Hurricanes leaping to success
The Carolina Hurricanes are bringing the Lambeau Leap to their hockey rink.
Their post-victory parties have gone viral. After each win on home ice, they’ve skated en masse down the ice and jumped into the glass.
Consider it the latest sign that this isn’t the same team that has missed the playoffs an NHL-worst nine straight years.
“Instead of the standard, everybody goes to center ice and holds their stick up, we’re trying something new,” veteran winger Jordan Martinook said. “I think we had fun with it, and I think the fans liked it, so just keep an eye out on those. We might change it up, stick with that one, who knows?”
They call it the “Storm Surge,” and they’ve already done it twice to rave reviews from fans who stuck around after the final horn.
It debuted following Carolina’s 8-5 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday night. After the buzzer sounded, the team lined up along one blue line and clapped their hands over their heads while DJ Khaled’s “All I Do is Win” played over the arena’s sound system.
Then they skated the length of the ice, with each player taking a playful leap into the boards as the fans cheered. Video of the celebration caught fire on social media seemingly as quickly as the players bounced off the Plexiglas.
The encore came Tuesday night after beating Vancouver 5-3, but this time, as his teammates lined up, Micheal Ferland skated to center ice and led the claps before everyone skated down the ice and jumped into the glass.
“We looked at it, and they’re fine-tuning it,” first-year coach Rod Brind’Amour said, adding that Ferland “had a little issue with the beat. But again, that’s something that they’ve created, and hopefully they enjoy it and the fans enjoy it.”
New captain Justin Williams was the one who came up with the idea, Martinook said.
“Once he mentioned it, everyone was pretty excit- ed and ready to run with it,” Martinook said.
They know the celebration needs some fine tuning, and the best way to get it right it is by continuing to win.
Only one week in, they own an Eastern Confer- ence-best seven points. The 3-0-1 record is the fran- chise’s best since it relocated from Hartford to North Carolina in 1997. The last time they opened a season by earning points in four straight games was in 1994.
Elsewhere in the NHL — Vegas Golden Knights center Paul Stastny will miss at least three games with an undisclosed lowerbody injury. Vegas signed the 32-year-old Stastny to a $19.5 million, three-year contract in the offseason after he had 15 points in 17 playoff games with the Winnipeg Jets last spring.