It's been nearly three months since Brent Burns was dealt to Raleigh and today he wasted little time making his presence felt.
On his first shift he broke up an attempted outlet pass by Florida, saving a potential breakaway with his stick.
A handful of minutes later he got it done on the offensive end, striking during four-on-four play. Just 6:12 into the game the six-time All-Star threw a puck on from the blue line, one that would sneak in-between a battling Jordan Staal and Michael Del Zotto before continuing by Spencer Knight.
In the third period he was able to double down, banking one in from behind the goal line. Collecting a rebound kicked to his defensive post, #8 jumped up in the zone with it, staying to the glove side of Florida's netminder before utilizing a Cats defender to his advantage.
In total Burns would play 22:40, finishing with his two goals on four shots.
Although Florida made a push during the second period to take a 3-2 lead, the Canes were the aggressors in terms of offensive attack all afternoon.
They battled back courtesy of Martin Necas and Burns' second of the afternoon, eventually concluding the contest with a shots advantage of 47-10.
Ondrej Kase and Calvin de Haan were credited with co-leading the way, each having six shots credited.
Speaking of de Haan, the defenseman will officially be a Hurricane this season.
Minutes prior to warmups the team announced that they'd inked the veteran defenseman to a one-year contract worth $850,000.
Previously playing for the Hurricanes during the 2018-19 season, de Haan came to the team's training camp on a tryout offer. Playing in both of the team's preseason wins over Florida, #4 gives the team more depth on the left side of their defense.
Rod Brind'Amour on the overall performance today...
"Their goalie was great. They capitalized on a couple chances, but forget the score. We're not really concerned with that. It's how we play and we're fine. I thought we played pretty well, we played really hard and we should look at it that way when the lineups are how they were. It was a good night."
Brent Burns offering thoughts on his first action in Canes gear...
"It was fun. It was fun to get to see the guys from this side of it. There's a lot of skill and the skill works hard. That's the biggest thing. It was fun to be a part of."
Calvin de Haan on his newly signed contract...
"I took the PTO for a reason. I want to be here. I know this team has championships on their mind. That's kind of the older hockey age in me now. I want a chance to win and I think this team has a good opportunity. At the same time I think I can help and be a big part of this team, just like when we went to the conference finals. My wife and I are familiar with this area and it's a great place to play hockey."
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