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It’s been an interesting homestand for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Through three of their four games against tough Eastern Conference opponents, the Hurricanes have seen mixed results, going 1-1-1.
They opened the stretch with a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday, where they put together a good effort but just couldn’t get the results. They ended up outshooting New York by a huge 30-16 margin and dominated the first 40 minutes in particular, but after the Rangers pulled ahead in the final frame, they weren’t able to recover.
On Saturday though, it was basically the exact opposite situation. After the Hurricanes went up 2-0 and dominated the first half of the opening frame, momentum quickly swung in the Leafs’ favour. For reference: At one point in the first period, the Hurricanes were leading 16-6 in shots. After that, Toronto went on to outshoot the Hurricanes 38-12 through the rest of the game. Toronto ended up coming back to tie it and despite a go-ahead goal from Stefan Noesen in the third period, Auston Matthews tied it back up late. However, Sebastian Aho responded right away to put the Hurricanes ahead once again and that proved to be the game winner, as an empty netter from Teuvo Teravainen resulted in a 5-3 win. So whereas the Hurricanes arguably played well enough to win against the Rangers but didn’t get the results, they didn’t put together a great game win against Toronto, but largely thanks to Pyotr Kochetkov, they still snuck away with the victory.
Then yesterday against the Bruins, it was a big of a mixed bag. The Bruins announced before the game that Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Hampus Lindholm would all be out of the lineup, but it didn’t stop Boston from coming out of the gate as the better team early. The Hurricanes had a rough go and despite one goal from David Pastrnak, Carolina was lucky to not be down by multiple goals through 20 minutes. While Jack Drury tied things up in the second period, another marker from Pastrnak, followed by one from Jakub Lauko, left Carolina down by two and given their performance through the first two-thirds of the game, it didn’t seem like there was much hope for a comeback.
However, they came out looking like a different team in the third period with much more energy, and within the first four minutes of the frame, they had tied the game. After a much stronger third period, neither team could break the tie and in overtime, the Hurricanes were under siege, but Frederik Andersen came up big. In the proceeding shootout though, we saw things end quickly, as Carolina missed on both of their attempts, while goals from Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk sent the Bruins home with the win.
I think a key part of this homestand is seeing how the Hurricanes would stack up against other top teams in the East.
The Hurricanes were able to outplay the Rangers, but couldn’t capitalize. Then right after, they were majorly outplayed by the Leafs through most of the following game, but managed to sneak out with a win. Against Boston, Carolina didn’t really show up for the first two periods, but battled back with a great third period to earn a point. So while they have been able to compete against other top teams despite the injuries, we've still seen mixed performances, and results.
What's lacking a bit is the consistency. For a team who’s allowed the fewest shots per game of anyone in the league, it’s concerning to see Carolina give up a combined 82 shots over just two games versus the Bruins and Leafs.
Even without Svechnikov, the Hurricanes can still compete, but as expected, they can struggle to generate offense at times. It also doesn’t help that Svechnikov (and Pacioretty) would’ve been great for battling down low in the offensive zone and without them, there’s even more of an emphasis on attacking off the rush versus wearing down the opponent in their own end.
Some things to keep an eye on, though: we knew Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas would really have to step up in Svechnikov’s absence and both are doing just that. Aho has six goals in his last five games, while Necas has eight points over his last seven games.
The Hurricanes are continuing to get offense from the blue line as well. Brent Burns and Brady Skjei each had goals over the weekend, while Shayne Gostisbere continues to get a great fit since arriving in Carolina.
The team also got a great game from Pyotr Kochetkov against Toronto, while Frederik Andersen was forced to be good against the Bruins as well. It’s going to be really interesting to see what the Hurricanes opt to do in net for the postseason.
Carolina will be back in action tomorrow for another good test, as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning to close out their homestand.
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