Carolina Hurricanes: Finish Home-stand with a Win over Montreal

The Carolina Hurricanes have defied the odds yet again. In a game they would have lost last year, our favorite jerks come back from behind to finish the home stand with a bang.

Last Night was an incredible exclamation point of a game that pretty much summarizes this entire Carolina Hurricanes season. Almost every aspect of the season was on display for the 14,400 fans in attendance that night. The game played out almost identical to the season; with a strong, yet ultimately disappointing first, a weak second that finished with some optimism, and a strong dominant finish in the third and overtime to seal the win.

The Carolina Hurricanes faced off against one of the best and currently hottest goaltenders in the league in the form of Carey Price. Had the game ended in a quiet one goal loss, there would not be much to talk about. After all the 31 year old veteran netminder was riding a three game win streak and hasn’t allowed more than two goals in a game in five of his last six starts. He looked dominant for most of the game and almost destined for a shutout.

Equal props should be given to the netminder on the other end of the ice as well. While Curtis McElhinney did not see the same amount of shots as Carey Price did, he managed to keep this game well within the grasp of the Carolina Hurricanes. While the early goal by Paul Byron almost seemed enough to keep the fans from clapping into the night. It was McElhinney who gave the team enough time to crack Price’s seemingly penetrable wall earning him first star that night.

And crack it they did. Both the tying goal and the overtime winner were part of the last four shots of the game. For those four shots, Carey Price was not otherworldly. With those four shots, the Carolina Hurricanes reigned back in a huge crowd that had not much to celebrate before that. With those four shots, the Carolina Hurricanes showed the league that they are a dangerous team that should not be slept on.

While it is easy to simply take the win and run with it, the next two games will be critical ones against the division leaders, the Washington Capitals. Here are the three takeaways from this game that should have either lessons learned, or perhaps something to keep an eye out as the Carolina Hurricane’s regular season comes to a close. While this team is looking more and more likely to finish in playoff spot, there is always room to look further up the stands.

1. The Power Play still needs work

The Carolina Hurricanes went on the man advantage thrice last night against the Montreal Canadiens. Each time they were offered an opportunity to tie the game up against Carey Price and the Habs, and each time they failed to take advantage of that opportunity. This was not lost on the fans in the stands who resorted to some very low pitched booing as the team failed to get any offense going on the third powerplay of the night.

While it ultimately did not prove to be their downfall that night, It might have allowed the Carolina Hurricanes to avoid giving the Canadiens the overtime loser point and give themselves a little bit more breathing room in the standings. With only seven games left on the docket, every point gained and every point not given is worth its weight in gold. We wondered what the team would be like with league average goal-tending, imagine where they could be in the standings with league average power-play numbers.

The special teams as a whole is not awful. Just as Carolina has trouble scoring on the powerplay against their opponents, their opponents have the same struggles against them. While the Carolina Hurricanes remained disciplined for most of the night, they did quietly kill the one penalty they drew off a Micheal Ferland high sticking incident to keep the game remaining within a single goal. The Carolina Hurricanes have only allowed 4 power play goals on 28 man advantages this month. That is an excellent 86% penalty kill rate, even after facing teams like the Lightning and the Jets.

At this point it is difficult to say what the issue is with the powerplay. Is it the personnel, the system, or the zone entries? On paper it all seems like it should work. Perhaps it is just bad puck luck, but how long can that excuse hold? This is a team that has not scored with the man advantage since the March 9th game in Nashville where they scored two of them. They are 0 for 14 since. Something has to give soon, Lets hope they can figure it out before the post-season.

2. Hockey is for Everyone

Last night was also Hockey is for Everyone night in Raleigh, or as the Carolina Hurricanes labeled it, Pride Night. There were sticks taped in Pride Tape, prominent members of the LGBT community from around Carolina present, and for the most part, tolerance in the air. Fans modified their favorite Jerseys with pride tape to give it flair and the team’s Hockey is for Everyone ambassador, Trevor Van Riemsdyk took the ceremonial puck drop.

There was more history being made in this game. For the first time in NHL history a game was being broadcast in the indigenous language of Plains Cree on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. It was truly a Hockey game for everyone. Ferland was the only Cree player in the game, which may have made this a deciding factor for the choice in game, but none the less an honor for the Carolina Hurricanes:

As the ambassador for Hockey is for everyone night, It was fitting that it would be Trevor Van Riemsdyk that would the first to crack Carey Price and give the team and the fans something to cheer for. On Hockey is for Everyone night, Van Riemsdyk took a page out of the captain’s playbook and took leadership on the ice as Mr.Clutch. His third goal this season brought the Carolina Hurricanes to a tie that allowed everyone to finally take a breath:

That goal was completely unexpected, Trevor was just trying to get it to the net, it was supposed to go wide of the net and harmlessly into the corner, but a Canadien got in the way and it every so lightly deflected towards the net. Somehow Price, who had stopped 36 consecutive shots, completely missed it and the game was tied. The momentum of the game completely shifted. While they only managed a measly four shots on goal in the second period, their first didn’t come until the 14:34 mark of that period.

In contrast, the final four shots from the Carolina Hurricanes decided the game. After that goal, the Canadiens were suddenly on their heels against a re-surging Carolina Hurricanes team that seemed determined to take two points. While it took extra minutes of hockey to get it done, The Carolina Hurricanes accomplished it.