Carolina Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal (10) acknowledges fans with the Wolfpack sign, as he leaves the ice following their 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in the Stadium Series game on Saturday, February 18, 2022 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C.
rwillett@newsobserver.com
Raleigh
The vibe was different in the Carolina Hurricanes locker room Saturday than in any other game this season.
No other game was played outdoors, of course. Or played before 57,000 fans. Nor have the Canes had to use a makeshift room at Carter-Finley Stadium.
But late Saturday night there was a big-event, big-win feel after the 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in the 2023 Stadium Series game. It smacked of both satisfaction and relief: In the biggest moment of the season, with the brightest lights, they delivered.
“It was fun,” Canes owner Tom Dundon said. “I like it when it’s easy.”
The game, that is. The Hurricanes never trailed, taking a 1-0 lead in the first period and before striking for three goals in the second for a four-goal cushion as goaltender Frederik Andersen allowed only a third-period goal.
“That’s the only thing that matters, right?” Dundon said. “You do all this and you don’t win, why did you do it? That makes it way better.”
The Canes were better 5-on-5 and on special teams than the Caps, who again were dealing with the absence of captain Alex Ovechkin, who left the team to return home and was there when his father passed away Wednesday.
Martin Necas had a power-play goal and two assists for the Canes, the Metropolitan Division leaders, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Paul Stastny and Teuvo Teravainen also scored as Carolina outshot the Caps, 35-25.
“I’m just proud of the guys, the way they came out,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “The whole atmosphere was really special. Not having experienced one of those, I don’t know how it could be much better.
“I didn’t know what to expect. It blew me away.”
But if winning the game was easy enough for the Hurricanes, putting on a game of this magnitude required years of planning, as Dundon was quick to mention. A lot of work was done by the Hurricanes, by the NHL, and it’s a lot more than constructing a rink in a football stadium with two inches of ice and filling up the place with fans.
While the Hurricanes were the host team, and it was N.C. State’s stadium, the NHL takes full control of all game operations. On Saturday, the day and the stadium belonged to the league as it staged its 37th outdoor game.
It was a regular-season game, but not a regular regular-season game, by any means.
“They put on a bigger show,” Dundon said of the NHL. “It was better than I expected. The NHL did a really good job, in all the details. It’s pretty impressive, the spectacle of it all.”
The day before the game, many of the players had their kids on the ice for a skate-around at Carter-Finley. That will always be memorable. Dundon, with a smile, said he doesn’t skate, but that his kids did Friday and had a blast.
After the game, some of the Hurricanes players took their time in leaving. Some, including captain Jordan Staal, flashed the Wolfpack sign with his right hand, a thank-you to N.C. State and acknowledgment of the school’s help in getting it done.
Then there’s the game to remember — a 4-1 win in the Hurricanes’ first outdoor appearance, history in the making.
“It was awesome,” the Canes’ Sebastian Aho said, summing it up for everybody.
Dundon was asked if the success of Saturday’s game could lead to another in Raleigh.
“Of course,” he said. “Absolutely.”
In more than 30 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 11th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.