With only one game left before the advent of 2020, the Carolina Hurricanes have plenty of reasons to celebrate. There are, however, a few areas that need to be addressed in order for them to complete another long run in the postseason.
Saturday night gave the Carolina Hurricanes a much-needed shot in the arm. With the league’s top team paying a visit to PNC Arena and the home team mired in a 3 game losing streak, you could be forgiven for tempering your hopes.
As it turned out, the Hurricanes not only showed up but they controlled the play for long stretches of the game. “Capital Killer” Warren Foegele led the way with 2 goals and an assist, enabling Carolina to start a season-high 7 game homestand with a 6-4 victory.
The game had other positives for the Hurricanes, starting with Ryan Dzingel. The free-agent acquisition has been fighting through a tough December, picking up just 1 goal and 2 assists in the first nine games of the month. Saturday’s game included strong play from the winger, who picked up 2 assists, giving him 4 points in his last 3 games.
Über talented rookie Martin Necas continued his impressive ascendance against the division leaders. After a blocked Erik Haula shot, Necas found the puck in the slot. He could have taken advantage of the confusion and rifled a shot on goal. Instead, he waited, keeping the puck on his backhand and drawing Braden Holtby out of position before drawing back to his forehand and sliding the puck into a vacant net.
https://twitter.com/NHLcz/status/1211225539664633856
As a result, Necas has 3 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 games and is on pace to finish the season with 20 goals and 29 assists. After missing 4 games due to injury, the young Czech wasted no time getting right back up to speed.
Granted, all of that is good. The fact that the Hurricanes sit in a playoff spot is good, as is their 73.8% probability of making their second consecutive playoff appearance. There are a lot of things going right for the Hurricanes, however, there are still areas of improvement as we inch towards a new year.