Don’t look now but the Carolina Hurricanes are off to a pretty great start, and they seem to be having some fun!
After lighting up the scoreboard on Sunday in an 8-5 win over the New York Rangers -- a game that was highlighted by some of the Hurricanes’ young forwards having huge days -- the Hurricanes are now 2-0-1 on the young season, have earned five out of a possible six points, and probably played well enough to win the one game they did not win.
Sunday’s win over the Rangers was their first victory on home ice this season, and they used it as an opportunity to introduce a new victory celebration.
It all began with the entire team lining up across the blue line, captain Justin Williams leading the team in a Skol clap, and then everyone storming the length of the ice and jumping into the glass at the opposite end.
This is not something you usually see in the NHL (the most you might see is teams like the Rangers, for example, gathering at center ice and saluting the fans) and I imagine the “act like you’ve been there before, you are a professional hockey player” crowd will find some reason to complain about this. But you know what? Justin Williams is a 37-year-old, 18-year NHL veteran and a three-time Stanley Cup champion. He has been there, and he has done “it” before. This is just good fun, and some nice excitement for a team, franchise, and fan-base that is desperate for it.
The Hurricanes are capable of some good things this season. Hopefully they keep having some fun while they do it.
At the end of the day sports are supposed to be ... you know ... fun.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.