Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery praised the Carolina Hurricanes following his team’s playoff elimination Thursday night, specifically highlighting defenseman Jaccob Slavin’s performance.
Carbery began his postgame news conference by commending the Hurricanes and head coach Rod Brind’Amour before focusing on Slavin.
“Another shoutout, just quickly, because he doesn’t get enough credit. I think he’s started to get credit since the 4 Nations. Jaccob Slavin, how he’s not in the Norris Trophy conversation every single year, it doesn’t seem right,” Carbery said. “Obviously the guys that are there are tremendous players in their own right, but he’s one heck of a player.”
Slavin recorded just one point in the series – the overtime winner in Game 1.
The 31-year-old led all Hurricanes in ice time during the second round. Carolina controlled 57.66% of the expected goals and outscored Washington 6-1 with Slavin on the ice at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick. He regularly matched up against the Capitals’ top line.
Despite never being a Norris Trophy finalist, Slavin has received down-ballot votes for eight straight seasons, finishing as high as fifth in 2019-20. He’s topped 40 points only once in his career.
The Hurricanes completely shut down the Capitals’ offense, which ranked second in the NHL during the regular season. Washington managed just seven goals in five games and averaged only 19.2 shots per contest in the series.
Brind’Amour praised his defensive corps after Game 5, particularly the five veterans who shouldered most of the workload. Alexander Nikishin made his NHL debut with Jalen Chatfield sidelined by injury, but played just 10:33, putting more responsibility on the others.
“I gotta give our D a lot of credit. Especially the five guys that played a ton. We threw a kid in there tonight in a real tough spot, and the other guys picked up the slack,” Brind’Amour said.
Defenseman Sean Walker logged a team-high 23 minutes and assisted on Andrei Svechnikov’s game-winning goal with 1:59 left in regulation.
Slavin, Brent Burns, and Dmitry Orlov all played more than 20 minutes. Shayne Gostisbehere logged 17:47 of ice time.
“I think there’s a high compete level. That’s really all I can say about this group,” Brind’Amour said. “I’m proud of how they prepare and how they play for each other.”
