Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery couldn't say enough good things about the Carolina Hurricanes after his team's elimination Thursday night, but one player in particular stood out to him: defenseman Jaccob Slavin.
Carbery began his postgame news conference, unprompted, by praising the Hurricanes and head coach Rod Brind'Amour before singling out 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 only one point in the series, though it was a big one with the overtime winner in Game 1. But his strong two-way game was on full display.
The 31-year-old led all Hurricanes skaters in ice time during Round 2. Carolina controlled 57.66% of the expected goals and outscored Washington 6-1 with Slavin on the ice at five-on-five in the series, according to Natural Stat Trick. He did so while routinely taking on top-line matchups.
Slavin has never been a Norris Trophy finalist, though he's received down-ballot votes in each of the past eight seasons, finishing as high as fifth in 2019-20. He's surpassed the 40-point mark only once in a season.
The Hurricanes, as a team, completely shut down the Capitals' No. 2-ranked offense from the regular season, limiting it to only seven goals in five games. Washington averaged just 19.2 shots per contest in the series.
Brind'Amour credited his team's blue line for their play in Game 5, particularly five veterans he leaned on the most. Alexander Nikishin made his NHL debut with Jalen Chatfield out injured. But Nikishin logged just 10:33 in the contest, placing a greater burden on the other five.
"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 skated more than 20 minutes in the tilt. Shayne Gostisbehere came in at 17:47.
"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."
