Justin Williams’ return shows promise of strong results moving forward

Former captain Justin Williams made his 2019-20 season debut Sunday evening at PNC Arena as he scored the shootout winner in a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders. But how did he play and how will he perform moving forward?

When he returned Sunday night, Justin Williams seemed like a guy who had simply taken a quick rest and not like a 38-year-old who’s been out of the game for months. In his first shifts, Williams was skating with speed and handling the puck well.

"“He had a good game,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour on Williams’ performance. “I liked pretty much everything. He certainly didn’t look out of place. Right from the start, his first shift was a good shift so that was encouraging. I expected him to be a little more rusty to be honest with you, just because of the pace, because that was a pretty fast game. He fit right in.”"

Williams clocked 13:06 of ice time over 18 shifts while playing alongside Lucas Wallmark and Brock McGinn in his return to the ice. Williams also had three shots on goal, tied for the most by Hurricanes skaters, a hit and a blocked shot.

He also scored the game winner in the eighth-round of the shootout with a quick wrister five-hole.

"“I liked the line they were on,” Brind’Amour said. “They were pretty effective. The first game for sure he’s on adrenaline and I don’t want to put too much on him yet. You earn your ice time and if he’s playing good he’ll get more.”"

For the game against Winnipeg, it seems that Williams will stay on the fourth line, but Wallmark will swap out for Jordan Martinook at center. Martinook isn’t as skilled of a centerman as Wallmark, but the upped grit may help Williams get more separation.

That style of separation should be the game we expect out of Williams moving forward. He doesn’t have a lot of speed, but he is able to stick handle his way through situations and he has a knack for finding weak spots in opposing defenses.

Against the Islanders, Williams constantly found himself receiving passes near the opposing blueline, as this gave the Hurricanes a line that had an easier time getting through the neutral zone. He also didn’t shy away from hits or being hit, much akin to the game we already know from him.

Williams made the most of his time, playing all 13+ minutes at even strength and is a pattern that should continue for the foreseeable future, so he will have to make do with that.

He may find himself with power play minutes as the season progresses, but it likely won’t be soon, barring any injuries, and especially shouldn’t come against the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday night.

While Williams had a relatively strong start, his usefulness began to fall off near the end of the game, despite the increase of ice time his line found following the benching of the Erik Haula line.

Williams himself even admitted so.

"“I thought I tailed off a little bit there in the third period,” Williams said. “I thought I could have been better. First couple of periods we were moving it. When you’re away for a long time you don’t want to over handle the puck. You just want to get it in, get hit or be hit, or throw a hit. Just get involved in the game and that’s what I tried to do.”"

Williams still has a ways to go before he is back to full form, but already his impact has been evident and he hasn’t hurt the team being on the ice. He may find additional ice time as the season moves on, but with Brind’Amour and Williams both cautious with over-extending him, it is safe to say he will remain with fourth line duty and minutes for at least a few more games.

"“There’s always a period where you’re going on adrenaline,” Williams said. “I think these first few games I’m going to go on adrenaline and then hopefully my conditioning will take over and the games will be easier and feel easier and I will be on my way to being the player I know I can be.”"

Expect Williams to have another strong showing as the adrenaline and crowd boost he received Sunday should still be with him, and with Winnipeg’s defensive issues, he may be able to find himself a tally on the score sheet as well.