Lindholm leads Hurricanes to 5-3 win over Sharks

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

RALEIGH, N.C. –  Carolina Hurricanes rookie forward Elias Lindholm recorded the first multi-point game of his NHL career and scored the eventual game-winning goal in a 5-3 victory over the Pacific Divison-leading San Jose Sharks at PNC Arena on Friday.

In addition to Lindholm, Carolina had three other players finish with multi-point performances – Jay Harrison (1g, 1a), Riley Nash (1g, 1a), Jordan Staal (1g, 1a) – while goaltender Cam Ward made 22 saves to earn his fifth win of the season.

As both teams completed back-to-back sets of games facing off against one another for the first of two meetings during the season, it seemed that both were riding on fumes as play bounced back and forth early on.

With Patrick Dwyer, Drayson Bowman, and Brett Bellemore all out with injuries from recent games, Carolina placed a call to Charlotte in the morning to have forward Zach Boychuk pack his bag, get in his car, and be ready to play against the Sharks.

It wasn’t a call that Boychuk was expecting.

“No. I heard last night that there were a couple of injuries, but I didn’t find out ‘till I got to the rink from the practice actually,” Boychuk said.

“Coach brought me in, showed me a quick clip of my previous game and said, “you gotta’ skate like that – you’re going up there soon.” Definitely a good thing to hear from the coach.”

With Boychuk, the Checkers’ current scoring leader (9g, 10a), in the lineup as an emergency call-up, Muller had to adjust his lines to challenge a San Jose team that had only lost once in its last five games.

Shortly after the opening face-off, the Sharks got themselves into trouble as Brent Burns was penalized for hooking and gave the Hurricanes a power play opportunity to take an early lead like they have done during their past two games – 5-2 and 4-1 wins over Nashville and Washington respectively.

However, Carolina couldn’t move the puck effectively on their only man-advantage of the game and both teams continued to move the puck from end-to-end as Ward and Sharks goaltender Alex Stalock, who finished with 30 saves, both made stops to keep the game scoreless for the first five minutes of play.

As they got their legs and picked up their pace of play, it was San Jose that took advantage of a giveaway in the Hurricanes end and used it to strike first.

The puck ended up on Sharks defenseman Jason Demers’ stick after a redirected pass off Harrison’ stick allowed him to set up a point shot that Tommy Wingels tipped past Ward to give San Jose a 1-0 lead.

With 3:29 remaining in the period, Sharks captain Joe Thornton passed the puck back to the point and Mark-Edouard Vlasic’s shot found its way through a few bodies and between Ward’s pads to extend the lead to two goals.

Faced with a 2-0 deficit to begin the second period, the Hurricanes found their legs and increased their pressure in and around Stalock until they caught the goalkeeper off-guard.

A line comprised of Nash, Boychuk, and Jiri Tlusty worked to get the puck to the blue line where a dump-in shot from Harrison eventually caromed off the end boards, hit the Sharks goaltender’s pad in the crease, and slid backwards into the net.

“It was good,” Boychuk said of being on the ice for the Hurricanes’ opening goal and earning his first NHL point of the season.

“On that draw there, it was nice getting in there and helping Nasher win that battle and get it back to Harry – he just put it on net off the boards. I tried to go to the net, create a little havoc. It feels good to contribute early.”

Juggling lines and players is what Muller has had to do in order to keep his team competitive while enduring injuries.

It is the way things are and will probably continue to be in Carolina throughout the season.

“We haven’t had the same lineup more than two games in a row ever since the start,” Muller said.

“It’s important that you have guys that are versatile. Tonight, Boychuk gets called up and he plays left, he plays right. Jiri Tlusty goes both sides. That’s the make-up of our group. We just gotta’ patch holes and everyone just has to do their job, and they did it tonight. That’s probably the way it’s gonna’ be.”

Even with lineup changes being made regularly, one thing has remained constant from Muller’s perspective – the plan.

No matter who fills in where and for how long, the message that Muller has preached to his players is to play consistently and for 60 minutes.

As both teams came out for the third period with Carolina trailing 2-1, it was the Hurricanes who continued to work consistently for another 20 minutes, and reaped tangible results fueled by the energy and playmaking of Lindholm.

As the young Swede filled in on a line with Nash and Tlusty, he forced a turnover deep in the Sharks zone with a body check and then picked the puck up and passed it to a waiting Harrison on the blue line.

The defensemen then snapped the puck towards the net and Nash managed to get his stick on it, redirecting it past Stalock to tie the game 2-2 at the 4:54 mark.

Just under two minutes later, Muller placed Lindholm back on a line with Staal and Nathan Gerbe, a move that set up the Hurricanes’ next goal.

After getting the puck along the side boards, Lindholm found space to maneuver, circled back and passed the puck to Gerbe in the corner, who then slid it quickly towards the crease where Staal waited.

As Stalock got his pad on the puck, Staal’s repeated jabs at it eventually forced it to go in, giving Carolina its first lead of the game, 3-2.

With all 14,553 in attendance cheering, the energy level in the building hit a crescendo as both teams continued to skate from end to end.

“As a team, going into the third, we were feeling really confident with our game,” Staal said.

“We felt we had played a pretty solid game leading up to it and we knew were going to get rewarded at some point. We just kept at it and we were fortunate enough to get a couple of big goals in the third.”

Even with the momentum in his team’s favor, Ward was caught off-guard himself on a point shot from Justin Braun three minutes later that beat him high and tied the score once more at 3-3 with 10:25 remaining to play.

As concerning as that might have been, Muller noted how his team had the right mindset to regain the lead again.

“I thought our guys did a great job on the bench, pushing each other and sayin’, ‘hey, let’s just keep goin’’. Our leaders really kept goin’ and everybody just followed. It was a good team effort.”

Lindholm then showed the poise of a veteran as he parked himself in the slot and in position to tip a point shot from Andrej Sekera that beat Stalock to give the Hurricanes the lead once again and for good, leading 4-3 with six minutes remaining.

Carolina held off San Jose long enough and finalized the score with 30 seconds left when captain Eric Staal scored an empty-net goal adding to Lindholm’s efforts and giving the Hurricanes their third consecutive win in four nights.

“That’s the player that we drafted,” Muller said when asked about Lindholm’s contribution to the win.

“It’s a tough league. You gotta’ get adjusted. He started off with his injury and getting adjusted to the game. You’re seeing signs now of what kind of player he is. He’s smart, he’s got hockey sense, and he can make plays in small little areas. You can’t teach hockey sense and he has it. It’s a lot of fun seein’ him get some results. I think that’s going to be a big confidence builder for him.”