Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Embarrassing Loss to St. Louis

The Carolina Hurricanes got blown out in St. Louis by a margin of 6-3 to start the road trip. Here’s how the Canes stacked up to our keys to the game.

Why does every loss have to be a bad one?

The Carolina Hurricanes fell into their old habits last night. St. Louis, at one point in the game, had 5 goals with 15 shots on goal. What even is going on?

I can’t even begin to put my finger on it. The Canes didn’t hit a single key to the game in last night’s tilt, so this is going to be another one of ‘those’ takeaway articles.

Could it be that Rod Brind’amour and Jason Muzzatti are putting too much trust in Petr Mrazek, who should (very clearly) concede the starting job to James Reimer after last night’s performance?

Could it be that trying to push the same lineup and the same line combinations just isn’t working? Or could it just be bad luck and a string of wildly inconsistent hockey brought about by various factors, both in and out of the locus of control of the coaches and players?

Honestly, who knows at this point. I’ve tried analyzing this team’s situation from every possible angle this season. Phenomenal goaltending for one stretch, then absolutely abysmal goaltending the next? Yep. Stellar defense in one period, then absolutely no defense the next? You bet! A litany of offensive superstars in Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, etc., yet a goal/scoring drought the likes of which hasn’t been seen in a few years in Raleigh? Absolutely!

Every time I dig deeper, I just uncover more and more questions that I (nor very many other people) have the answer to. The Carolina Hurricanes are a better team than they were 2+ years ago. Why don’t they look like it? Why do they keep giving us 2015-era Canes performances?

This is hugely concerning, especially considering the Carolina Hurricanes are nowhere near the Cap floor anymore. They finally have spent money building a competent team. On paper, this team should be lethal. This team has the potential to be lethal. I’m just not sure what’s holding them back.

I’m not saying there is something wrong behind the scenes by any means. I think Rod Brind’amour is the right guy to coach this team. I can’t say I agree with his line choices, his odd proclivity to give Brock McGinn first line minutes, or his level of faith in Petr Mrazek at this point, but something has to give.

Rod has several assets at his disposal, and to see them underutilized/misused is incredibly frustrating. Even then, I don’t think that is the ‘missing piece’ of the puzzle. There are several things that need to change, that being just one of them.

To their credit, the Eastern Conference (specifically the Metropolitan Division) is incredibly close and competitive, and the Canes don’t have a significantly terrible record. The problem lies within the Canes’ tendency to give up points in the Metro/Eastern Conference when they should be trying to stockpile them.

The Carolina Hurricanes are out of a playoff spot with 29 games left in the regular season. Hope is not lost yet, but if the Canes keep playing the way they played last night, those 29 games will be our last until the 2020-21 season.