The Carolina Hurricanes are exactly where they want to be right now, 4 games into the season. Sure you could nitpick about the point that got away against Detroit and the late collapse in Pittsburgh after impressively clawing even at 2-2. But 5 points in 4 games is a playoff pace, and it is much better than the horrible couple game starts of years past. And maybe most significantly, the team has clearly made strides in just playing decent hockey that gives them a chance to collect points almost every night.
But a decent start through 4 games builds exactly nothing in terms of cushion and room for a letdown. And the next set of opponents offers more challenges. I said before the season started that my first mile post in terms of measuring this team was through 7 games. The Canes are now coming down the home stretch of that short run of games with a slightly easier (but by no means a gimme) Phoenix game on Sunday bookended by the 2 Western Conference Finals teams from 2013 with Los Angeles on Friday and Chicago next Tuesday. When the run of 7 to start the season is complete, the Canes will have played 3 of the final 4 teams from the 2013 playoffs and 5 playoff teams out of 7 games.
Friday’s game is a challenging one. LA has become a perennial challenger in the Western Conference. On the Canes side, Muller leaned real heavily on a few key players to get a win Thursday. Faulk logged a whopping 28:03 of ice time and Sekera 23:56. At forward Semin skated 22:31 and EStaal 22:05. With the short turnaround, hopefully these players can still find their legs. Los Angeles had the day off Thursday, probably watching the Canes game from the hotel in Raleigh, but the Kings will be playing their 1st game in the Eastern time zone after playing at home Wednesday, so I guess 1 can hope that they start slow.
Here are my keys to the game/”what I will be watching”:
1) Full roster effort. Matchup-wise, I think this game will feel a bit more like a road game. Muller will be able to dictate matchups a bit at home, but the Kings are a deep team both at forward and on the blue line, so there is no huge advantage or mismatch to be gained by trying to pick on weakness. It comes down to each and every shift needing to be a good one to keep the ice from tilting the wrong way. And having played Thursday night and leaned heavily on key players, there will be a need to spread minutes, use the 4th line and keep players fresh. To win the Canes are going to need a good top-to-bottom effort. This would be a great game to get a bonus goal from the 4th line either early or when the team really needs one.
2) Can anyone build upon minor success? I would not say that the EStaal line is clicking by any means, but EStaal now has points in consecutive games and Semin got on the board with a goal Thursday. Can either of these players or the line in general extend the mini-break through and get closer to where they were last season? Elias Lindholm is also coming off a solid game that included his 1st NHL goal and is gradually getting more minutes and responsibility. He is starting to look comfortable in the NHL game. Is he ready to make an even bigger impact? The Canes have been pretty good through 4 games, but there is clearly room for improvement. With 2 elite teams in the next 3 games, now would be a great time for a few players to find that higher gear and make the team even better.
3) Cam Ward. As of last night, Muller had not named a starter for Friday’s game. My guess is that he will come back to Ward with the back-to-back, but that is something to monitor. If he does as I expect, it will be important for Ward to have a bounce back game of sorts. He had his moments including the incredibly 30-second flurry against Pittsburgh, but overall it was not his best effort. Khudobin looks to be on track. If Ward can find the high level for his game on a consistent basis too and the Canes can continue to be decent defensively, they will be in the vast majority of their games which is the path to 2 points on good nights and a decent number of garbage points on lesser nights.
I am away with my son’s youth group for the weekend, so I will be catching up on the weekend of Canes hockey via DVR on Sunday afternoon maybe in time to see the 1pm Sunday start near live. I will probably post a placeholder for post-game comments for Fri’s game. Hopefully someone will fill me in on what happened. Not sure if I will be able to do anything for a game preview on Sunday, but I will be back in the Canes hockey loop no later than Sunday night.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
Go Canes!
Matt on Google+ 
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»