Jordan Staal’s first goal in a month big for Hurricanes, even bigger for their captain
Even when the moment finally came, when the drought was over and the puck was finally in the net — and not off a shin pad or something like that, but a deft deflection in the right place at the right time — Jordan Staal couldn’t really celebrate.
He waited more than a month for that goal. He’d have to wait a little longer, because the New Jersey Devils challenged the goal for a high-stick earlier in the play.
The Devils lost the challenge. And the Carolina Hurricanes’ captain finally got a little win of his own to go with a 3-2 win for his team. His goal, his first in 15 games and first of 2024, not only gave the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead but ended up being the game-winner.
Unquestionably, it was worth the wait.
“Seems to be the way it’s going this year,” Staal said. “Obviously, happy it went my way this time. Nice to get on the scoreboard and contribute that way and contribute to a win.”
It’s been a trying season for Staal, whose analytics remain as good as usual — the Staal-Jordan Martinook-Seth Jarvis line ranked fourth in the NHL going into Thursday night in terms of expected goals, per moneypuck.com — but is stuck on minus-12 thanks in part to his line’s inability to turn the chances it creates into goals.
And while Martinook has been scoring lately — six goals in the past 10 games — and Jarvis has been scoring all season, Staal has struggled in that category, by his own standards and by any standards. He’s had tougher seasons, dealing with concussions and post-concussion syndrome and broken bones, but perhaps none as frustrating as this one, on pace for the lowest-scoring healthy, full season of his career.
After his late chance to tie the score in Saturday’s loss to the Minnesota Wild hit the side of the post, Staal was unusually pensive in the dressing room afterward. He singled out his own play while discussing the Hurricanes’ inability to capitalize on a dominant first period, and was clearly at a level of personal frustration he wasn’t used to experiencing.
He just needed something, anything to go in.
“I know I’m not crazy counted on (to) score goals around here, but it’s always nice to have it go in the back of the net and contribute that way,” Staal said. “Especially if you get a string of losses, it’s always weighing on me. It’s nice to get the win and get on the scoresheet too. I hope I can build on that and have a great second half.”
This is the tough part of being a captain, especially an aging one. It takes a certain level of contribution to maintain an effective mandate to lead, and while Staal still checks all of the other boxes — dealing with the opposition’s top line, taking key defensive-zone faceoffs, killing penalties — production matters. At 35, it’s not going to get any easier.
His teammates are far more willing to embrace everything else Staal does on the ice other than score, not that they’re any less happy to see him break a skid like this.
“It’s always special when you see Jordo scoring a goal,” said Antti Raanta, who made several big third-period saves to hold the lead and lock down the win. “You can see that he wants to score those goals, also. It’s not like he’s just happy to go in the corner and battle it out. He wants to score, too. It’s always when some guys who usually don’t score, when they score, that’s always like a little bit more enjoyable and a little bit more fun.”
But it still weighs heavily on Staal, even if the Hurricanes have managed without him during this 10-2-1 run since Christmas. Having seen the Hurricanes’ offense stall in the postseason two years in a row, watching winnable playoff series end in frustrating elimination, he knows the stakes.
“If we’re going to do this thing, I’m going to have to be better offensively and be there when I’m needed most,” Staal said. “I’m starting to really focus on getting better at that. At practice, I need to work on it. I don’t, and I should. I got to get on it more and be in front more and create offense and do all the other things that I do well.
“It’s been a little funk, too, so you try to get in the routine of making it more natural-feeling, practicing watching the puck go in the net and shooting pucks. The stuff that all these guys do a lot more than I have lately.”
Actually, no one else is questioning his work ethic. Staal, like many veteran athletes with his pedigree, is his own toughest critic. But all of that is why his sixth goal of the season was such an important one.
Earlier in the period, he knocked a high shot down to his feet but couldn’t get a stick on the puck, the story of his season in a couple different ways — not least of which the goal would likely have been disallowed or challenged if he had been able to knock it in.
And then only minutes later, he was in about the same spot to deflect a Brady Skjei shot past Nico Daws, his first goal since Dec. 19.
“I had some looks again tonight,” Staal said. “I’ve been getting looks for a while now. Like I said, I’m not a crazy goal-scorer. I never have been. I’m relied upon a lot of different ways. But it’s nice when they go in.“
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This story was originally published January 25, 2024 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Jordan Staal’s first goal in a month big for Hurricanes, even bigger for their captain."
