The Carolina Hurricanes have one of the most dependable and hardest-working players in the NHL in defenseman Brent Burns. In the Hurricanes’ 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night, Burns played in his 915th-consecutive NHL game, moving him up to No. 4 all time.
Since making his debut with the Minnesota Wild in 2003-04, Burns has appeared in 1,487 games. Throughout his 21 seasons in the NHL, he has scored 260 goals and has recorded 906 points.
After spending the first seven years of his career in Minnesota, Burns spent 11 seasons with the San Jose Sharks before joining the Hurricanes ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Burns now only sits behind Phil Kessel, 1,064 games, Keith Yandle, 989 games and Doug Jarvis, 964 games, on the list of most consecutive appearances.
Burns and the rest of the Hurricanes return to action on Sunday afternoon when they host the New York Islanders.
What makes the Hurricanes’ penalty kill so strong?
The Carolina Hurricanes have one of the strongest penalty-kill units in the NHL. Their penalty-kill percentage of 84.8 is the highest in the NHL. Jordan Martinook has been a contributor to the unit’s success.
“Every one of us doesn’t want to give up a goal ever,” Martinook said via The Athletic. “And when we do, we get pretty pissed off.”
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour believes a contributing factor to the unit’s success has been players being used properly.
“Well, there’s a lot of things, to be honest,” Brind’Amour said. “But I think we’ve got good people in good positions that know what they’re doing. … We’ve pretty much seen the same penalty killers in the same spots over and over and over. I think that helps.”
Jaccob Slavin has been another contributor to the group’s success. He has earned the respect of assistant coach Tim Gleason, who oversees the Hurricanes’ penalty kill unit.
“I don’t know who’s better at overall defending than him,” Gleason said of Slavin, who opened the eyes of anyone who wasn’t already aware of his ability during the 4 Nations Face-Off. “His reads, his stick, his compete, and he’s not even really a physical guy.
“His containment’s awesome, and it’s consistent over and over and over. … He’s probably the closest guy I can relate to (Nicklas) Lidstrom growing up, and how good he was positionally, stick-wise and the way he carries himself.”
Gleason explained how one of the most important aspects of killing penalties is mentality.
“You jump over the wall, it was go time,” Gleason said. “That was the thought I had as a player. This is the job. A lot of guys make a living with this stuff. … So the mentality has to be: Boom, there’s a penalty. We’re jumping over the wall with the purpose to get the job done and go from there.”
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