The Carolina Hurricanes have lost three of their last four games and so things were a little different at practice on Monday.
The Canes have shuffled the deck slightly, altering their top three forward lines before Tuesday’s game against the New York Rangers.
For the first time this season, the Canes have moved both Seth Jarvis and Nikolaj Ehlers off of the top line with Sebastian Aho, putting both Andrei Svechnikov and Taylor Hall on the first-line center’s wings.
Ehlers moved down to the second line alongside Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake and Jarvis rejoins Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook, a frequently seen trio last season.
“We just did it today for practice, but we have to get some of these guys going. We have a couple guys who need to score 5v5 and haven’t, so we’re trying to shake things up. I don’t know if it will happen tomorrow. We did it a little bit at the end of the game the other night. We got to get those guys going.”
Despite being one of the top scoring teams in the league this season (3.64 goals per game, which ranks third in the NHL), the Canes have hit a bit of a snag with some of their top players at 5v5.
In 11 games, the Canes 5v5 production from their top-three lines is as follows:
Sebastian Aho – 4
Logan Stankoven – 4
Jackson Blake – 3
Jordan Staal – 3
Seth Jarvis – 2
Taylor Hall – 2
Jordan Martinook – 2
Andrei Svechnikov – 0
Nikolaj Ehlers – 0
So while the team is getting some good production from a few guys, there are a few notable names here that really need to get going as Brind’Amour implied.
It’s still early enough in the season where there’s really no harm in trying to move things around and seeing if you can find a little magic or just a boost here and there for certain guys.
And again, Brind’Amour may just move things right back if he isn’t liking what he’s seeing, but I don’t have any issues with trying something new.
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