The Carolina Hurricanes Need to Focus on Beating Division Rivals

The Carolina Hurricanes have played 11 of the 28 match-ups against their Metro Division rivals so far. They have only won three of them. That has to improve.

The Carolina Hurricanes are 23-14-2 on the season so far through 39 games and have 48 points to show for it. That has given them the second playoff spot in the standings and a four point lead over the next encroaching team.

Outside of the Metro division they are 20-7-1 and only 3-7-1 against their divisional opponents, making many Canes fans wonder if they are leaving points on the table against their rivals that might force them to lose playoff positioning, or worse, a playoff spot all together. That depends when you break it down.

The 11 games played against their division rivals so far include three games against the New York Rangers, two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets, two against the Washington Capitals, two against Philadelphia Flyers, and one each against the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. They have only won three of those games, twice against the Capitals and once against the Isle.

That leaves another 17 games left in the season against Metro division rivals. So lets break them down quickly by teams and how important these games are in developing playoff positioning and avoid a one and done when it comes to even making the playoffs.

New York Rangers, 1 Game Remaining ( Feb 21st)

Look, lets be honest, the Carolina Hurricanes are too busy staring into the glorious eyes of Henrik Lundqvist to be able to score on him consistently enough to win games against the Rangers this season. So unless they are going to actually start someone else for this final game against them at PNC Arena, this game is not going to go the way Carolina needs it to go.

The good news is, it doesn’t matter, the Rangers have been systematically bad against everyone else. Their net-minding and goal-tending won’t save them or make them a threat to the Hurricanes. For now. Who knows, they could have a second half of a season that could save it. The Canes would do well to continue to distance themselves from this team at any cost anyway.

Columbus Blue Jackets, 2 Games Remaining ( Jan 16th, Apr 3rd)

The Blue Jackets are on the cusp of making a real run for that second wildcard spot. They are playing excellent hockey lately but keep running into bumps and snags along the way. If the road clears for the, they Carolina Hurricanes might be in serious trouble.

Both remaining games against them need to be won. Letting them get any points, even in OT could end up costing the Hurricanes down the road. If the Canes do not adjust and improve in the second half, that April 3rd game could be for the whole season.

New Jersey Devils, 3 Games Remaining ( Feb 14th, Mar 12th, 29th)

With Taylor Hall out of the mix along with whomever else they trade away, the Devils will become softer and softer targets. They are not any sort of threat to make the playoffs. At all. That said, the Carolina Hurricanes should not sleep on them when they go into these match-ups.

The trick is to remember that failure to secure these easy points that everyone else is getting from them could be the final nail in the coffin that sinks this season’s efforts.

Philadelphia Flyers, 2 Games Remaining ( Jan 7th, Mar 5th)

The Flyers are a team that are higher than where they deserve to be in the standings. That comes in part due to the two games that were given up by the Canes to them. Had the results of those games been reversed the Hurricanes would be sitting in second place in the Metro and the Flyers would be barley holding on to the final Wild Card spot.

There is no point in crying over lost games however. The important thing is to focus on the two remaining games against them in the season and retake those points to at least draw a draw in the season.

Pittsburgh Penguins, 4 Games Remaining (Mar 8th, 14th, 24th, 28th)

I have no idea who created this scheduled but the Carolina Hurricanes have to wait to until March before they see the Pittsburgh Penguins. And they will do so all four times in the span of three weeks and 12 games. That is both a huge risk and a huge opportunity.

That span includes two more games against Metro rivals. Win those games in quick succession and the Hurricanes could quickly improve their playoff positioning against their metro rivals. Have a bad three weeks and it could be end up being send down to the Wild Card spots once again. Or worse.

New York Islanders, 3 Games ( Jan 17th, Mar 7th, 22nd)

The Carolina Hurricanes have already won one game against the Islanders. These next three games against them are the only reason (along with the games against the Pens and Flyers remaining) that they control their own destiny all the way to the second playoff spot in the division.

Unlike the games against the Penguins, these aren’t as clustered, but are nonetheless important to securing better playoff positioning. These games will be critical and might even be a sneak peak to a first or second round series come late April/ Early May.

Washington Capitals, 2 Games ( Jan 3rd, 13th)

The Carolina Hurricanes will waste no time dispatching of their newly formed nemesis, the Washington Capitals, in the regular season. Halfway through this month they will have finished all four games against them. But even if they win all four, it might not be enough.

The Capitals have a demanding 11 point lead on the Hurricanes right now. Even though they barely will scrape away four points off that lead, taking the next two games from them will put a dent into it at the very least. A seven point deficit is a much more maintainable one for the Carolina Hurricanes to handle.

More from Cardiac Cane

• 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase: Takeaways from the Canes’ Strong Showing in Florida
• Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
• Derek Stepan Ends His On Ice Career As A Hurricane
• The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
• Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes

With several Divisional games left between all these rivals, if the Carolina Hurricanes simply focuses its games and learns to better take care of these divisional games as they come, there might be a chance to make a run at the top and usurp the Capitals of their divisional titles, perhaps take them down a peg. Many would like to see that happen.

At the end of the day, the moral of this article is simple; if the Carolina Hurricanes had focused their game against division rivals before, they could have been much higher in the standings. For now the best use of that lesson would be to focus on the 17 games coming up and take them one day at a time and simply win.

Question for CC Readers: Which of these divisional games is the most important?