Carolina Hurricanes: 3 Keys to a Cross Conference Win Against the Coyotes
Clinging onto a wildcard spot, what will it take to ensure the Carolina Hurricanes walk away with two crucial points against the red hot Arizona Coyotes?
Through five games of their seven game home stand, the Carolina Hurricanes have posted a 3-2-0 record. While the record is currently above .500, there’s a lot to improve on heading into the final two games. With the red hot Arizona Coyotes coming into town, the Canes are going to need to be ready to play from the drop of the puck tonight if they want to come out with the all-important two points.
Entering tonight’s contest, the Hurricanes are fresh off a 5-4 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers. In a game that could have pushed Carolina out of their wild card spot for the time being, the defense and depth players helped end a two game skid, earning the Canes the ever hard to come by Metro division win.
The Coyotes, on the other hand, have arrived in Raleigh after facing off against the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. In what was a battle of two solid teams, the Coyotes ended up getting blanked 4-0 and will look to regroup tonight.
These two teams haven’t met since December 16th, 2018, when the Hurricanes came out on top with a 3-0 shutout victory. Since then, the Coyotes have added former league MVP Taylor Hall and sniper Phil Kessel to their roster, propelling them to atop the Pacific Division, making them a nice measuring stick tonight.
1. The Impact of Justin Williams
Soon after their victory over the Flyers, it was announced that Justin Williams had signed a one year deal with the Canes for the remainder of the season. Although he isn’t expected to make his season debut on the ice just yet, it’ll be interesting to see what his presence in the locker room does for the team.
Known as Mr. Game 7 for a reason, Hurricanes fans are rather familiar with the impact Justin has had on the organization. Serving as the team’s captain this past season, it was clear that he was brought back to help spark the culture change this franchise was desperate for. Under Williams’ leadership and guidance, they finally managed to end their playoff drought.
While it was long speculated that he was going to make his return for the stretch run ever since he announced that he was going to “take a break” from hockey this past off season, his return couldn’t have come at a better time. If you recall, about this time last year, Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell swung a trade with Minnesota, dealing Victor Rask for Nino Niederreiter.
It was after this point when Carolina went on their run from the depths of the league’s standings into a playoff spot. While they are in a move favorable spot now, the return of Justin could result in a similar impact for the Canes this season.
2. Goaltending
One of the things that almost always seems to be a topic of discussion with the Carolina Hurricanes is goaltending. Although not always a bad thing, the recent performances in net seems to have brought the position back to the forefront of discussion once again. This time negatively.
So far this home stand, the Hurricanes’ netminders have only had a save percentage above .900 once. It seems like it doesn’t really matter if it’s Petr Mrazek or James Reimer in goal at this point because both of them are letting in soft goals.
Although it’s a small sample size, this recent trend has to be a concern for Hurricanes’ brass. If the team wants to truly contend for the playoffs and the Stanley Cup, they’re going to need a guy to step up and make a big save when they need it. Far too often, the team has been generating chances in the offensive zone only to give up a leaky goal moments later, resulting in dramatic shifts in momentum.
Tonight, if the Canes want to come out on top, they’re going to need a solid performance in net, especially since Arizona has arguably one of the best one-two punches in the league when healthy. Even with Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta out with injury, the Coyotes haven’t missed a beat. Whomever comes out on top tonight will be in large part thanks to the goaltending position.
3. Star Players Step Up
In their past couple of games, the Hurricanes’ stars have been kept in check. With their third and fourth lines leading the way, the Canes are going to need a big performance from their top six tonight.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Jordan Staal, Nino Neiderreiter, Sebastian Aho, or Teuvo Teravainen, the fact of the matter is at least one of them are going to need to step up and set the tone for this game early. While some of it can be contributed to bad puck luck, most of the top six has come up dry as of late, costing the Canes some vital points in the standings. Now more than ever the team needs someone to step up, similar to how Aho did late last year; the only question is who will it be?
Since trading for Hall, the Yotes have looked like a team ready to take that next step. They’ve climbed their way to the top of the Pacific Division standings and don’t look like they’re going to slow down anytime soon. Both Hall and Kessel have had their finger prints on the score board of let and will need to be contained.
If the Carolina Hurricanes stars out perform those of the Arizona Coyotes, fans should expect to see the second Storm Surge of 2020. With everyone in the playoff hunt seemingly winning each night, it is key that they walk away with two points to hold onto their wild card spot. And with only two games left on the home stand, they need to take full advantage of home ice while they can.
Gameday Notes
- Puck Drop: 7:30 ET, PNC Arena
- TV: Fox Sports Carolinas, NHL.TV
- Radio: 99.9 The Fan
- Uniform: Black Alternates
- Lines
- Niederreiter – Aho – Teravainen
- Andrei Svechnikov– Staal – Warren Foegele
- Ryan Dzingel– Erik Haula – Martin Necas
- Brock McGinn – Lucas Wallmark – Jordan Martinook
- Jaccob Slavin – Dougie Hamilton
- Jake Gardiner – Brett Pesce
- Joel Edmundson – Haydn Fleury
- Starting Goalies:
- Carolina Hurricanes: Petr Mrazek
- Arizona Coyotes: TBD
2. 121. 3. 109. Prediction
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