Carolina Hurricanes Have Their Best Week of the Season, Find Offensive Consistency
Every week, Cardiac Cane will make a complete wrap-up of the Carolina Hurricanes’ week for the 2015-2016 season.
Preseason 12/7-12-13
Summary:
There is a popular notion that if something isn’t working, you make a change in an effort to get it right. Apparently, Bill Peters doesn’t subscribe to that notion because his team hasn’t changed anything since mid-November but are suddenly scoring at an amazing pace. The Carolina Hurricanes have scored 5 goals in each of the last four games, a rate that hasn’t even been matched by a previous Carolina team. It’s even more strange considering that coming into the week, the ‘Canes were one of the worst goal scoring teams in the NHL. Here’s how it happened.
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After the last second victory over the Arizona Coyotes last Sunday, the team jetted off on a western conference road trip. First, the stopped in Dallas, home to Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and the high flying Dallas Stars. This game started dreadfully. The 4-0 losing score line after only 1 period left ‘Canes fans covering their eyes in horror. The beginning of the 3rd period didn’t offer much hope either as the ‘Canes were still down 5-1.
With nothing to lose, the Hurricanes fought back hard. Justin Faulk started the comeback with a powerplay goal. Call-up Phil Di Giuseppe scored his first NHL goal from a Noah Hanifin pass. Faulk scored again to cut the lead to one. Then Jeff Skinner undressed a defenseman to open up space for a near post snipe that tied the game. Sadly, the Hurricanes momentum stalled after a questionable penalty taken by Victor Rask. Free agent signing Patrick Sharp ensured victory for Dallas with a subsequent powerplay goal. It may have been a loss, but the Hurricanes played fantastic from the 2nd period onward. The team’s dynamic seemed to change dramatically after Cam Ward was relieved by Eddie Lack.
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Carolina faced Anaheim on Friday. This was the Hurricanes best performance of the season. Eddie Lack deserved a shutout, but still made 31 saves enroot to a 5-1 Hurricanes victory. The real story of the game was Jeff Skinner who registered his third career hat trick. Skinner opened the scoring when he received a stretch pass off the boards from Ron Hainsey. The winger then sniped it far post for a 1-0 lead. Skinner scored again in 2nd after a nice play from Victor Rask. In the same period, Eric Staal and Elias Lindholm connected on a beautiful give a go along the goal line with Lindholm getting the marker.
Anaheim added an early goal in the 3rd to put the pressure on, but Jordan Staal scored right after to silence the Ducks. With the extra attacker out for the Ducks, Skinner battled his way through three players to score on the empty net for his hat trick. This was by far the most dominant performance from the Hurricanes all year.
Carolina Hurricanes
The week concluded in Arizona with a rematch with the Coyotes. Like the game in Raleigh, it was back a forth. The Hurricanes jumped out to an early lead courtesy of a Kris Versteeg deflection and an Andrej Nestrasil powerplay finish. Di Giuseppe scored his second career goal on a beautiful 2 on 1 with Skinner. Rookie Anthony Duclair answered back for Arizona. Faulk scored yet another powerplay goal early in the 3rd to make it 4-1. Credit the Coyotes, they fought back. Max Domi and Duclair led the comeback that saw Connor Murphy score with about 10 seconds left to send it over time. In the extra period, Elias Lindholm made a brilliant play passing the puck off to goaltender Eddie Lack for a line change. Off the bench, Victor Rask was sprung by Lack. Rask deked into the slot and made no mistake. The Hurricanes won 5-4.
Hopefully, the quality of play continues. While that might be doubtful, this week showed Caniac Nation what the future will look like. We saw the team being led by Faulk, Skinner, Rask, and Lindholm. In past winning streaks, Eric Staal was the centerpiece of the success. That is no longer the case. It is clear that the young core of this team can play exceptionally well, so they need to continue to mature in order to make winning streaks like this commonplace.
Cane of the Week:
Justin Faulk – 3GP, 3G, 3A
Despite being the ‘Canes best player by a country mile, this the first time all season Justin Faulk is Cane of the Week. Yes, its blasphemy, but honestly, he has been so consistently amazing that I needed to spread the love around. This week, Faulk was everything an elite defenseman should be. His play was offensively dominant, defensively sound, and exhibited great leadership. This week was even more of an indication that Faulk is the new face of the franchise.
In Dallas, Faulk tallied two powerplay goals. He added two assists against the Anaheim Ducks. On Saturday, the 23 year old scored his 12th powerplay goal of the season and added another assist. He has the franchise recorded for powerplay goals for a defenseman and it isn’t even half way through December. It isn’t Patrick Kane or Steven Stamkos who leads the league in powerplay goals, it’s Faulk. In 30 games, he has 25 points after his 6 points this week.
The entire team played great this week. Even with Rask and Skinner playing awesome, Faulk was and is the backbone of this team and franchise and deserves the honor of Cane of the Week.
Next: What are the Best Games in Hurricanes History?
The Forecast:
Tuesday 7:00 pm @ Wells Fargo Center against the Philadelphia Flyers
Friday 7:00 pm @ PNC Arena against the Florida Panthers
Saturday 7:00 pm @ Consol Energy Center against the Pittsburgh Penguins
The Hurricanes close out their “western road trip” against the Flyers oddly enough. Like the Hurricanes, the Flyers have started to score after not being able to, so it should be entertaining. The team then returns home to face the Florida Panthers, a squad who is hovering around the playoff bubble. Finally, on Saturday, Carolina flies up to Pittsburgh to face GM Jim Rutherford and the Penguins. The Hurricanes former general manager just fired his head coach and hired a new one in Mike Sullivan. A win against Pittsburgh is always welcomed, so hopefully the boys can get that victory.