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Just Who Are These Carolina Hurricanes?

By Jeb Bohn

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 13: Teuvo Teravainen #86 of the Carolina Hurricanes skates with the puck in front of Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals in the third period at Capital One Arena on January 13, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 13: Teuvo Teravainen #86 of the Carolina Hurricanes skates with the puck in front of Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals in the third period at Capital One Arena on January 13, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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Martin Necas of the Carolina Hurricanes
RALEIGH, NC – JANUARY 10: Carolina Hurricanes Right Wing Martin Necas (88) skates the puck up ice during a game between the Arizona Coyotes and the Carolina Hurricanes on January 10, 2019, at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. (Photo by Greg Thompson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Forwards

Before you get ahead of yourself, no, I am not blaming the forward corps as a whole.  The biggest issue facing the Carolina Hurricanes is consistency and to me, right now, a lot of that is coming from the forward lines.

It’s not all doom and gloom:  Teuvo Teravainen continues to lead the team in scoring, making passes that would keep Nostradamus guessing.  There is some concern, as he’s only registered 2 points in his last 5 games, both coming in a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on January 11th.  The alarm grows considering how big a part of the offense he is.

Case in point: Teravainen suffered through a 5 game pointless streak in December.  Carolina’s record during that drought? 2-3.

Fellow Finn Sebastian Aho has picked up 3 points in the last 5 games while sophomore winger Andrei Svechnikov has managed just 2.  That means the Carolina Hurricanes’ top 3 scoring forwards have combined for just 7 points in 5 games, not exactly a recipe for success.

Things don’t get much better when you look at their next 3 leading offensive forwards either.  Ryan Dzingel has 1 point in his last 5.  Rookie sensation Martin Necas has 2.  Warren Foegele, who has looked more like the version we saw in last season’s playoffs, has 3.

It’s not a good look, nor is Carolina’s 5-5 record over their last 10 games.  In that span, they have scored 32 goals (3.2 per game).  Granted, that doesn’t look great on team defense or goaltending but the fact is that when the offense shows up, the Hurricanes can go toe-to-toe with anyone.  When it doesn’t, it’s a coin toss.

If you take away a ludicrous 8-6 loss against Toronto on December 23rd, Carolina scored more than 3 goals just twice, winning both.  On the season, the Hurricanes have been shutout 4 times.  They’ve been held to 1 goal on 3 occasions and 2 goals in 10 more.  That’s nearly a full third of their games played in which the goalie had a razor-thin margin for error.  Thirty potential points that could make or break this season.  Thirty.

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