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Carolina Hurricanes: Why is Scott Darling playing his best when it does not matter

By Andrew Miller

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 30: Scott Darling #33 and Valentin Zykov #73 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrate after the Hurricanes defeated the Washington Capitals 4-1 at Capital One Arena on March 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 30: Scott Darling #33 and Valentin Zykov #73 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrate after the Hurricanes defeated the Washington Capitals 4-1 at Capital One Arena on March 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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NEWARK, NJ – MARCH 27: Scott Darling #33 of the Carolina Hurricanes surrenders a goal as Miles Wood #44 of the New Jersey Devils starts to celebrate on March 27, 2018 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Hurricanes 4-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ – MARCH 27: Scott Darling #33 of the Carolina Hurricanes surrenders a goal as Miles Wood #44 of the New Jersey Devils starts to celebrate on March 27, 2018 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Hurricanes 4-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Did any of these performances matter

The tough answer to the question of how these performances actually impacted the overall outlook for the Canes entering the summer, is that it goes both ways. In terms of the front office’s faith in Darling when it matters, this has to create even more confusion.

However, the fact that Darling is showing significant improvement in nearly every area of his game is a very exciting statement. Darling also could use his save percentage at least above .890 by the end of the season, just for the purposes of his mental stability this off-season.

It can really get into a goalie’s head when the stat line and overall body work are not anywhere close to where they expected or were needed to be. We can see that from what happened to a former Vancouver Canuck and a goalie currently in the Devils farm system Eddie Lack.

As one of the bigger experiment fails for the Canes in the past decade, Lack could never get it together with a save percentage that always hovered around .900. Darling could be in the same boat if he doesn’t get it together at the beginning of next season. That’s why a string of solid performances does matter to an extent.

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