In a playoff pinch, Maxime Lajoie makes an unlikely Hurricanes debut

It’s hard to imagine Maxime Lajoie thrown into more difficult circumstances for his debut with the Carolina Hurricanes: A road playoff game, in the middle of a hard-fought series, with the team’s best defenseman out.

Lajoie had played in 62 NHL games with the Ottawa Senators before he was acquired in January, but none with his new teammates, and none in the playoffs. Still, the Hurricanes decided, with Jaccob Slavin out for the second straight game, they were better off throwing the 23-year-old into the deep end of the pool than going back to Jake Gardiner, so in Lajoie went after spending the entire season with Chicago (AHL).

Paired with Jani Hakanpaa, Lajoie ended up giving the Hurricanes close to 17 solid minutes. He was on the ice for one goal against, but he was also the Hurricanes’ best defenseman in terms of analytics at even strength, albeit in limited usage.

“He did great,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “He didn’t look out of place. First couple shifts there, he had a couple chances to score right away. Ripped one right off the goalie’s head. He looked great. Again, that’s a tough spot to throw him in but I thought he was good.”

Lajoie also wasn’t protected in any way, with that pairing sent out for most of the defensive-zone faceoffs and seeing plenty of time against the Nashville Predators’ top two lines, per Natural Stat Trick and Hockey Viz.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect, to be honest with you,” Lajoie said. “They told me I was going to play and told me to play my game. That’s what I wanted to do. It was nice to see they have the confidence in me to take those faceoffs in critical situations.”

Slavin’s absence from Games 2 and 3 remains the elephant in the room, and Brind’Amour tacitly acknowledged that if Slavin were healthy, Jake Bean might not have been on the ice against the Nashville Predators’ top line when Matt Duchene got past Bean to score the double-overtime winner Friday night.

The Hurricanes continue to push Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei to their physical limit, and Dougie Hamilton was right with them Friday, but the unavoidable reality is this is not the same team without Slavin in the lineup. He remains questionable for Sunday’s Game 4, with the Hurricanes up 2-1 in the series.

“Obviously, there’s a huge hole back there with Jaccob not playing,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s obvious. (Pesce) has had to pick up the minutes and (Skjei) and all those guys back there. We’re putting some young kids in situations they probably wouldn’t have been in, because of the injury.”

Sticking with Ned

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be surprising in the least to see Brind’Amour go to Petr Mrazek in Game 4, regardless of what happened in Game 3. The Hurricanes have been a multiple-goalie team under Brind’Amour, and in last year’s preliminary series against the New York Rangers, James Reimer started Game 3 and completed the sweep even though Mrazek staked the Hurricanes to a 2-0 lead.

But Alex Nedeljkovic has been so good the past two games, Duchene outsmarting him by anticipating the poke-check on the winning goal notwithstanding, that there may be every reason to ride the hot hand. And with a Game 5 definitely on the books now, there’s no risk of Mrazek sitting out for an extended period of time as there would have been if Nedeljkovic started Game 4 of a potential Carolina sweep.

Brind’Amour said it’s a question of mental and physical fatigue at this point after Nedeljkovic has played all 11 periods of the series so far, stopping 103 of the 110 shots he has faced. Because the Hurricanes so often rotated their goalies during the regular season, none of them have been in this position.

“The only way to take him out is just because he got overworked,” Brind’Amour said. “That’d be the only reason.”

Tailwinds

With two goals and three assists, Sebastian Aho is now fifth in playoff scoring in franchise history with 29 points. The four players ahead of him -- Eric Staal, Ron Francis, Brind’Amour and Kevin Dineen -- all played in at least 17 more games than Aho’s 26. ... Aho was tied for fifth in the NHL this postseason going into Saturday’s games. Brett Pesce was tied for third among defensemen. ... Sunday will be Jordan Staal’s 100th playoff game.