Carolina Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis gained his playoff experience the hard, painful way

A year ago, before the Stanley Cup playoffs began, Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes was asked how he envisioned his first playoff game.

“I don’t know. You tell me, dude,” Jarvis, then a rookie, replied to the reporter.

That wasn’t Jarvis being flippant. It was a young guy talking like, well, a young guy and being honest about it rather than spouting some hockey cliches.

In the course of the next 14 playoff games, Jarvis received a thorough education. He was hit by a shot from teammate Brendan Smith — felled by friendly fire, if you will — and struck in a very painful area. He took a stick in the mouth from Ryan Strome of the New York Rangers, bending back Jarvis’ front four teeth.

In Game 7 against New York, Jarvis was leveled by the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba, left dazed and concussed on the ice. Trying as best he could to get back to the bench but slow in doing it, it led to a penalty against the Canes for too many men on the ice — and then a Rangers power-play goal as New York won 6-2 to claim the series.

A year later, Jarvis is more experienced, has more savvy. In Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs Monday against the New York Islanders, he watched another playoff rookie, Canes forward Jack Drury, absorb a monster hit from defenseman Ryan Pulock some 20 seconds into the game.

“That first shift, when Jack got blown up, that kind of set the tone for the whole thing,” Jarvis said Tuesday. “He took it like an absolute champ, and that kind of clued everyone in to what kind of series it’s going to be. In a way it’s a good way to start the game, for everybody. Just to see that, it kind of got everybody going.”

Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Monday before Game 1 that the opening round in the playoffs can be the most brutally intense, with teams relatively healthy and perhaps overly amped. It’s hit and be hit. In Game 1, the Canes and Islanders were credited with 83 total hits — 44 by the Isles, 39 for Carolina — as the Hurricanes took a 2-1 win at PNC Arena.

Jarvis emerged unscathed, noting Tuesday, “It’s nice I’m not the one getting crushed this time.”

Not that he shied away from contact. Jarvis, playing right wing on Sebastian Aho’s line with Teuvo Teravainen, was in that danger zone near the crease often in Game 1, in harm’s way.

“In a way I had an idea what to expect but even in going out there for warmups before the game, before the anthem, you can’t prepare for that, you can’t be ready for that,” he said. “It’s crazy. The building last night was unbelievable.

“This is kind of what you dream of, playing in the postseason, and you work all season to get the chance to. When it’s finally here, I think the adrenaline takes over, the hits ramp up and everything is heightened.”

Jarvis had almost 15 minutes of ice time in Game 1, being used on the power play and a little on the penalty kill. In the final 95 seconds of regulation, with the Islanders pulling goalie Ilya Sorokin out of net for a sixth attacker, Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour again had Jarvis on the ice.

“He’s taken some big strides in that department this year,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “I know his numbers aren’t great offensively and you’d like to see them a little better, but it’s not really about that. It’s about his overall game and growing.

“And he’ll continue to get better. It’s just the beginning stages of what I think he’ll end up being for us in the future.”

Jarvis’ second NHL season was a hit-and-miss kind of year. He had a hat trick against Montreal in mid-February at PNC Arena, getting a celebratory face full of shaving cream after the game from Martin Necas.

Jarvis had games where he was very visible and others where he was not, including a 21-game stretch late in the regular season when he was without a goal. His final numbers — 14 goals, 39 points in 82 games — were average at best.

But Jarvis never lost his zest or zeal, on the ice or in the locker room. Who’ll ever forget Jarvis after the Stadium Series outdoor game, standing in the room at Carter-Finley Stadium with sunglasses on and a cool beer in his hand, cutting up, waving off chirps from teammates about whether he was 21 or not (he was).

Jarvis, a first-round draft pick by the Canes in 2020, has the type of personality that filters through the room, that lightens the mood, that brings smiles to faces.

“It’s great,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s great to have the young kids around, for the older guys. Yeah. he’s a character and the older guys love him for the energy he brings.”

Brind’Amour said Jarvis had “a little bit of the Chad LaRose in him, always with a smile,” bringing up another fast-taking, fun-loving winger from Brind’Amour’s playing days. Those Canes had “Rosey.” Now it’s “Jarvy.”

“Everyone knows you need people like that in your life,” Brind’Amour said.

Jarvis and the Canes took the ice Monday before Game 1 as injured forward Andrei Svechnikov was sounding the warning siren. Svechnikov took off his suit jacket for it, but Jarvis, being Jarvis, had other ideas.

“He told me before the game that he was going to do it, so I told him he should probably take his shirt off and wave it around after he’s done,” Jarvis said.

That would have been quite the sight. As it was, the shirt stayed on and the crowd was plenty pumped. So were the Canes as they jumped into the playoffs.

“It’s fun,” Jarvis said. “It’s a ton of fun.”