The Hurricanes are now in win-or-go-home mode. They are on the brink of elimination after losing Game 3 of the series to the Bruins to go down 3-0 in the series. If this is the end, what a run it has been.
Step back from that ledge, my friend.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in the Eastern Conference Final. They played longer than anyone else in the Metropolitan Division and so vastly exceeded expectations this season that they will have trouble reaching the newly high expectations for next season. And they did that with absolutely horrendous special teams play.
And hey, who knows, the Bruins have blown a 3-0 lead in the past, and Captain Justin Williams has come back from a 3-0 deficit too.
That being said, it is possible to be proud of this team for what they have accomplished this season and disappointed in their play this season. After a fantastic first period that yielded no goals last night, the second period was horrible. All of Game 2 was horrible, and period three of Game 1 was, you guessed it, horrible. The power play actually looked decent yesterday (and we’ll get to that don’t worry), but it couldn’t find the back of the net.
I don’t like to talk about the team’s motivation or heart or whatever other intangible you want to describe it as because I’m not in the locker room and Rod Brind’Amour is the head coach so I should pretty much always shut up. But Game 2 was BAD. Even though we lost last night, I think it was important to see that even after not scoring in the first, and having a bad second period, that this team fought until the very end.
Anyway, here we go. If this is the last recap I write this season, thank you for reading this year. It has been a privilege to serve the greatest fan base I’ll ever know. We’ll have a lot in store for y’all this summer and we’ll be back next year too.