Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to Victory vs. Golden Knights
The Carolina Hurricanes return to action for the first time since before the All Star Break tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. Here’s what the Canes need to do to continue their momentum from last week.
The Carolina Hurricanes are back!
Tonight’s matchup sees Marc-Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights head into Raleigh to take on newly returned Justin Williams and the Carolina Hurricanes.
Both teams haven’t played a game since 1/21, and both will be looking to hit the ground running tonight.
When we last saw the Canes, they were riding a two-game winning streak after downing both the Winnipeg Jets and the New York Islanders before heading into the mid-season All Star break.
As for the Golden Knights, they lost their last two before the break; a 3-2 heartbreaker against the Boston Bruins on the 21st, and an even more disappointing 5-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout on the 18th.
The Carolina Hurricanes have a ‘Golden’ opportunity here to continue where they left of, and start stringing wins together to take back a playoff spot with authority.
Tonight, the Canes have a veritable checklist of things they need to get done if they hope to wrestle yet another sorely-needed couple of points in the standings. Let’s get into it.
1. Start On Time
The Carolina Hurricanes can’t let the break get to them.
Some might say a break in the middle of a season is a good thing. It gives guys a short vacation, time to get their legs back under them, and time to heal up any bumps or bruises from the first half of the season.
While those all may be the case for individual players, when it comes to how a break affects a team, it is usually not very good news.
Longer breaks, especially in the middle of a season, tend to negatively impact the team, and a little bit of rust tends to build up.
I don’t think that’ll be the case for the Carolina Hurricanes tonight, but crazier things have happened.
The Canes need to start on time tonight in a big way, and scrape off any rust that may have set in during the All Star break. I fully expect Vegas to be doing the same to gain some momentum after their recent (ridiculous) coaching change.
2. Don’t Settle
The name of the game tonight is more.
35 shots on goal after the 1st period? Great! Shoot more. 3 goals after 10 minutes of gameplay? Awesome! Score more. 25 hits after the 2nd frame? Excellent! Hit MORE.
Settling after gaining an early lead, or after getting shelled early on has been a huge thorn in the side of the Carolina Hurricanes this season.
I wouldn’t say that the Canes ‘give up’ in either of these scenarios, but they just seem to be playing catch-up the rest of the game, which is outrageously detrimental to the team culture that Rod Brind’amour has built the past two years.
The Carolina Hurricanes need to buck this trend and break the habit of settling, whether its due to gaining an early lead or going down by a large margin halfway through the 2nd period.
Vegas has quite a bit to prove with a win tonight, so the Canes will need to be the hungrier team and absolutely cannot settle at any point in tonight’s tilt.
3. Score on the Powerplay, PLEASE
“Same old story, same old song and daaaaaaaaaaaaaaance, my friend…”
Speaking of trends that need to be broken, this is by far the most glaring.
To be fair, the Carolina Hurricanes are without powerplay quarterback Dougie Hamilton. Despite that, however, the powerplay has looked incredibly solid, right up until it comes time to put the puck in the net.
The Canes have an odd talent for making even the most mediocre goalies look like kings, especially when those goalies are on the penalty kill.
This trend has to change. The Canes got swept in a playoff series last season due to special teams woes. The sooner this trend gets blasted into the sun, the better.
Game Notes
- Puck Drop: 7:30PM EST
- Location: PNC Arena
- Radio: 99.9 The Fan
- Uniform: Alternate Black
- Potential Lines:
- Svechnikov – Staal – Foegele
- Dzingel – Aho – Teravainen
- McGinn – Haula – Necas
- Martinook – Wallmark – Williams
- Slavin – Edmundson
- Gardiner – Pesce
- Fleury – van Riemsdyk
- Potential Goalie Matchups:
- Carolina Hurricanes: Petr Mrazek
- Vegas Golden Knights: Marc-Andre Fleury
942. 4. 109. Prediction. 3