Carolina Hurricanes: Mrazek shuts out Coyotes, Foegele scores

They say that Christmas is a time for miracles. Count us Carolina Hurricanes fans as believers, because not only did Warren Foegele score for the first time in 27 games, but a Canes goalie kept a shutout for the first time in 63 games.

What a night. Petr Mrazek has been in excellent form over recent weeks, and kept the first Carolina Hurricanes shutout since February 1. That’s ELEVEN MONTHS. And fifteen days. Totally and utterly absurd, but joyous and exhilarating in equal measure. We doff our caps to you Petr, and thank you for this wondrous Christmas gift.

Just as exquisite an outcome of last night’s game was Warren Foegele scoring his fourth goal of the season, some 27 games since his last goal. When he scores, the Canes are 3-0-0 this season. Here’s to hoping that he can get back to his early season form.

In other news, Andrei Svechnikov scored again, Calvin de Haan has one of his best games for the Carolina Hurricanes in picking up two assists, and Sebastian Aho scored his 12th of the season to take over the scoring lead on the team from Micheal Ferland. The team is suddenly on an offensive roll – we’ll have some more of this please:

It is worth pointing out that for all the concern over the team’s scoring woes, the Carolina Hurricanes have scored 12 goals over the past three games, and 17 over the last five. We may be putting the pieces together at long last and, with Micheal Ferland and Jordan Staal still to return from concussions, we could have further complimentary scoring to come. After three consecutive losses, this one win has given Canes fans hope as we head into the roster freeze and the Christmas break.

While the win was very enjoyable, particularly with another Storm Surge after the game, this was a very poor Arizona Coyotes team. They have some very skilled players, but have been so poor for so long, that they find scoring even more difficult than the Canes. They regularly appear to be a team lacking any confidence, and as we know, hockey is as much a mental effort as it is a physical one. This was the 11th time this season that the Coyotes have scored 1 or less goals; their highest goal scorer has just eight goals, and only two forwards have more than 12 points. For all the frustration with our Carolina Hurricanes, it’s worth remembering that things could be so much worse.

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We’ll allow Coach Rod to have the final say, after he let the players have a day off following the team’s gutting 6-5 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday night. Of course, it might be that he simply couldn’t look Sebastian Aho or Andrei Svechnikov in the eye after ignoring them as options in that shootout:

“It was pretty steady. There weren’t any real lows. Came out well, and we just stuck to our game plan, which was nice to see. We did have a couple of breakdowns, but Petr was really good.”

We now wait until Thursday to see whether the Carolina Hurricanes can continue their recent scoring form. Who would bet against the likes of Aho, Turbo and Svech lighting up the Red Wings to add another W to the team’s record 14-13-5?

After the game, the Canes announced that Clark Bishop, Janne Kuokkanen and Scott Darling have been re-assigned to the Checkers. Darling’s demotion means that Curtis McElhinney must be ready to return, but it was a surprise to see both Bishop and Kuokkanen sent down. The inference is that Micheal Ferland is due back for Thursday’s bout with Detroit, but unless Jordan Staal is also returning (which seems unlikely), it seems that Bishop was sent down to play in the Checkers’ game against Utica tomorrow, to keep him sharp.

Question for CC readers:

Has Petr Mrazek done enough to make you want to sign him long-term?