With ‘nothing to prove,’ Hurricanes’ Svechnikov proving his point nonetheless
Sebastian Aho and Jordan Martinook were sitting at a table in the media room Monday, in front of a brand-new Eastern Conference finals banner, addressing the imminent arrival of the Florida Panthers while accompanied by a thudding noise coming from elsewhere in the arena.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
It was not construction workers chipping away at Lenovo Center’s concrete foundation, as they have at night for two months now, but Andrei Svechnikov, in shoes instead of skates, firing puck after puck after puck into a practice net, a sound that carried across a hallway and through a cinder-block wall and closed door.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
It wasn’t exactly The Tell-Tale Heart, but the Carolina Hurricanes are certainly hoping Svechnikov makes his presence known like that throughout this series, as he did during the first two rounds.
Against the New Jersey Devils: five goals in five games.
Against the Washington Capitals: three goals in five games.
He’s nearly halfway to his regular-season total of 20, and it’s almost like Svechnikov is playing like he has something to prove after a year in which he regressed, if anything, at a point in his career — having just turned 25, with his knee injuries behind him — when he should be taking a leap forward.
Which would look, presumably, exactly like this.
“No, nothing to prove,” Svechnikov said. “Just play my game and do what I came to do. Nothing to prove to anyone.”
If he was, it wouldn’t look any different. When the Hurricanes used the second overall pick in the 2018 draft on the big Russian forward, this is exactly what they were expecting: A force of nature with a gift for firing the puck places goalies can’t stop it — or, in the case of the tight-angle series-winner against the Capitals, where goalies aren’t expecting it.
“The effort’s always been there,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “What you’re seeing out of him, for these two rounds anyway, is he’s impactful even when he’s not on the scoresheet. You just kind of notice him. I don’t know how to explain it other than that.
“Whereas maybe during the year there weren’t as many of those kind of games. You go through a game like, ‘We expect a little more, even (when) you’re not scoring.’ Now, whether he’s on the scoresheet or not, he’s been impactful in the games.”
And amid everything that’s different from 2023, when the Hurricanes lost four one-goal games to the Panthers, Svechnikov may be atop that list. He missed that series recovering from a torn ACL, although the host of one notable national hockey podcast this week said, “I don’t think Svechnikov was very effective that series” — technically, not untrue.
In a series defined almost completely by the Hurricanes’ inability to score critical goals on Sergei Bobrovsky and Matthew Tkachuk’s ability to do the same to them, the absences of Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty were acutely felt.
“It was a tough time when you miss the semifinals that year,” Svechnikov said, “but now we’re here all together, so we’re going to have to do it together.”
Two years later, across the entire scope of his professional career, Svechnikov has never made his presence felt more than in the first two rounds of these playoffs, whether the puck’s on his stick or not.
A player who has never scored more than 30 goals in a regular season is on a 60-goal pace in this postseason, and while three of his goals have been empty-net scores and another on the power play, four have been at five-and-five, exactly where the Hurricanes have needed them to be.
So has Svechnikov, and not just when it comes to scoring goals.
“Feeling good,” Svechnikov said. “Just try to play my game and have fun. Help the team to win some games.”
There’s no question, against Bobrovsky and the Panthers, the Hurricanes will need Svechnikov to keep playing like this to do just that.
Never miss a Luke DeCock column. Sign up at www.newsobserver.com/newsletters to have them delivered directly to your email inbox as soon as they post.
Luke DeCock’s Latest: Never miss a column on the Canes, ACC or other Triangle sports
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "With ‘nothing to prove,’ Hurricanes’ Svechnikov proving his point nonetheless."
