Carolina Hurricanes: 5 things every fan should wish for at Christmas
Once the Carolina Hurricanes return from the holiday break on Dec. 27, these are the five things that every fan should wish for from them.
It’s time for the Holidays for the Carolina Hurricanes, and the team is hot heading into the break. The Canes have won five of their last six contests entering the Christmas weekend. Their last game resulted in a 4-2 home win over the Buffalo Sabres, on Dec. 23.
With Christmas here, it’s time to look at what exactly this team can do to keep things going in the right direction once the calendar year turns. If the Canes continue playing this way after the break, 2018 can be very friendly to the fan base.
Through 35 games, the Canes have a record of 16-12-7. and they’re not in last place in the Metropolitan Division anymore. Two tough losses from the Philadelphia Flyers before Christmas weekend put them behind the eight ball in the Metro standings.
Only one point separates the three teams at the top of the Metro. The New Jersey Devils lead the division with 47 points. And, the Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets are tied for second with 46 points each.
Once the Canes get back from the break, they face the Montreal Canadiens, on Dec. 27, at PNC Arena. Then, it’s a battle with Metro division rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 29. The matchup with the Pens will be the third consecutive at home.
The only barrier between the Canes and the Capitals and Blue Jackets in the top three is the New York Islanders and New York Rangers. Both the Islanders and Rangers are tied for the two wildcard spots in the Eastern Conference.
Here’s five things that every Carolina Hurricanes fan should wish for at Christmas.
5. Teuvo Teravainen to heat up again
After a big night in the win over the Sabres, Teuvo Teravainen leads the Canes in points once again. Jeff Skinner took over the points lead for a game, but Teravainen regained it with his team leading 20 assists.
Teravainen is two points ahead of Skinner, with 28 points. But, Skinner does lead the team in goals with 12. Head coach Bill Peters put back together the line featuring Teravainen, Jordan Staal, and Sebastian Aho on Dec. 23. It seemed to work out well.
There was a point in time, in November, where Teravainen was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week. His first career hat trick came in a win over the Dallas Stars on Nov. 13. That type of play out of Teravainen again would ignite Carolina’s offense.
A 70 point season is not out of the question for Teravainen. He’s actually on pace to finish close to that. With 28 points through 35 games, he’s on pace for just under 66 points. His recent slump put him in that position, though.
4. Justin Faulk’s momentum to continue
A big season from co-captain Justin Faulk was expected after he was one of the more productive offensive defensemen in the past three seasons in the NHL. However, Faulk had just one goal through the first 34 games of the season.
A two-goal performance, including his first-game winning goal of the season, should help give Faulk some momentum that he can build off of. The Canes could really use some more production from the blue line.
Before Faulk’s two point performance in the win over the Sabres, Jaccob Slavin had the second most points among Carolina’s defensemen, but he only had nine. Noah Hanifin has done it all for this team, offensively, from the blue line.
Hanifin’s 19 points are well-above Faulk’s 10, to lead all the defenders on the team. Yet, Faulk is regularly at least a 15-goal scorer and the Canes need that out of him again this season. But, 12 goals in the second half of the season is a lot to ask out of a defenseman.
3. More confidence from Scott Darling
Easily the most disappointing part of the season so far has been the play of starting goalie Scott Darling. General manager Ron Francis brought Darling over from the Chicago Blackhawks during the off-season to replace Eddie Lack and hopefully give the Canes a true No. 1 goalie.
However, Darling has not even come close to living up to the bill of a No. 1 NHL goalie. His .896 save percentage is well below the league average, and his last start saw him give up eight goals in an embarrassing loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In fact, Cam Ward’s save percentage, goals against average, and win percentage, are all well-above Darling’s. Ward’s record right now is 8-2-1. And, Ward is 7-0-1 since Nov. 10, and is one of the league’s hottest goaltender’s at this point.
Carolina would be at its overall best if Darling was able to be a goalie that could at least hover around a .910 save percentage. The Canes have trouble counting on him whenever he gets the start. If they do get more performances out of him like the one from the Dec. 16 home victory over the Blue Jackets, he’ll be good to go.
2. Jeff Skinner’s first 40 goal season
Once again, this team’s leading scorer is Skinner. His 12 goals are two ahead of the next best on the team, which is a tie between Staal and Elias Lindholm. While the Canes received streaky production from Teravainen, Lindholm, Aho, and Staal, Skinner has been the most consistent producer.
It would take a lot from Skinner to rack up 28 goals in the remaining 57 games this season. Yet, the hot start that he got off to looked like he would finally reach the 40-goal mark. Skinner finished the 2016-17 campaign with 37 goals, a career-high.
Getting a high-level of production from Teravainen, Faulk, and Skinner would jolt this offense, and make the Canes a tough out for any team in the NHL. The grit is there for Skinner, he just needs to be harder on the puck when he’s close to the net.
Interestingly enough, even though Skinner is the team’s leading scorer, he does not have a single game-winning goal this season. That would be another major step forward for Skinner, to help the Canes come through in the clutch a bit in the remaining part of the regular season.
1. A big name acquisition to help the playoff push
There’s been talk of the Canes making a big splash in the trade market since the beginning of the 2016-17 season. Whether it was trading Hanifin, Faulk, Staal, or Ward, the Canes were right in the thick of a ton of trade rumors.
The need to add a first line center is still there for the Canes also. While Staal should have another 20-goal season on tap, with his 10 goals so far, he’s not a first line quality center. Peters has swapped Staal and Victor Rask as the top line center for most of the season too.
While Rask is due to develop into a solid center in this league, he’s also not a quality first line center that can take a team deep into the playoffs. The trade market does have some big name centers on it right now.
Next: Every takeaway for the Canes before Christmas
The Edmonton Oilers have a talented young center that would be an immediate upgrade for the Canes in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The thought of Nugent-Hopkins playing with Aho and Teravainen should make any Carolina fan’s mouth water. Or, the Canes could go for a mega-star with a guy like John Tavares of the Islanders. But, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon in Raleigh.