Carolina Hurricanes: Roadtrip Brings them Back Down to Earth
Every week of the 2015-2016 season, Team Cardiac Cane will deliver a complete wrap-up of the Hurricanes’ positives and negatives. Here’s the latest.
Regular Season 2/1 – 2/7 summary:
It was a truly incredible ending to January for the Carolina Hurricanes. Perhaps their good fortunes caught up to them this week as the Hurricanes went an unimpressive 1-1-1 on their Canadian road trip.
More hurricanes: Hurricanes Canadian Swing Ends in Montreal
Here is what happened.
First, Carolina flew out to Western Canada for a date with the Calgary Flames. There seemed to be a post All-Star hangover for the Canes as they looked rather sluggish all game, a far cry from their previous game against Chicago. Elias Lindholm scored Carolina’s only goal. Sean Monahan led his Flames team to a 4-1 victory with four points. The Hurricanes were beaten especially badly on special teams, going 0-5 on the powerplay and conceding two powerplay goals. All in all, it was a rough night for the ‘Canes.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes bounced back in the next game against Winnipeg, with Carolina soaring to a 4-0 lead barely ten minutes into the 1st period. The rapid fire scores came from Phil Di Giuseppe, Andrej Nestrasil, Jordan Staal, and then Justin Faulk. Besides the first period, though, the game was fairly even through the second and third. Cam Ward made miraculous saves, including a diving goal line clearance. The Jets clawed back into it thanks to the leadership of former Hurricane Andrew Ladd. Fortunately though, another tally from Nestrasil late in the 3rd period was enough to secure a 5-3 victory for the Canes.
Once again, the Jordan Staal line was dominant. Staal himself had a three point night, Nestrasil had his first career multi-goal game, and Joakim Nordstrom had two assists. Unsurprisingly, Nordstrom and Nestrasil finished with a +2 rating, and Staal with a strong +3. It’s also worth mentioning that Jordan Staal has proven himself more far valuable than his brother Eric. In fact, after a solid week, Jordan has surpassed his brother in points on the season. That is a testament to Jordan’s fantastic play of late and Eric’s decline into mediocrity. It still is weird seeing Jordan Staal be more offensively productive than his brother.
Finally, the week came to a close on Super Bowl Sunday. Both Carolina teams fell short, as the Panthers lost to the Broncos and the Canes dropped a point in a shootout loss against Montreal.
The game started well enough for Carolina. Jeff Skinner redirected a Jordan Staal shot for another early first period goal. The rest of the period saw Carolina hit the post and miss wide open cages, plays that would end up haunting them later on. Max Pacioretty scored with a beautiful snipe in the second to level it.
It remained tied 1-1 throughout the rest of regulation and overtime, taking the teams to the shootout. Carolina never found the twine in the skills competition, while Sven Andrighetto won it for the Habs in round five of the shootout. This game was all about goaltending. Goalies Ben Scrivens and Cam Ward were both spectacular. Ward made a great glove save to keep it level in overtime and Scrivens was solid all night, making 34 saves. It was only fitting a goalie duel go all the way to a shootout.
Cane of the Week:
Jeff Skinner – 3GP, 1G, 2A, +2
The only Hurricanes player to record a point in all three contests this week, Jeff Skinner, is becoming a consistent offensive force for Carolina. His only goal came against Montreal early in the game, but he had many more chances to score all week and his two assists were quite pretty. Against Calgary, he made his patented 10 and 2 move with the skates and fed Lindholm beautifully. In the win against the Jets, Skinner stickhandled, albeit sporadically, until he found Jordan Staal for a goal.
Skinner’s production is very visually evident. When he is producing, he can’t go a shift without being a presence. Sadly, that is not always the case, a his production has tended to come and go in bursts. This seemed like a positive stretch for the former rookie of the year. Skinner, like a lot of Hurricanes, hasn’t seen playoff hockey first-hand. He doesn’t know what it takes to become a playoff team yet. Carolina, though, stands more of a chance if Skinner continues producing offensively and defensively.
Honorable Mentions: Jordan Staal, Andrej Nestrasil, Cam Ward
Next: Top Targets for General Manager Ron Francis
The Forecast:
Friday 7:00 pm @ PNC Arena against the Pittsburgh Penguins
Saturday 7:00 pm @ PNC Arena against the New York Islanders
This week determines the season essentially. Having already played 54 games, the Hurricanes’ remaining schedule isn’t as heavy as the teams ahead of them in the standings. Games in hand for those teams doesn’t bode well for Carolina’s playoff chances, so the Canes must make good on their fewer chances.
There isn’t a period that makes that more true than this coming week when they face the Penguins and the Islanders, two teams directly in front of them in the standings. Also, with the trade deadline closing in, whether or not the Hurricanes make good on these games could mean whether they are buyers or sellers in the trade market.