Carolina Hurricanes: 3 Keys to Continuing Streak vs. CBJ

It’s been more than a week since the home opener against the Montreal Canadiens. Ever since, the Carolina Hurricanes have won every single game, can they continue this success against the Columbus Blue Jackets?

It is astonishing to think that 9 days ago, the home opener against the Montreal Canadiens was the buzz. Now, the Hurricanes have went through three thrillers of games that went to extra time and two comfortable wins this week.

The game yesterday against the New York Islanders could’ve been a trap. The Islanders have been struggling and the Hurricanes have been rolling, that’s usually when a bad team beats a good team because of desperation and eagerness to get back into competition in the division.

With a team under Rod Brind’Amour, we can probably expect no cockiness from the Hurricanes. That, however, does not mean that the Hurricanes are not playing with confidence, they are playing with tons of it. Adding the win over the Islanders, this start to the season is the best season start in franchise history, 5-0-0, overtaking the previous record of 4-0-0 from the 1995-1996 Hartford Whalers.

https://twitter.com/CanesOnFSCR/status/1182837534704852995

The Hurricanes unfortunately (for them, not us, cause watching hockey is fun) have back-to-back games, which could hinder their best performance out on the ice. The Columbus Blue Jackets are in town and are in a situation the Islanders were in. A team not doing so well, looking to finally get a needed win.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are hungry. What can the Carolina Hurricanes do to send Columbus back home, just like they did to New York?

1. Recover from Special Teams Hangover

On October 3rd, the Hurricanes turned lots of heads of their fans when they scored a powerplay goal in their first powerplay opportunity, with fresh face Martin Necas deflecting a Dougie Hamilton bomb.

In the games against the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning, Erik Haula was a force to be reckoned with as he scored both the powerplay goals in those games. html would keep the powerplay magic going, as he scores on the powerplay against the Florida Panthers earlier this week.

Necas, Dzingel, and Haula have not only been an amazing line, but they have been an amazing powerplay unit that is producing results. Teuvo Teravainen, Andrei Svechnikov, and Dougie Hamilton have seen lots of success in moving the puck on the powerplay to deceive the opposing teams. The Hurricanes powerplay ranks currently 8th in the league, at 29.4%.

The Hurricanes penalty-kill hasn’t been perfect nor has it really been great either, but it’s been tolerable. However, as of the last two games, being the most recent games, they matter more to the team’s current status, they gave up two goals on the penalty-kill, that allowed the Florida Panthers to get somewhat back into the game.

Just yesterday, the Hurricanes gave up two goals on the penalty-kill. All four of these penalty-kills, Jordan Martinook was either not 100% or not playing. Martinook’s absence on the penalty-kill and for the boys on the bench has been felt.

The Hurricanes are suffering from a hangover and they need to snap out of it. A common trend throughout all these games is an insane lack of discipline, taking unnecessary penalties. The Hurricanes scored no powerplay goals last night, they gave up goals on the penalty-kill, the special teams are on a downward trend and they need to repair it against Columbus tonight.

2. Blue-Line Warriors Continue

Most teams do not know what to do when all of this offense is coming at them at once. When they cover the forwards, their team’s forwards are usually unreliable and defensively-inept, they can’t cover the defensemen.

This is the part where the Hurricanes defensemen come in to take all the glory. Joel Edmundson has been throwing his body and laying bodies out. Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce are being amazingly defensively-reliable again. Jake Gardiner is reliable and showing offensive talent. Gardiner, Slavin, and Pesce have goals already.

However, who is most commendable, is Dougie Hamilton. He is third on the Hurricanes in plus-minus at +5, the best for a defenseman on the team. He has the second most goals, assists, and points on the team, which is the most for a defenseman on the team.

Over the years, Hamilton is what people wanted in Justin Faulk. A reliable defenseman who can handle himself and not get carried away offensively and forget that they’re a defenseman. Hamilton is a power-play specialist and excellent offensive contributor, who has shown no bad sides yet, if ever. Hamilton also leads this team in average time on ice at 23:05, replacing Faulk’s heavy minutes.

When this blue-line contributes offensively and plays their best game, this team wins. Which, by the way… has been all five games out of five games, yeah.. remember? The Hurricanes are 5-0-0… which brings us to the next key.