Key Penalty Kill: 10:00 mins 2nd Period, Round 2, Game 2: PHI @ CAR
At the ten-minute mark of the second period in Game 2 of the second round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Taylor Hall enters the penalty box to serve a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. In doing so, he gives coaches everywhere the opportunity to learn from perhaps the best penalty-killing performance of the season. Or at least, the best based on what the Hurricanes coaching staff, led by Rod Brind’Amour, believes works for their team.
Grab your oxygen mask and let’s get to work.
The Carolina Hurricanes work harder in two minutes on the penalty kill than you've worked cumulatively in your entire life.
Winning Faceoffs
I always start every power play pre-scout with my team’s faceoff wins. This is where you give little reminders about the inside winger tying up on the faceoff if you’re going to use a winger drop. Watch Carolina’s habits here on the drop, and on the second one where the D just rips it out on his forehand. The best penalty kills start in the other team's zone.
PK Forecheck
We’ll see in the next section how outrageously relentless Carolina is in their PK D-zone coverage, but that’s not really the case on their forecheck. The Hurricanes have trusted a diamond formation on their blue line for years. Their first forechecker pressures to get the puck out of the opponent’s hands as quickly as possible, but for the most part, they’re funnelling back to the blue line because they trust their aggressiveness on the entry.
That’s aggression with a capital A. The key is where the defenceman is positioned, or rather the player who lines up as a defenceman, because as we’ll see, the Carolina Hurricanes are mostly playing positionless hockey in the D-zone.
As the clip shows, the forecheck bleeds into zone entry denials and ultimately penalty kill defensive zone coverage. This is where the Hurricanes’ strategy turns legendary.
Snapshot of a PK Energy-Maxing Masterclass
To kill a penalty in the second period of Game 2 against Philadelphia, Carolina’s forwards rotated like this:
- Start Staal / Martinook for the faceoff, clear, and off
- Aho and Jarvis on within 30 seconds, defend, clear
- Jankowski / Robinson on for one faceoff; puck goes over the glass; they come off for a now-rested Staal and Martinook
- Back to Staal and Martinook for a faceoff with 1:17 remaining.
That’s eight total forwards on in 43 seconds if you count Staal and Martinook twice, which I do, because now they're fresh. And this is the second period! Long change. Talk about taking advantage of the time you’ve got.
On defence, Jacob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield start every PK. They didn’t change as much in the second period, which makes sense. They don’t want anyone sneaking behind them on a risky change.
Miller and Walker get on for the faceoff 43 seconds in. Watch the ground every player covers. This is akin to the hardest crossfit workout you can possibly do.
Sip your coffee or eat chips on your couch and watch the energy output in these clips. You have to do this all year, and you have to be in Brind’Amourian condition. Every Carolina penalty killer is fully invested in this PK.
You know who else is working incredibly hard? The Philadelphia Flyers' power play. If you want to slow the game down to create time to make plays, it’s already too late. You won’t survive on the power play against Carolina.
This penalty kill is based on hard work (obviously) and clear concepts:
- Everybody aggressive all the time
- Get off when you can, not when you have to
- The right players for the job
The structure is in place, but they ultimately rely on the right players with the skill set to do the job. Seth Jarvis is the only forward tasked with playing on both special teams, and in his Game 2 postgame interview (which they won in double overtime, an overtime that included a crucial Carolina penalty kill), he thanked the penalty kill profusely.
You have to be in incredible shape if you want this extra ice time, especially in a pressure system like Carolina’s.
Playing on the penalty kill is a privilege.
