Hurricanes’ top power play unit gets the glory, but ‘PP Fun’ won Game 5 in overtime
They had all of one day to practice together, this cobbled-together power-play unit of misfit toys, pieces from all over the lineup thrown together in the desperate hope that they could relieve some pressure on the top group.
There was the trade-deadline acquisition at the point, the 37-year-old fourth-line center, the rookie taking a beating in the postseason, the top-three draft pick still finding his way in the league and the veteran energy winger who had spent a grand total of 96 minutes on the power play since coming to the club three years ago.
Three of them wouldn’t even be on the power play at all if the Carolina Hurricanes were fully healthy, but spots were open, and these guys had to fill them the best way they knew how.
That group had one full practice, Monday in Newark, to figure things out. Two games later, those five players won a series for the Hurricanes.
Paul Stastny won a faceoff, then won another. Shayne Gostisbehere walked the blue line. Jesperi Kotkaniemi took the shot. Jack Drury drew a defender away on the weak side. Jesper Fast tipped it in.
Fast wasn’t seeing power-play time at all until Tuesday’s Game 4 win at the New Jersey Devils, but he scored the biggest goal of the series in the only close game these teams played, the 3-2 Game 5 overtime win that sent the Hurricanes through to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in five years.
“I’m not used to being there but I’m happy he put me there and I just have to take advantage of the opportunity,” Fast said. “I don’t do too much of the work. I’m trying to be in front of the net and screen the goalie, and lucky when it goes in.”
But in this very short period of time, this collection of disparate parts was able to craft an identity of its own, unlikely as that may have been. They knew their time on the ice would be limited, because the high-powered top unit was going to get first hack, and often kept the puck for 60, 75, 90 seconds. If there was a plan at all, the plan was to act fast.
“Most of the time, we don’t have a lot of time, so our thing is to get pucks to the net,” Gostisbehere said. “And that doesn’t happen without Stas winning those two draws, too, back-to-back against a pretty good centerman in (Michael) McLeod. It’s the little things that lead to the big things.”
That was the case Thursday night. They came over the boards with 1:02 remaining on the penalty assessed to Jonas Siegenthaler for firing the puck over the glass in his own end. The first unit had a few chances, and Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour conferred with assistant coach Jeff Daniels ahead of a faceoff: Would this be a good time to take a timeout and give that first unit one more shot?
“Jeff and I are talking, do we take the timeout or let these guys go?” Brind’Amour said. “I’m like, ‘Stas’ is a great faceoff guy. Let’s go on feel and let’s let these guys get a crack at it. He won the draw. They ran their set. Quickie’s been thrown down there, and he doesn’t play much on the power play, but I know one thing, he’s going to stand in front. And he got rewarded for it.”
Again, and it’s not like this is a new theme developing here, but the Hurricanes couldn’t replace Andrei Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty and Teuvo Teravainen — all power-play regulars — with like-for-like players. They had to hope what was on the roster filled the void, and by and large that’s been the case, whether that was Jordan Martinook’s 10 points in five games against the Devils or a second power-play unit that looks like something assembled for a preseason game at a neutral site in Nova Scotia.
For every player missing, there’s a new opportunity for someone like Fast on the power play to go out and win a game. And Gostisbehere, the Hurricanes’ primary trade-deadline acquisition, continues to fill the role he was brought here to play: To energize a second power-play unit that, even when fully fit, lagged considerably behind.
In four days, Gostisbehere’s latest group of PP2 compadres managed to forge an identity and find success at the moment the Hurricanes truly needed it.
You’re familiar with PP1? This is PP Fun.
“We’re always having fun,” Stastny said. “We call our plays on the bench even though we might not get out there because the period’s about to end. We just try to make the most of it.”
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