Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys versus Gritty and the Flyers

After suffering a gut wrenching loss to the New Jersey Devils, the Carolina Hurricanes look to bounce back on the road in the city of brotherly love.

On this fifth of November, we gather at the Wells Fargo Center, either in person or watching on TV, to see a Metropolitan division matchup. Both the Carolina Hurricanes and the Philadelphia Flyers are coming into this game off tough losses to the New Jersey Devils and the Toronto Maple Leafs respectively. With this the first of four meetings this season, a lot of questions remain for both teams.

The Philadelphia Flyers are an interesting team to say the least at the moment. You could say for Halloween the Flyers dressed up as Dr. Jekyll and Gritty. In the last five games, the Flyers are 2-3-0, during which they scored three or more goals four times while giving up three or more goals in all five games.

Remember, remember the fifth of November. The Flyers and Canes face off. I see of no reason why this Hurricanes season should ever be forgot.

The Carolina Hurricanes are coming off of a four game home stand where they saw a three game win streak snapped by the New Jersey Devils to close it out. Trying to bounce back on the road will be no easy task, but with a few early Metropolitan division losses already under their belt, the Hurricanes must take advantage of every divisional game.

Remember, remember the fifth of November. The Flyers and Canes face off. I see of no reason why this Hurricanes season should ever be forgot. Both the Hurricanes and the Flyers look to regain their mojo, here’s what the Canes need to do to ensure a victory in the city of brotherly love.

Puck Possession

If you go back and watch the Carolina Hurricanes game versus the New Jersey Devils, there are two major takeaways from the way the Hurricanes played. The Canes could not pass the puck cleanly; and when the boys in red even had the puck, they were dispossessed of the puck in a matter of seconds a little too often.

The style of play that Rod Brind’Amour implements requires crisp and precise passing. Otherwise the whole system turns into a game of dump and chase where any team with decent speed on the ice could cause the Hurricanes offense problems like they did on the 2nd of November.

The Hurricanes need to get back to the form they had versus the Calgary Flames. A game where the Canes dominated in puck possession in the third period, and thus dominated the pace of play, eventually scoring the tying and the winning goals with some help from Andrei Svechnikov’s goal of the year candidate.

Hopefully these last few days off, that nice trip down to Charlotte to cheer on the Panthers, and a good morning skate in Philadelphia, the Carolina Hurricanes will reinstall the disciplined puck procession game that they prided themselves on earlier this season.

Shots on Goal

In the last few games a recurring problem has been in the mind of the shooters for the Carolina Hurricanes. Blocked Shots. Against both the Calgary Flames and the New Jersey Devils, the Hurricanes struggled to get shots on goal and thus struggle to put points on the board.

The Hurricanes have no shortage of offensive weapons. Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, and Andrei Svechnikov just to name a few with many more that are hungry for that next goal. This game versus the Flyers must be a game where the Canes show off that arsenal of offense.

In the last five games alone, the Flyers have allowed three or more goals in every game. Both Brian Elliott and Carter Hart have an average goals allowed of three or higher. While Petr Mrazek and James Reimer are under three. With the defensive end hopefully handled, the shooters can focus on what they are good at; shooting.

Honestly, I feel the more pucks we throw on net this game, no matter if its Elliot or Carter, the better our player confidence will get and the chance the Hurricanes will score three or more will be pretty high at that point.

Don’t Take the Bait

Lets be honest, the Carolina Hurricanes are not the most physical team. We mostly rely on our speed and quick passing to get teams out of position and open up the goal. There are a few exceptions like Joel Edmundson and ever increasingly Andrei Svechnikov, but we are not a ground and pound type of team.

Now I am well aware that these Flyers are not the same as the Broad Street Bullies of the 1970’s that would pick fights every five minutes, but every time these two franchises have faced off recently it always seems to be a hard-hitting, high emotions, and short tempers kind of game.

What must not happen is we fall for what happened to Justin Williams in the Eastern Conference Finals. Where Brad Marchand baited him into taking penalties that ultimately lead to goals being scored for the Bruins. Against the Flyers, the Hurricanes must stay disciplined and stay away from the bait.

The Hurricanes are already one of the most penalized teams in the NHL, we don’t need any bad penalties because of retaliations or roughing. Keep the sticks down, keep the action after the whistles to a minimum, and focus on the game.