Carolina Hurricanes: Weekend recap as team loses two more

That was not a good weekend for the Carolina Hurricanes. Two tightly-contested games saw the Canes lose both, scoring just one goal in the process. We take a look at what few positives we can in our weekend recap.

After some excellent recent results, the Carolina Hurricanes reverted to type this past weekend, dropping three points of four against the Ducks and the Kings. The latter defeat hurts the most, as the Kings have been universally derided for their season-long ineptitude, yet still managed to blank the Canes en route to a 2-0 victory. Let’s see if we can find some positives as the Canes ride a 1-2-1 record over the last four games, featuring just four goals.

Friday Fallout: 2-1 OTL vs Anaheim Ducks

Where to start with this one? The Canes saw Andrei Svechnikov open the scoring with a minute left in the first period, then proceeded to register new heights of ineptitude. The powerplay had its worst outing in a long time, going 0/6, and while the team out-shot and out-hit the Ducks, as the game progressed you could just feel the inevitable about to happen. That it took until the final quarter of the third period for the Ducks to level the game is testament to the outstanding goaltending received from Curtis McElhinney, who stopped 27/29 efforts to solidify his excellent record this season.

John Gibson was, however, also excellent for the Ducks, stopping two great breakaway chances for Warren Foegele and Dougie Hamilton, and stifling several other chances. One can only blame a hot goalie for failure to score so many times in a season – does this quote from Rod Brind’Amour sound like something he’s said several times already this year?

“A couple of guys I wasn’t happy with, they didn’t come to the party. But for the most part, our defense really battled in our end and our goalie was good again tonight.”

It feels like that exact quote, or words to that effect, are wheeled out every fourth game or so. You need to fix the powerplay Rod, and stop saying how good our defense and goaltending are. That offense is failing because you’re not doing anything to fix it – all Canes fans can see what needs to change. Please – make some significant changes, before yet another promising season is lost.

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Jake Bean made his second NHL appearance, playing less than 9 minutes yet again, and was demoted to the Checkers to make room for the returning Brett Pesce and Haydn Fleury. He has looked solid in his two appearances and can be certain of another callup later in the season.

Sunday Shade: L 0-2 vs Los Angeles Kings

As disappointing as that loss to the Ducks was, last night’s shutout loss to the Kings was even more frustrating. The Canes lost for the first time this season when being outshot (albeit 35-34 in the Kings’ favor), and saw several golden scoring chances frittered away or saved by Jonathan Quick. This was very much the worst of times.

“He kept us in there, made some big saves. The two goalies were kind of going back and forth. We needed someone to make a play, put it in the net, and we’re not getting that right now.”

Second game in a row, right? Good goalies, solid defense, no offense. You literally said it the night before Rod, then wheeled out the same tired powerplay for another three failed attempts. The goalie keeping the Canes in the game was Petr Mrazek, stopped 33 of 34 shots, showing that the decision to waive Scott Darling instead of him may well prove to be the correct decision.

Sadly, even putting Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho out for more than 24 minutes each still couldn’t get any offense going. Does this lineup need patience, or tinkering? I’m torn, but would love to see Warren Foegele moved back into the top six. A quick – but healthy – return for the concussed Micheal Ferland will hopefully come when the Canes return home in a few days’ time.

Special teams saw the usual performance – no powerplay conversions for a 0/3 record, but a strong PK that shut down 4/4 Kings powerplays. Staal, Brock McGinn and Foegele all saw 2:58 or more on the PK, and that is the one single aspect of the Canes’ recent play that gives us hope. If RBA could make some drastic changes to the PP, we could be in business once again.

It was Haydn Fleury who returned to the lineup last night, rather than Brett Pesce, although Pesce may return for the Canes’ next game to bump Fleury out of the lineup. Perhaps his return will calm the team down and provide even more solid defense.

Question for CC readers:

What should the team do to arrest the worrying lack of scoring from the roster?