Carolina Hurricanes: Could rest be our worst enemy?

Last night the Carolina Hurricanes returned home after a brief trip to Madison Square Garden for a Tuesday game against the Rangers, to play the Ottawa Senators. While it was Star Wars Night in the arena, the only “force” being shown was on the ice as the lowly Ottawa Senators manhandled the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1.

It was Friday night that I became aware of a trend that has been prevalent over the past few seasons. That trend is that the Carolina Hurricanes simply do not play good hockey after a long break between games – anything with three days or more. While many teams use that time to rest, prepare and make adjustments managing to come back out for the next game with precision and fire, the Carolina Hurricanes often look lost and lethargic from the moment the puck is dropped.

When the last two seasons are analysed, the numbers show that the Carolina Hurricanes have a 17-21- 5 record in games after a break of 3 days or more. To put into perspective exactly how bad that record is, we should look at the current NHL standings. The Chicago Blackhawks are currently the National Hockey League’s worst team in the standings, with 41 points in 49 games. At the 43 game mark – which co-incidentally, equals how many games the Carolina Hurricanes have played after a three-day rest – the Chicago Blackhawks had registered 38 points. Had the games after the break been condensed into one season, the Carolina Hurricanes’ point total after the same amount of games would be 39 points, exactly one point better than the current worst team in the NHL.

Understanding as we all should the varying factors that go into stats over a two season period, such as coaches, roster moves, and goal-tending, I looked further into this anomaly to see exactly how bad their post-rest play was. Excluding the overtime losses in that 17-21-5 record, where three were lost in OT and two were lost in the shootout, the 21 games lost in regulation after the break were lost by an average of 2.86 goals a game, including an embarrassing 7 goal beating on National TV at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2017 season.

This is a trend that Rod Brind’Amour will surely be fully aware of, but he now simply MUST come up with a solution to the team’s lethargic play when supposedly well-rested. His rookie coaching season is beginning to run out of excuses. The team cannot continue to rely on Micheal Ferland attempting to spark a lifeless team – this needs fixing, and quickly.

A positive side to the Carolina Hurricanes’ poor play after a long break between games is that during the NHL playoffs there are no prolonged breaks within a seven game series, with teams playing every other night. On the other hand, the team MUST figure out how to play better coming off a prolonged break especially down the stretch with the All-Star Game break and Bye Week still in front of the team. If they don’t, they can’t expect to be playing past April 6th.