ECF Notebook: Hurricanes’ sound win a building block toward comeback

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Carolina Hurricanes would’ve taken a win in any fashion, but how they earned in one in South Florida on Monday mattered.

Success in anything is rooted in confidence, and lucking out in Game 4 — after flunking and being outscored 16-4 through the first three games — wouldn’t have established any of it for the Hurricanes going back to Raleigh.

Instead, they put the first building block in place by earning Monday’s win and establishing their game for the first time in this series.

As Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov put it after his team’s 3-0 loss, “the other team needs to show up and have their best game, and I think Carolina did today.”

Had the Hurricanes not come close, there’d be far more doubt they’d left their worst one behind them.

if (!res.ok) { throw new Error('Failed to fetch odds data'); }

const data = await res.json(); const oddsData = data?.data?.game?.details?.current_line; const visitingTeam = data?.data?.game?.visiting_team; const visitingTeamLogo = data?.data?.game?.visiting_team?.image_url_90; const homeTeam = data?.data?.game?.home_team; const homeTeamLogo = data?.data?.game?.home_team?.image_url_90; const gameTimestamp = data?.data?.game?.details?.timestamp;

return { oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp }; }

async function renderBetMGM(componentId, league, gameId) { let oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp, error;

const container = document.getElementById(componentId + '-odds'); if (!container) return;

try { ({ oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp } = await fetchOddsData(league, gameId)); } catch (err) { error = err.message; }

if (error) { container.innerHTML = `

Error: ${error}

`; return; }

if (!oddsData) { container.innerHTML = `

Odds data not available

`; return; }

let gameDate = new Date(gameTimestamp * 1000); const gameDateFormatted = gameDate.toLocaleDateString('en-US', { year: 'numeric', month: 'long', day: 'numeric' });

container.innerHTML = `

BetMGM Odds

${gameDateFormatted}

VS

Moneyline

${visitingTeam.short_name}

${oddsData.away_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.away_money}` : oddsData.away_money}

${homeTeam.short_name}

${oddsData.home_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.home_money}` : oddsData.home_money}

Spread

${oddsData.fav_id === visitingTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_points : oddsData.fav_points > 0 ? `-${oddsData.fav_points}` : `+${Math.abs(oddsData.fav_points)}`}

${oddsData.fav_id === visitingTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.fav_money}` : oddsData.fav_money : oddsData.underdog_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.underdog_money}` : oddsData.underdog_money}

${oddsData.fav_id === homeTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_points : oddsData.fav_points > 0 ? `-${oddsData.fav_points}` : `+${Math.abs(oddsData.fav_points)}`}

${oddsData.fav_id === homeTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.fav_money}` : oddsData.fav_money : oddsData.underdog_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.underdog_money}` : oddsData.underdog_money}

Over/Under

O ${oddsData.total}

${oddsData.over_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.over_money}` : oddsData.over_money}

U ${oddsData.total}

${oddsData.under_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.under_money}` : oddsData.under_money}

Powered by

${gameDateFormatted}

VS

Powered by

`; }

// Example usage renderBetMGM('block_84e1e6d1ba0114bd702016b89bb675b7', 'NHL', '6d0c8026-9751-4680-99f7-3675eba65d4c');

And though they may have only beaten Sergei Bobrovsky once — they had two empty-net goals in the final minutes— there were many things they did that made Monday’s game look vastly different.

To start, Carolina was effective on the forecheck, hemming the Panthers in their own end with consistency for the first time all series.

And what the Hurricanes did coming up the ice was an even bigger departure from what we saw from them in the first three games of the series.

“We weren’t turning pucks over,” superstar defenceman Jaccob Slavin said. “That’s been kind of our downfall the first three games, and tonight we didn’t do that. We managed the puck well and played a good team game.”

The Hurricanes managed the puck better than well.

In their 6-2 loss in Game 3, they fumbled the puck away 16 times and watched it come back for 14 Panthers scoring chances.

But through the first two periods of Game 4, the Hurricanes had forced a Florida turnover to earn their first lead of the series while preventing the types of errant passes that had handed the Panthers opportunities previously.

When the Panthers pushed in the third, goaltender Frederik Andersen stood tall, making eight of his 20 saves.

It helped that the Hurricanes didn’t allow Florida to get particularly close to him.

They need to continue to do that, and everything else they did, moving forward. It’s a recipe for success in Game 5 at Lenovo Center Wednesday.

It’s the recipe the Hurricanes used to build a 47-30-5 record this season and one they employed to earn five-game wins over the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Finding it at this stage, when all hope appeared to be lost, mattered.

Panthers remain humble in victory, and defeat

Humility is an undeniable trait of this championship team, and it serves a bright off-ice contrast to the brashness of the group on the ice.

From the drop of the puck to the final buzzer, the Panthers consistently present as overwhelmingly confident. They are imposing, intimidating and particularly good at taunting their opponents — even if we didn’t see the full version of that Monday.

As Panthers menace Sam Bennett put it, “We were a little hesitant.”

“The last three games, we were aggressive, we had more pace to our game, more jump,” he added. “Tonight wasn’t our game. We sat back.”

The Panthers will change that in Game 5.

Watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sportsnet

The NHL’s best are battling for the right to hoist the Stanley Cup. Watch every game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Broadcast schedule

What they won’t change is the respect they show the Hurricanes in the media.

On Sunday, Panthers coach Paul Maurice gave a perfect explanation as to how they balance those contrasting features.

“Have you ever shotgunned a beer? Have you ever been to church? Would you shotgun a beer in church?” Maurice asked a reporter.

When the reporter responded no to that last question, Maurice said, “That doesn’t make you a hypocrite.”

“There’s a context and a place for all things,” he continued. “Now, they’re hard on the ice. They are. And most of that is driven by how they feel about each other. They don’t want to let the other guy down. There’s a caring about them. Remember when I said these guys are different? Barkov’s personality is our room. Sam Bennett and his wife are raising money for cats and dogs. Like they’re really, really nice people … ‘til the puck drops.”

All to say, there’s a time and a place for everything.

“Sometimes you say a prayer, sometimes you shotgun a beer. That’s kind of like our team,” Maurice concluded.

It’s part of what makes the Panthers great.

The other part is their ability to move on from results — negative or positive — and put their best foot forward.

“They deserved to win,” Barkov said of the Hurricanes. “But it’s OK, we learn. We’ll recover from this one and move on.”

And, perhaps, the Panthers might even shotgun a beer or two if they punch their ticket to a third straight Stanley Cup Final.

Panthers, Hurricanes slowly returning to health

Sam Reinhart, A.J. Greer and Niko Mikkola all skated Tuesday after missing Game 4 with injuries.

“We’ll see how they are (Wednesday),” said Paul Maurice. “It’s what we expected. It’s what we hoped for. So we’ll put ’em on the ice again (Wednesday). Maybe twice.”

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said he’s hopeful at least one of Jalen Chatfield or Sean Walker can return for Game 5.

Walker was injured in Game 2 of the series and Chatfield hasn’t played since Game 4 of Round 2.

They said it…

Brind’Amour on getting a lead: “Not having to chase the game — that was the difference for me. Everyone’s trying to do the same thing. Both teams are playing really hard. But not having to go, ‘We have to get one,’ I think was good last night.”

Brind’Amour on need for Hurricanes to pull off a reverse sweep to win: “I think it just frees you up to know there is no tomorrow. I don’t think it’s suddenly now we’re trying harder. That’s not it. But maybe it’s in your mind, ‘Hey, we know there’s no tomorrow, and put everything out there.’ That’s kind of what happened last night, I guess.”

Jordan Martinook on finally beating the Panthers after seven straight playoff losses to them: “I hope it can give us some confidence to keep going and win another one, but obviously you know they’re going to come out, throw their best at us and we need to match what we did last game and exceed that.”

Maurice on closing out the series: “They were better at their game than we were at our game last night. We’ve managed to not have that happen very often. When we lose, we learn some pretty important things about the way we play or the adherence to the way we play. And sometimes what you learn is the style of the other team means that you don’t play your exact same game. You have the same will, the same systems and stuff, but your attitude with the puck and your mentality with the puck sometimes has to change.”

Maurice on snapping Panthers back to attention after a loss: “We have a fairly defined structure for how the day was going to go today. The first four, five minutes we call them names. I’m mindful of the (NHL) hotline (for anonymous complaints about verbal or physical abuse) now, so the names aren’t nearly as good as they used to be. … Then we talk about pieces of our game. Basically, I show the video that attaches to the names that I’ve called them, and then we’re going to do a bunch of video on something technical on where we’ve got to be better, where we can be better, so that they see it. So, when they leave the room … the video’s done, the names have been called, the hugs went out, that’s it, it’s over, we’re hopping on an airplane.”

More from Sportsnet

Hurricanes restore hope, dignity in slump-busting win over Panthers

Injured Panthers not making excuses after Game 4 loss