’s big saves. Made that big toe save. If they go up 5-2, I don’t think we’re talking about it, but it’s just about being relentless. To never say die and if you put pucks to the net, you never know what’s going to happen.
On mentally overcoming mistakes: Just forget. Or score right after so you forget about it. Just pedal to the metal. We just kept going. I think we played a pretty good game, just little things, a couple of freebies here and there that hurt you on the scoresheet.
On the difficulty of being injured so frequently: It definitely sucks. You never want to be out, especially when you’re playing pretty well and when your team is doing good. You want to contribute and be out there with the guys. It’s definitely tough, but guys have had it worse in here, so I’m not going to be one to complain. It’s little things, but you just have to take care of yourself.
On the power play scoring twice despite its struggles: It’s just about sticking with it. The entries weren’t beautiful, but at the end of the day, when you get two goals on power plays, it’s going to help you win.
On the come from behind win: Obviously that was a special 1:30 for us. Just tried to stay focused and play all the way down. That’s how we should play all the time, but I mean, a couple of bounces for us, but we stuck with the plan and stuck with the game.
On if there was a message delivered to the team heading into the third period: Yeah, just play hard. Don’t think about anything, just play all the way down and play every shift hard.
On the power play’s struggles: Definitely. We couldn’t even do the breakouts, so it was kind of struggling, but we still found a way, so that was still kind of good.
On if the four-day break was helpful: Maybe. Myself personally, I prefer to not sit for days. When you’re in the routine of playing every other day, that’s a little bit nicer for me, but I mean, no excuses.
On if anything feels at all different with his game this season: No. Same, exactly the same. I feel the same. I’m the same person, same player.
On if he perhaps then feels the puck is just finding him as of late: I mean, I wouldn’t say that the puck is finding me to be honest. Like I said, I do the same things and last year was the same thing. I don’t know. You guys tell me.
On the late three-goal flurry: We were just trying to get back in the game, get anything going. There was definitely some momentum we were riding and the fans got into it. We were just riding the wave. Obviously the game was kind of just… things weren’t clicking and then it finally clicked. To get those three goals that quickly in that short period of time to win was really cool.
On Shayne Gostisbehere: He played great obviously. Things don’t always go your way throughout games, Ghost was the one that fell down there and he came back and scored two big goals for us. A couple off the shinpads and it’s in the back of your net, but I thought the boys did a great job of sticking with it and finding ways to create some offense. We got fortunate with Fly eating one there and getting the four-minutes there. That was big and the power play came up big. Then a couple quick ones after that as well.
On the crowd’s energy: There’s something to be said about this building. The fans here are great. They’re always behind us, but once it gets going and fired up, you can tell and the guys feed off of that. We appreciate them. They didn’t have much to cheer about tonight, it was kind of just back and forth with not much going on, but like I said, a big goal and momentum is a funny thing in this game. I thought the boys kind of took it and the fans pushed us to another level too.
On Andrei Svechnikov’s consistency: You saw him tonight. He wasn’t only scoring goals, but he was physical, he was hard, he was skating well. He’s got his strength back and his speed. I think he’s also making better decisions with the puck as well and making it hard on teams to take it off of him. Going to the dirty areas and scoring goals. He’s the player that we all know he can be and this year he’s been solid all throughout.
On Whalers Night: The goal song is great. I really enjoy the Hartford nights and I think the fans do too. I think it’s just a lot of fun. A great franchise and so many great players played there. Just a lot of cool things going on with that and I thought the vibe was really cool.
On his go-ahead goal: It’s always nice to score goals, especially game winners. It’s about making memories. I love the game, I love being a part of nights like this and you want more of them. You’re chasing them and chasing those memories to do it alongside the guys in this room, the friends. Battling with each other is what I live for and what I do this job for. Tonight was one of the good memories.
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Source: Utah News