RALEIGH — The Hurricanes opened the season with a win for the fifth straight year, getting goals from five different players in a 5-3 win over the Senators in front of a sellout crowd Wednesday at PNC Arena.
Jordan Staal and Brady Skjei each had a goal and an assist to lead Carolina, who outshot Ottawa 41-27 and got 24 saves from Frederik Andersen.
Three observations
1. From his filthy backhand goal early in the third period to his postgame face-to-face shouting match with Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, Jordan Staal was the dominant force in Wednesday’s season opener.
The Carolina captain pushed the Hurricanes’ lead to 3-1 by getting to work, of course, on the forecheck. Staal and Jordan Martinook teamed up to disrupt the Senators’ breakout, and Martinook got the puck to Staal. Staal deked and lifted a backhand across the grain and over Joonas Korpisalo’s shoulder.
A great start to the third as The Captain makes it 3-1 Carolina!@Canes | #CauseChaos pic.twitter.com/MkQ7qrkrHF
— Bally Sports: Canes (@CanesOnBally) October 12, 2023
“I thought Jordo, for sure, that one is a pretty special goal,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
The line totaled four points, with Martinook and Jesper Fast each earning assists, and Staal finishing with two points. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, Staal’s line had a 69.97% Corsi For and was on the ice for seven high-danger chances while allowing just one.
And they did all this going head-to-head with a line of Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Claude Giroux that Brind’Amour said after the game was “as good as you’re going to get in the NHL.”
“I think we were a little antsy, a little loosey a little bit tonight,” Staal said. “But we found a way to outscore them with some talent, but we can’t rely on that every night.”
2. Michael Bunting scored in each of his three games during the preseason, and he kept the streak alive Wednesday. With Carolina on the power play early in the second period, Bunting tied the game 1-1.
Sebastian Aho, set up at the half boards, eyed Brent Burns at the opposite circle. When the Senators shifted to take away the pass, Aho dumped the puck down to Bunting. The left winger cut across the goal mouth and waited out Joonas Korpisalo (36 saves) for the first Hurricanes goal of the season.
“I just kind of saw the D were playing a little high and I had a lot of time, so I knew I could take it across and it ended up working out.”
It wasn’t a great night for the Carolina power play — it went 1 for 5 — but Bunting has looked like the answer as a net-front presence in the preseason and again in the opener.
3. Even without Brendan Lemieux in the lineup, the Hurricanes were noticeably more physical than past years. Dmitry Orlov (more on him below) had a few open-ice hits, and Seth Jarvis — bigger and stronger this season — led the team with seven hits, a few of them board-rattling.
The Hurricanes would prefer to have the puck than chase it, but much of Jarvis’ physicality came on Ottawa’s side of the red line, both on the forecheck and finishing checks along the boards as the Senators tried to chip pucks out against Carolina’s relentless forecheck.
Number to know
4:39 — Ice time for Jalen Chatfield, who dressed as the Hurricanes’ seventh defenseman. Having him dressed did help on the penalty kill since Brett Pesce was twice sent to the box — 81 seconds (29%) of Chatfield’s ice time came on the kill.
Plus
Penalty kill — Carolina’s penalty kill, top four in the NHL in each of the last four seasons, was already in midseason form.
“I thought we got better as we went,” Staal said of the PK. “I think we gave up maybe a few too many Grade-A’s to start, but I think we started to get into it a little bit more and we did a good job on a very good power play.”
Brind’Amour even found time to take a slight dig at the officials for the number of calls that were made.
“Every night we get a lot of practice,” the coach joked.
The Hurricanes even got a shorthanded goal, Jaccob Slavin’s insurance marker at 11:05 of the third ended up being the final goal of the game.
Minus
Dmitry Orlov — The newcomer had an up-and-down debut, including not being able to break up a shorthanded odd-man rush that started when his point shot was blocked. Parker Kelly scored on that, and with the momentum in their court, the Senators tied the game at 3-3 just 35 seconds later when Stutzle scored at 5:49 of the third.
But he also had the “wow” moment of the night when he sent Mathieu Joseph airborne with an open-ice hip check.
The Dmitry Orlov Booty Bump?
Mathieu Joseph goes flying after trying to go outside-in on the new #Canes defender. pic.twitter.com/DCwUzeDtZr
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) October 12, 2023
Orlov’s physicality was evident throughout the night and adds another element to Carolina’s stacked defense.
One bad play isn’t indicative of Orlov’s abilities — time will help him adapt to his new team, much as it did last season for Burns.
They said it
“It’s gonna take a little bit to get this train moving, but I thought we played well and I thought we had a great pace.”
— Michael Bunting
