Hurricanes Players & Brind’Amour Discuss Eastern Conference Final Win

Following up on the comment about Stankoven and Hall, Blaked stated when asked about his line rolling in Game 5, to where all three scored a goal to lead the way, “These two are unbelievable out there. They play so hard. It’s all the lines doing it; everyone is getting their cracks. Hally and Stanks are playing with that extra edge, playing with that extra motor a bit. Two junkyard dogs out there. They’re making it a lot of fun for me to play. I’m having a lot of fun right now.”

The phrase “junkyard dogs” has been used a lot over the course of the season when discussing those three, to the point where it’s getting the moniker “The Junkyard Dog Line”. If they can keep this momentum rolling into the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, that would be huge for the Hurricanes moving forward.

Logan Stankoven

During the duel press conference between Hall and Stankoven, it was asked about how they felt playing together and how Blake referred to those two as junkyard dogs. Stankoven answered about playing with Blake and Hall as well, leading into their mentality as a line through not only the playoffs but over the course of the season.

“Both of us love playing with Blaker and love playing with Hallsy. We’re kind of like junkyard dogs. Just hunting pucks, and we all use our speed, creativity, and our hockey IQ to our advantage. We try to find each other out there, and we’re not afraid to go to the net. It’s a lot of fun playing with these guys, and hopefully we can keep this up.”

The way those three have been playing, it’ll be interesting to see how the Golden Knights can stop them from continuing their dominance. So far in these playoffs, it’s been a tall task for the Eastern Conference opponents to shut them down. Hall, Blake, and Stankoven are looking to keep the bus rolling into their final matchup in the playoffs starting Tuesday, June 2, in Raleigh.

Rod Brind’Amour

Throughout a very lengthy press conference with Brind’Amour, who was asked about everything from their upcoming matchup with the Golden Knights to Frederik Andersen to the second line, and how they’ve been playing. Everyone wanted to get a question in with the head coach, who is now heading back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years after going there as the Hurricanes’ captain in 2006.

He was asked about the defense on how they locked it down following the Game 1 loss. It was a total team effort that was led by an underrated blue line, and Brind’Amour expressed just as much to that sentiment, “It’s a team effort. We’ve got really talented players. I think they’re a little bit underrated back there. Obviously, we have some that everybody talks about, but there’s other guys that are really stepping up. And when we had our mistakes, Freddie has been solid.”

After scoring six goals in Game 1, the Canadiens only tallied five more through Games 2 to 6. The Hurricanes neutralized them, giving the Canadiens fits in every facet of the game. Games 4 and 5 showed how much the Hurricanes controlled the tempo and physicality, giving the Canadiens no room to do anything.

While the hurdle has been cleared to make the Stanley Cup Final, the goal is still not accomplished. The Hurricanes are four wins away from their second Stanley Cup in franchise history. Now it’s time to get ready for another beast in the Golden Knights and bring their ultimate A-game to the final dance. Until then, it’s about soaking it all in as Eastern Conference Champions until Game 1 begins on Tuesday.