Carolina Hurricanes Five Things Learned: The Point Streak Continues

The Carolina Hurricanes kept their point streak alive and increased their playoff chances by defeating the Devils 3-1

The Devils were the Carolina Hurricanes kryptonite so far this season.  Earlier this season, Carolina dropped three games to a club in clear tank mode going 0-2-1. Tonight looked like it was going to be more of the same story of the Hurricanes getting beat by a lesser opponent.

The Canes went up early off on Sebastian Aho’s 22nd goal of the season from a sick feed by Lindholm.  But in the second, the Hurricanes came out slow and the Devils took advantage with Travis Zajac tieing up the game.

Every time I hear Zajac’s name I’m always like, “he’s still playing in the league?” even though he’s only 31 years old.  It just feels like he’s been with the Devils forever.  I guess because he actually has been.

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I wonder how much longer Zajac’s contract is, *looks at CapFriendly* oh god Devils why would you do that?  So much money for a guy who hasn’t scored over twenty goals since 2010.  That whole team is just a mess.  I don’t know of anybody who would ever overpay a guy who doesn’t score a whole lot of goals.

But the Carolina Hurricanes escaped and return home for a four-game home stand on Monday starting with the Detroit Red Wings.  The win tonight extends the Hurricanes point streak to ten games with a 7-0-3 record in their last games.  Carolina still trails the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders but have games in hand on both teams.

Five Things Learned Tonight

• Jeff Skinner continued putting the team on his back and carrying them to the playoffs.  He scored goal number 30 of the year.  This is his third thirty goal season of his career and first since 2014.  Skinner has turned into a true threat every time he touches the puck these days and it’s a great turnaround from the scary seasons marred with injuries and concussions
• Sebastian Aho scored goals number 22nd and number 23rd  tonight as well.  Aho’s second goal was pretty amazing as he fights off four New Jersey Devils and puts the puck past Cory Schneider from a sharp angle.  Just seven more to reach my 30 goal season prediction.  If the Hurricanes want to reach the playoffs, I have a feeling they may just need Aho to do just that.
• Don’t know why but the officiating this season has just been atrocious.  It’s starting to return to late 90s early 2000s levels.  Not only did the refs miss this clear slew foot on Lindholm, there was another slash on Jeff Skinner they turned a blind eye too as well.  This is all in addition to the six men on the ice penalty the refs should have called before Justin Faulk’s slash in the first period.
• Taylor Hall is an offensive force.  Pretty much anytime the Devils were looking dangerous, Hall was out on the ice.  It’s a shame that as soon as Hall leaves Edmonton, the Oilers earn their first playoff berth in ten years.  With the Devils clearly rebuilding it may be time to start seeing how much they can get for players like Hall and goalie Cory Schneider on the market.

Next: Charlotte Checkers Checkup

• The Canes win tonight increased their playoff odds to 12 percent.  While things are still very tenuous in terms of making the playoffs seeing the chances increase with every win is pleasing.  This makes taking both games against Detroit mandatory if the team wants postseason games in Raleigh.  The Red Wings have nothing to play for while the Hurricanes do.  Got to win the games you should to deserve the playoffs, especially if they are at home.  We’ll see if the Canes are for real or not with these two games.