Carolina Hurricanes: 3 Keys to Victory Against the Flyers

1. Keep It Up on Special Teams

The Carolina Hurricanes have seen a complete turnaround in both man-down and man-advantage situations since the beginning of March. The Hurricanes killed all three penalties against the New Jersey Devils, and scored on one of their two powerplay situations.

Over the course of the past few weeks the Hurricanes have vastly improved on their special teams performance, and they need to keep it up. The main ingredient to that is the defense contributing to the efforts.

The Philadelphia Flyers currently sit at 24th in the league in powerplay percentage, and 26th in the league in penalty kill percentage. Conversely, the Hurricanes are 19th in the league in powerplay percentage, and are tied for 7th in the league in penalty kill percentage.

If the Hurricanes can manage to keep the current effort on both sides of special teams situations flowing, they should have no problem laying a solid foundation heading into the playoffs. On top of performing on special teams, the Hurricanes need to tighten up a bit on defense to mitigate those defensive mistakes we highlighted the last time we took a look at the matchup between these two teams.

2. Play a Tight Defensive Game

The Carolina Hurricanes have a litany of talented defensemen at their disposal. Among the best are Dougie Hamilton, Justin Faulk, and Jaccob Slavin. All three of these blueliners have been pivotal in the Hurricanes’ success this season, but are not without fault.

Justin Faulk scored the game-winning goal Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils. Faulk would later find out that his goal on the powerplay that night would be the goal that ended up clinching the Hurricanes’ their first playoff berth in nine seasons.

Justin Faulk is invaluable on offense, but has a tendency to make a few mistakes, including pinching up-ice that more often than not results in 2-on-1 situations going into the Hurricanes’ defensive zone.

Dougie Hamilton has made a few similar mistakes, despite garnering the honor of being the 3rd-highest goal scoring defensemen in a single season in Hurricanes history. Hamilton’s mistakes are fewer and farther between than his colleagues at the blueline, but have still been infamously costly to the team, as evidenced by his performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 31st.

Despite these few mistakes, the Hurricanes have managed to rectify a majority of them since we flipped our calendars to the new year, and they need to continue on the path to solidifying their defensive play heading into the playoffs. Mistakes are far more costly in the postseason, and if the Hurricanes want to put together another deep run, they need to focus on tightening up in the defensive zone.

Defensive shortcomings aside, the Hurricanes have a few pieces of the offensive puzzle that need to be solved in order to ensure both a victory against the Flyers tonight, and going into the playoffs.

A major offensive piece, Sebastian Aho, hasn’t scored since March 9th, but it isn’t for lack of trying. While Aho seems to be a bit ‘snakebitten’, the Hurricanes need to give him as many opportunities to figure out how to regain his scoring panache while they can.

3. Get the Puck to Sebastian Aho

Hear me out. Sebastian Aho hasn’t scored since March 9th, against the Nashville Predators. Even with his current scoring drought, Aho is still the leading point-getter on the Hurricanes’ roster. Sebastian Aho is an extremely important piece of the Hurricanes’ offensive puzzle, and needs to get back on track as soon as possible. The Hurricanes need to give Sebastian Aho as many opportunities to get his mojo back tonight.

In the playoffs, every single player needs to be at the top of their game. Sebastian Aho will be no exception. If there were ever an opportunity to get the young forward back on track, it is tonight. The matchup tonight is not meaningless, as it could afford many players a chance to regroup and begin laying a foundation of success in their own individual games.

Other than Sebastian Aho, the Hurricanes have an opportunity tonight to refresh Micheal Ferland‘s offensive production as well. Ferland has improved in the past few games, but has still only scored one goal since the trade deadline.

Ferland’s value doesn’t lie only in offensive production, however; he brings a huge physical presence that the Hurricanes haven’t seen since the days of Mike Commodore. All of this aside, Ferland still has the capability to contribute on the scoresheet, and now is the time to help him realize that potential once again.

All in all, tonight’s matchup should be used to fine-tune the aspects of the Hurricanes’ recent play that have been less-than-satisfactory, and to build upon the great things the team has done in the past few months.

If the Hurricanes can keep it up on special teams, tighten up their defensive play, and help Sebastian Aho get back on track with scoring, there is absolutely no reason they shouldn’t walk away from tonight’s game without a win. Hockey is alive and well in Raleigh, Caniacs. There are plenty of great things to build upon, and the perfect storm is just beginning to make landfall. Take Warning.

Question for CC Readers: Should the Carolina Hurricanes try and sign Micheal Ferland to a contract extension? Why or why not?