Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Home Loss to Vegas

The Carolina Hurricanes dropped yet another 2 points at home against Vegas last night in their first game back since the All Star break.

Did any of us really think last night’s game was going to go any differently than it did?

Like I mentioned in our keys to the game article from yesterday, midseason breaks tend to help players individually, but hurt teams on the whole.

Last night’s game was no exception for the Carolina Hurricanes. Before I fully get into it, I’m going to warn you that this takeaways article is not going to be your average takeaways article.

The Canes didn’t gain the lead a single time last night, and couldn’t keep the Vegas Golden Knights at bay anytime the Canes managed to tie the game up.

Petr Mrazek had a horrendous first period, and the Carolina Hurricanes in general didn’t show up until about halfway through the 3rd period. Even then, the effort wasn’t enough.

This is the kind of thing that has to stop. I know, they just came back from break and had to scrape the rust off, and they only had one practice before the game. I get it.

What I don’t get is that if the Carolina Hurricanes can’t get points against Metro Division opponents, the only other place to get points is against teams in different divisions. Last night’s game was the perfect opportunity to gain some more traction and fight back for a more firm grip on a playoff spot.

What we got instead was boring, uninspired hockey, shoddy goaltending for about half the game, horrible line combinations, and lackluster effort across the board. This is not going to be a traditional ‘takeaways’ article, like I said above, because the Canes didn’t hit a single one of my keys to the game.

The Carolina Hurricanes didn’t start on time. They settled into a bad brand of hockey after going down by 2 in the 1st period, and didn’t pull themselves out of it until roughly 8 minutes left in the game. I will concede that they scored on one of their two powerplays, so I suppose they sort of hit the third key, but in the end, they weren’t able to pull off a win.

The Carolina Hurricanes have to know the position that they are in, and they have to recognize what an opportunity they have. The fans are back, and the best way to keep them there is to be successful. Coming out of the tunnel the way they did last night, and dropping games like that one are surefire ways to sweep their own success right under the rug.

I honestly don’t even know where the Canes should start to turn things around. Line changes? Rod has tried that. Trades? Sure, but what do you give up? And for who? Give underperforming players a break? With the return of Justin Williams, Rod has been doing exactly that.

The season is far from over, and the Carolina Hurricanes still have a significant chance at making the playoffs. I haven’t given up on the season yet, and neither should you. I just can’t help but look at what is going wrong at the moment, and how the Canes are responding to it. So far, it hasn’t been that great. Something has to give, and soon.