Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin has won the 2020-21 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

Hockey Hall of Famer Ron Francis, a three-time Lady Byng Trophy winner who served as Carolina's director of hockey operations when the 'Canes drafted Slavin in 2012, presented the award to the defenseman:

Per NHL.com, the Lady Byng Trophy is given "to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability." The Professional Hockey Writers Association chooses the winner.

Per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Slavin is the fourth-ever defenseman to win the award. The other finalists were Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon.

Hurricanes beat writer Sara Civian of The Athletic placed Slavin first on her Lady Byng ballot, calling the honor "well-deserved":

NHL reporter Frank Seravalli also reported these remarkable Slavin statistics:

The entire voting result sheet can be found here, via ESPN's Greg Wyshynski:

Slavin finished second on the team with a plus-22 mark. The Hurricanes allowed the fourth-fewest goals in the NHL and reached the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Rod Brind'Amour was one of the most dependable during his 21-year NHL playing career. As a head coach, he's been named the sport's best. 

The 50-year-old Carolina Hurricanes boss won the 2020-21 Jack Adams Award on Thursday, which is presented annually to the coach who contributed most to his team's success. The Canes went 36-12-8 this season, winning the Central Division before falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round of the postseason. 

It was Brind'Amour's third season as head coach. He previously won the Frank Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward in 2006 and 2007. 

Brind'Amour beat fellow finalists Dean Evason of the Minnesota Wild and Joel Quenneville of the Florida Panthers for the honors. Quenneville previously won the award after leading the St. Louis Blues in the 1999-2000 season. 

Carolina hadn't made the postseason in nine years before Brind'Amour stepped behind the bench ahead of the 2018-19 season. That year, the Canes defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before getting swept by the Boston Bruins.

The Hurricanes have returned to the playoffs each of the following seasons as Brind'Amour became the fastest coach to reach 100 wins in franchise history and the 12th-fastest in NHL history. 

Earlier on Thursday, Brind'Amour signed a three-year extension to remain with Carolina, with general manager on Waddell praising the work of his coach. 

"As a coach, you put the plan in and watch your guys go after it," Brind'Amour said. "You're invested with them. That's what you can't get anywhere else doing anything else. I think I'll always have the fire to do that."

The NHL named the three finalists on Friday for the Jack Adams Award given to the league's top head coach.

The finalists are Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason, Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour and Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville.

Both Evason and Brind'Amour are first-time finalists. Quenneville is looking to become a two-time Adams winner after winning it in 2000 with the St. Louis Blues.

Evason got his first NHL head coaching opportunity in the 2019-20 season when he coached the Wild for the final 12 games. After helping lead them to the playoffs, the 56-year-old was named the full-time coach entering 2020-21.

That decision paid dividends for the Wild as they went 35-16-5, finished third in the West Division and reached the playoffs, where they lost in seven games to the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round.

Brind'Amour, 50, completed his third season as head coach of the Hurricanes, leading Carolina to the playoffs for the third straight year.

The former Blues, Philadelphia Flyers and Hurricanes center guided Carolina to the Central Division title with a 36-12-8 record, finishing ahead of the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Canes needed six games to beat the Nashville Predators in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Tampa in five games.

Of the three finalists, Quenneville is by far the most experienced and accomplished NHL head coach.

The 62-year-old won three Stanley Cups as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, '13 and '15.

The likely future Hall of Famer also ranks second in NHL history in career coaching wins with 962. That puts him behind only Scotty Bowman and his 1,244 career victories.

This season, Quenneville led the Panthers to a 37-14-5 record, which was good for second place in the Central Division. They fell to the Lightning in the first round of the playoffs in six games.

If the Ontario, Canada, native wins the Jack Adams, he will become the eighth head coach in NHL history to win it at least twice.

Also, his 21 years between winning the award would be a new record, breaking the one of 19 years held by Bowman.

The winner of the Jack Adams Award and the other NHL awards will be announced during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Bolts still lead the series 2-1, but a victory in Game 4 would steal home-ice advantage back for Carolina as the defending champion Lightning look to march back to the Stanley Cup Final. 

Jordan Staal scored the game-winner 5:57 into overtime off a deflection from Sebastian Aho as the Canes avoided a dreaded 3-0 series deficit. 

Notable Performers

Sebastian Aho, RW, Carolina Hurricanes: 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 21:27 TOI

Teuvo Teravainen, LW, Carolina Hurricanes: 2 Assists, 1 Takeaway, 20:49 TOI

Brayden Point, C, Tampa Bay Lightning: 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 20:46 TOI

Alex Killorn, LW, Tampa Bay Lightning: 1 Goal, 4 SOG, 19:19 TOI

Staal Flips Script On Special Teams in OT

Usually it's the Tampa Bay power play that puts games away. On Thursday it was Carolina's turn—but not without a few scares first. 

After battling to a 2-2 draw through 59 minutes, the Canes had almost made it to overtime without incident. Then Alex Killorn bullied his way down the ice and drew a tripping call on Dougie Hamilton. That gave Tampa an opportunity to either end regulation with a power play goal, or send their special teams back on the ice to begin OT.

Thanks to some stellar netminding from Petr Mrazek, the latter came to fruition. 

Mrazek made some of his best saves all season during a two-minute stretch separated by an intermission, stopping three point-blank chances by Tampa Bay to kill off the remainder of Hamilton's penalty.

The only question left was whether or not the Canes would get an overtime power play of their own. A Kucherov holding-the-stick call 4:16 into the frame answered that.

As one of the best players on the Lightning headed off to the box, Sebastian Aho took to the ice looking to end Game 3 and give his team a jolt of life heading into Game 4. 

That Hamilton helped set up the play leading to Staal's winner only made the victory sweeter for Carolina. The defenseman swung the puck out wide to Teuvo Teravainen, who found Aho in the slot for a quick one-timer that bounced off Staal's stick. 

Despite being out-shot 37-27, the Canes found a way to avoid the brink of elimination for at least another day and ensure they'll make it to Game 5.  

Canes Offense Finally Arrives 

Before he scored the goal that gave Carolina its first lead since Game 4 against the Nashville Predators in the opening round, there was concern over whether or not Brett Pesce would even remain in the game. 

Late in the first period, Pesce took a blindside hit from Nikita Kucherov at center ice that sent the Tampa Bay winger to the box for interference and ignited a scrum in the neutral zone. Pesce wasn’t on the ice for that part. He immediately went down the tunnel to get checked out by team trainers. The ensuing Canes power play only seemed to energize the Lightning, who continually cleared the puck and didn’t let Carolina set up their offense once during the man-advantage. 

By the start of the second period, Pesce was back on the ice and wreaking havoc on Tampa’s defense, burying a one-timer past the right shoulder of Andrei Vasilevskiy to open the scoring minutes into the second period. 

It was the first time in more than 200 minutes Vasilevskiy allowed a 5-on-5 goal dating back to Game 5 against the Florida Panthers in the previous round. And after the Bolts held Carolina to just one goal in Games 1 and 2, it seemed like an opportunity for the Hurricanes to prove their offense could still deliver. 

A second goal to make it 2-0 three minutes later certainly helped their case.

Aho grabbed a sensational touch-pass from Teravainen at center ice, jumped past both Lightning defenseman and buried another one past Vasilevskiy. 

If only the offensive outburst carried over the special teams, where the Lightning were able to even things up before the second intermission, the Canes would’ve taken Game 3 easily. As quickly as Tampa Bay had fallen in a 2-0 hole, they’d evened things up once again thanks to goals from Brayden Point and Killorn.

Things would get even more difficult for Caroline before the period ended, as forward Warren Foegele suffered an upper-body injury on a clean hit from Erik Cernak and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.

Already playing without forwards Nino Niederreiter (upper body) and Vincent Trocheck (undisclosed), the loss of a third forward shortened the Canes’ bench and forced their top stars to skate even more than they were already planning on.

What's Next

The two clubs will remain in Florida a bit longer with Game 4 slated for Saturday, June 5 at 4 p.m. ET on USA Network. 

The Carolina Hurricanes clinched the Central Division following the Dallas Stars' 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night. 

While Dallas and the Nashville Predators continue battling for the fourth and final playoff seed in the division, the Canes locked up their first division title since 2005-06—a year that ended with Carolina lifting the Stanley Cup. 

Here's how the NHL playoff pictures looks with less than a week remaining in the regular season:

Central Division

*Carolina Hurricanes: 80 points (36-10-8)

*Tampa Bay Lightning: 75 points (36-15-3)

*Florida Panthers: 75 points (35-14-5)

Nashville Predators: 60 points (29-23-2)

Dallas Stars: 58 points (22-18-14)

West Division

*Vegas Golden Knights: 76 points (37-13-2)

*Colorado Avalanche: 72 points (34-13-4)

*Minnesota Wild: 71 points (33-14-5)

St. Louis Blues: 56 points (24-19-8)

Arizona Coyotes: 50 points (22-26-6)

North Division

*Toronto Maple Leafs: 74 points (34-13-6)

*Edmonton Oilers: 66 points (32-18-2)

*Winnipeg Jets: 59 points (28-21-3)

Montreal Canadiens: 57 points (24-20-9)

East Division

*Pittsburgh Penguins: 75 points (36-16-3)

*Washington Capitals: 73 points (34-15-5)

*Boston Bruins: 71 points (32-14-7)

*New York Islanders: 68 points (31-17-6)

On Friday the Canes did one better—and now the team can target a return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2005-06, when they beat the Edmonton Oilers for the trophy in seven games.

This year's team has that potential. It has a balanced scoring attack paced by Sebastian Aho, whose 24 goals and 57 points lead the team. Vincent Trocheck is posting nearly a point per game with 17 goals and 26 assists through 45 matchups.

Five players have 15 or more goals, and defender Dougie Hamilton's 32 helpers are second only to Aho on the roster.

The blueliners have been excellent this year, with Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin helping Hamilton. In net, the combination of James Reimer and Alex Nedeljkovic has shined, with the latter netminder notably posting a sterling .932 save percentage and 1.89 GAA.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the NHL changing its playoff structure, but the concept isn't that much different than the norm. The top four teams in each division will have a playoff to determine the division champion, and then those winners will meet in the league semifinals.

Emerging from the Central will be a tall order for Carolina considering that the Panthers and Lightning have done so well this season. It can only hope to win the division and avoid either of those two in the first round.

However, the Hurricanes are a talented bunch that can lay claim to being the Eastern Conference's best team. They can easily be the East's representative in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Carolina Hurricanes won't play their next two games as scheduled because of a rising number of COVID-19 issues within the organization.

In a statement from the NHL, Carolina's facilities have been shut down "until further notice" and games through Jan. 23 have been postponed because five players have been placed on the COVID Protocol Related Absence List:

Carolina already had its Tuesday game against the Nashville Predators postponed because of COVID-19 protocols. 

The Hurricanes were scheduled to host the Florida Panthers for two games on Thursday and Saturday. They haven't played since Jan. 18 against the Predators. 

Under the NHL's coronavirus protocols for this season, players who are added to the COVID-19 list must exhibit no symptoms and return two consecutive negative tests over 48 hours before they are allowed to return to team-related activities. 

This marks the second significant schedule change for the NHL so far this season. The Dallas Stars had their first four games rescheduled to an outbreak on the team. They are scheduled to play their first game on Friday against Nashville. 

The NHL adopted a 56-game regular-season schedule with teams split up into four divisions, instead of the traditional six. Teams are only playing opponents inside their own division to limit the amount of travel. 

The Hurricanes have won two of their first three games so far this season. 

In the second period of Game 1 of the playoff matchup between the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday, Charlie Coyle scored a controversial goal for the Bruins after Nick Ritchie hit the puck out of the air with his glove.

The Hurricanes challenged the goal, calling it a hand pass. But officials ruled that because Carolina goalie Petr Mrazek made a play on the puck and had a glove on it before it was knocked free to Coyle, the hand pass was negated. 

It may have cost the Hurricanes, who lost 4-3 in double overtime, and head coach Rod Brind'Amour was furious with the decision after the game. 

"This is why the league's a joke, in my opinion, on these things," he said, per Luke DeCock of The News & Observer. "That one is a crime scene."

He was promptly fined $25,000 by the NHL:

Brind'Amour further elaborated on his frustration, noting that officials didn't clarify the call on the ice before his challenge, leaving him to guess whether he should challenge a hand pass or goalie interference:

"They came to me, and I said, 'If he has possession of it then it's goalie interference. If he doesn't have possession then it's a hand pass. It's one of the two. I don't know what you're calling on the ice.' All he has to do is tell me, 'We're calling it non-possession [by Mrazek].' Then we're challenging a glove-hand pass. If it's possession, then goaltender interference. I said, 'Tell me the call on the ice.' They wouldn't do it when I say, 'What is the call?' So I had to flip a coin. ...

"I said, 'What was the call on the ice?' and he said, 'You've got to call one or the other.' It should be so easy. If they said the goalie had it, then it's an easy call. They wouldn't tell you. It makes no sense. I know we weren't the better team, but if that goal doesn't go in, do we win that game? I don't know."

It wasn't surprising the NHL didn't take kindly to its officiating being called a joke, though Brind'Amour made a fair point about it being strange that the officials didn't tell him the call on the ice before he made his challenge. Not only that, but Carolina was then charged with a delay of game penalty, giving the Bruins a goal and a power play. 

Granted, Brock McGinn scored a short-handed goal 15 seconds into the penalty kill, tying the game back up 2-2.

But it was a bizarre sequence of events, and one that justifiably left Brind'Amour seething. 

The Carolina Panthers have told full-time employees "they will no longer be paid after this week because of the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic," Chip Alexander of the News & Observer on Wednesday.

Alexander added, citing an email sent to employees: "Don Waddell, president and general manager of the Hurricanes, instructed all non-contracted full-time employees to immediately use their accrued vacation time and personal time off (PTO). Employees without available vacation time or PTO will be off without pay."

The email did not specify the length of time the policy will be in effect but did note it will not affect senior management, coaches and scouts. 

The NHL announced the 2019-20 season was suspended on March 12 because of the COVID-19 pandemic:

The league provided an update on March 16:

Earlier Wednesday, the Boston Bruins announced "temporary business stabilization measures" that will place 68 full-time salaried employees on temporary leave and see 82 full-time salaried employees "receive an indefinitely salary reduction" beginning on April 1.

The Dallas Stars announced both their GM Jim Nill and CEO Jim Lites will be taking 50 percent pay cuts to ease the organization's financial burden during the hiatus, per WFAA's Mike Leslie.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman joined ESPN's Get Up last week to discuss the state of the league during COVID-19:

"We, too, have explored and continue to explore every scenario, which will depend on the timing of when it's safe to go out," Bettman said, in part.

The NBA, as well as MLB and MLS, also suspended their seasons because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

David Ayres, the emergency goalie who stepped in for the Carolina Hurricanes in Saturday's 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, has been named an honorary North Carolinian.

Per ESPN's Emily Kaplan, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper bestowed the honor on Ayres in an official proclamation Tuesday:

"The Carolina Hurricanes are currently in a battle for a spot in the National Hockey League playoffs, which will bring greater economic prosperity and further our state's reputation of excellence in sports. ... David Ayres gave North Carolina hockey fans a memory that we will never forget. ... [He] proved to be the personification of 'That's hockey, baby!'"

Born in Ontario, Canada, Ayres is employed by the Maple Leafs as a practice goalie for their AHL affiliate. He also works as a Zamboni driver and is a kidney transplant survivor. He was the designated emergency backup and was forced into action during the third period when Petr Mrazek and James Reimer both got injured. 

Ayres, 42, had never appeared in an NHL game prior to Saturday. He stopped eight of Toronto's 10 shots in the final period and was credited with the win. 

The Miracle on Ice happened 40 years ago.

There was something of another one Saturday.

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 in an Eastern Conference showdown behind two goals from Warren Foegele and one goal each from Martin Necas, Nino Niederreiter, Teuvo Teravainen and Lucas Wallmark, but the scorers were hardly the story.

Disaster appeared to strike for the visitors when goaltenders Petr Mrazek and James Reimer went down with injuries, and the Hurricanes announced they were forced to turn toward emergency goalie David Ayres.

The announcement noted the 42-year-old was last an emergency goaltender on Feb. 1 for Carolina's AHL minor league affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. That game came against the Toronto Marlies, which Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com pointed out is the team Ayres works for as a Zamboni driver.

Talk about a memorable NHL debut.

Stats by STATS noted he was the first player in MLB, NBA, NFL or NHL to debut at 42 years old or older since Satchel Paige did so in July 1948 at the same age. Paige was in the Negro Leagues before he made his MLB debut.

It appeared as if Ayres was in for a long night when he quickly allowed two goals, which turned Carolina's commanding 4-1 advantage into a narrow 4-3 lead. However, he was perfect from there and finished with eight saves on 10 shots faced as his team pulled away.

"I told the boys in the dressing room once we come out for the third I'll be settled down and ready to win this one," he said after the game.

Ayres even drew congratulations from other teams around the league:

It was a critical win for the Hurricanes, who entered play in the middle of a tight and crowded wild-card race in the Eastern Conference. The Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Florida Panthers are all jockeying for position and within four points of each other, meaning every victory is important.

None will be more memorable for Ayres than Saturday's.