Start to finish, Hurricanes’ fourth line helped key Game 1 victory over the Predators

Steven Lorentz wasn’t sure a few months ago how this hockey season might unfold for him, but he probably didn’t dream of this: taking the opening draw for the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.

But there he was Monday, facing off at center ice against Colton Sissons of the Nashville Predators, with 12,000 Canes fans on their feet and roaring, and PNC Arena rumbling.

When Nashville coach John Hynes elected to send out his fourth line to start Game 1, the Canes’ Rod Brind’Amour, with the last change at home, did the same. It was Lorentz at center, with Jordan Martinook and Brock McGinn on his wings.

“This time of the year you need all hands on deck,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “The reason is, the other team has four lines that can play. You get to this point and everyone is good. There’s no weaknesses. They’re playing all their guys if they can and they’re effective, and you need to have the same, otherwise it’s way too taxing on everybody if you’re running guys’ minutes way up.”

Lorentz won the opening draw. Barely 20 seconds into the first shift, McGinn got in a hit on Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis. A few moments later, Martinook hit Luke Kunin. Game on.

Fourth lines don’t always win hockey games but they can lose them. In the Canes’ 5-2 victory in Game 1, Lorentz, Martinook and McGinn were credited with 15 of the Canes’ 56 hits — seven by Martinook. Lorentz earned his first career Stanley Cup playoff point with an assist on Teuvo Teravainen’s first-period goal.

“They were effective.” Brind’Amour said. “That’s what we’re going to have to have if we want to be successful.”

Lorentz made his NHL debut for the Canes and played 45 games in his rookie season. While still youthful in appearance, he’s 25. He’s a solid 6-foot-4, 206-pounder who has some thump in his game and a willingness to use it. So, too, McGinn and Martinook, and with the experience to go with it.

Lorentz also is player who understands his role as a fourth-line guy and what Brind’Amour wants and the Canes need.

“We’re not expected to go out and put up two or three points a night,” Lorentz recently said. “Our job basically is to keep it simple and just create energy and give our top-six or top-nine guys a rest. When we go out there, we know we have to play responsibly and really make sure that we’re taking care of our own end and being on the D-side of pucks.”

McGinn missed the last 19 games of the regular season with an upper-body injury and Martinook was kept out of nine of the last 10 by a lower-body issue. But both were in the lineup for the start of the biggest games of the season, McGinn playing almost 14 minutes in his first game since April 4 against Dallas.

“I thought Brock had a really good game, very noticeable considering he’s been out for quite a while,” Brind’Amour said. “But I think that was the key, everybody contributed.”

Brind’Amour switched up his top three lines during Game 1, moving Andrei Svechnikov to Sebastian Aho’s line with Teravainen. But the fourth line remained intact for the most part, and saw the ice a lot in the third period — Lorentz and McGinn each in for nine shifts, Martinook for eight in the period.

Lorentz had a roughing penalty in the second period after putting Nashville’s Erik Haula into the wall. But the Canes’ penalty killers did not allow a shot and McGinn drew a holding penalty on the Preds’ Roman Josi soon after the penalty expired.

The line that started the game for the Canes also ended it. The fourth line was on the ice in the final minute of regulation, taking in the last roars.

But as Brind’Amour said, everyone did his part. All four lines, all six defenseman, and another rookie, goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, in net.

And Canes fans. The listed attendance Monday was 12,000, but every seat seemed filled. The noise level was the same as a full house, a sense of togetherness and appreciation palpable.

“That’s how it should feel,” Brind’Amour said, summing up the scene and his team’s play in five words.