Carolina Hurricanes: A loss that stings against the Capitals

Don’t Hold on So Loosely

There is a lot of things that usually haunt the Carolina Hurricanes they have seemed to go away this year. Like consistent goaltending, for example. One thing that never seems to go away is the fact of how quick the opposition answers a massive Hurricanes goal with one of their own.I mean seriously, it’s like clockwork, like it follows a script. It happens so often and it is extremely frustrating to watch, especially in games of this magnitude.

This has to stop down the stretch. When scoring a goal that puts you out in front of any team in the NHL, especially the Washington Capitals, you HAVE to make them work for longer than 3 seconds to answer back. It is quite literally the worst case scenario after netting the puck.

You may have the other team worried for a second, but then that worry goes away in the literal matter of seconds and you’re back to an even hockey game. Confidence is instilled back in the opposition and you never made the other team play from behind and potentially make a mistake that can be capitalized upon down the road.

This will NOT cut it in the last 5 games and especially not in the playoffs. Leads are to be cherished in the NHL. Hold on to them as long as possible and make the other team work their tails off to take out of your hands. This team is at their best when they play with a lead, we have seen that all year-long.

I seriously cannot stress enough how important this is going to be to the Carolina Hurricanes’ success from here on out. This leads us to our last point in the valuable lesson learned on how hard a playoff series would be.