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The Carolina Hurricanes came up short against the Detroit Red Wings last night following a late goal, losing 3-2. It marks the Hurricanes' fourth loss in their last five games.
Pain pic.twitter.com/VHUvaYadv7
— x - Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 31, 2023
The Hurricanes found themselves down right as the game began, when Dominik Kubalik came down the wing and put a great wrist shot past Frederik Andersen on the blocker side. Carolina tied it with an early goal of their own in the second period though, as Brent Burns put a shot on net from the point that found its way in. Then only a few minutes later, Jaccob Slavin’s point shot also beat Alex Nedeljkovic, putting Carolina ahead. However, Detroit managed to respond, as only a couple minutes later, Alex Chiasson put a pass out to Dylan Larkin in front, who beat Andersen to tie it on their first shot of the period.
We saw a fairly even third period afterwards, where each team had a power play chance but neither could convert. Just as it looked like the game was destined for overtime though, with only three seconds to go, Jake Walman put a shot through traffic to beat Andersen, securing a win for Detroit.
The Hurricanes are a very good team, but it’s hard to have a lot of confidence in them heading into the postseason right now. There are some very real, justified reasons for concern that they could suffer an early exit.
Yes, they played a fairly good game and outshot Detroit by a 33-22 margin. But controlling play isn’t often the issue, we just know Carolina’s going to struggle to score. The team’s power play can’t do much to help this either. It’s nothing new bit just one goal on 14 attempts across their last six games doesn’t look great. If it weren’t for the defense group providing as much offense as they have (with both goals coming from defenders last night), they’d be in an even worse spot.
Even though Frederik Andersen can’t be blamed for the goals, it’s still a matter of not making the save when needed after facing only 22 shots. Given the Hurricanes are almost surely going to struggle to score in the playoffs, they’ll need very strong goaltending. While they have several different options in net, they don’t have a clear top netminder who’s going to steal games for them. Any of Andersen, Raanta or Kochetkov can be solid, but given the lack of scoring, there’s going to be more pressure put on goaltending and it’s debatable as to whether anyone can rise to the challenge.
The loss continues what’s been a disappointing stretch for the Hurricanes, with just four wins in their last 11 games. It’s not like the team isn’t showing up, but they’re missing top talent and it shows.
Carolina does have a pretty favourable schedule going forward but are on verge of letting top spot in the Metropolitan Divison slip away. As of now, they’re a single point up on the New Jersey Devils, though they do have a game a in hand.
Carolina’s next game comes tomorrow against the Montreal Canadiens, as they begin a weekend back-to-back.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM MARCH
Can the Hurricanes overcome Andrei Svechnikov’s season-ending injury? Hurricanes overcoming adversity to stay atop Metropolitan Division Hurricanes getting mixed results during difficult homestand Hurricanes’ homestand ends with shutout loss to Lightning