Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to a Metro Division Win Over Devils

After a four game western road trip, the Carolina Hurricanes are back at PNC Arena tonight. What will it take to ensure the Canes walk away with two critical Metropolitan Division points against the New Jersey Devils?

The Carolina Hurricanes return home to take on the New Jersey Devils tonight at PNC Arena. After a quick four game Western Conference road swing, where the Canes went 2-2-0, there’s a lot room for improvement.

The Hurricanes and Devils met for the first time this season back on November 2nd. In what was a very even matchup from the start, the Canes dropped a back and forth contest 5-3 at home. A Devils team, then featuring former league MVP Taylor Hall, has since went on to fall out of the playoff picture while the Hurricanes are in the thick of a tight playoff race.

Tonight’s contest is as close to a must win you can get at this point in the season. When you look at where these two teams are in the league’s standings, with the Devils among the bottom five teams, it’s safe to say the Canes SHOULD win this game. But when you look deeper, Carolina’s struggle in their own division  closes the gap between these two teams a bit.

With Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour unhappy with their play during most of the road swing, fans should expect to see a determined team from the drop of the puck. Their effort wasn’t good in enough in Dallas and needs to be rectified if they want to gain any ground in the playoff picture. With that being said,  just what will it take for Carolina to walk away with two elusive Metro Division points?

The All-Important First Goal

The Carolina Hurricanes have given up the first goal in each of their last six games. They’ve given up the first two goals in four of those six games. This is a rather alarming trend that needs to be address if they want to have success going forward.

Yes you’re not going to always score the first goal of a game, but to be playing from behind early in the first period this frequently is asking for trouble. Constantly playing from behind can be taxing both physically and mentally and we’re starting to see the impact of that.

Ever since the all star break and bye week, the Hurricanes have struggled with their starts. At times they’ve played well out of the gate but then give up a soft goal on the first shot of the game, loosing any momentum in the process.

Although they’ve been able to do a decent job at coming from behind so far this season, points are even more important now and teams tend to tighten up defensively once the they have the lead this time of year.

Should the Carolina Hurricanes get on the board first they’ll put themselves into a nice position to come away with the win and two points.

Depth Scoring

At the start of the season the Carolina Hurricanes were getting solid contributions from players up and down the line up. The offseason additions of Erik Haula and Ryan Dzingel saw an immediate impact upfront and was one of the biggest reasons the Canes got off to a great start.

As time went on these players have cooled off and bit and guys like Sebastian Aho started to heat up to keep them in the thick of things. Looking at where they are at this point in the season, they really need the depth guys to elevate their play.

Over the past fifteen games Nino Niederreiter has three points, two goals and an assist. The captain Jordan Staal has a lone goal and two assists over that same 15 game stretch. Haula four points, Dzingel five points, Lucas Wallmark three points, Brock McGinn four points, the list goes on.

If the Hurricanes are serious about making the playoffs this year someone, anyone, is going to have to step up in the bottom six. While not all of these players are expected to be point producers, it is extremely concerning that they’ve all been a black hole for offense of late. Should that depth scoring show any sign of returning tonight, the Canes will be in business.

The Defensive Zone

If the lack of depth scoring isn’t concerning enough, the Hurricanes struggles on the defensive side of the puck should be cause for alarm. Over the past six games Carolina has given up three or more goals in every single game. For a team that is supposed to have one of the best defensive cores in the entire league that’s unacceptable.

Every game of late, the entire defense has had untimely turnovers and offensive zone pinches, failed clears, costly penalties and an overall display of poor decision making. This has obviously caught the attention of the front office, causing them to be in the market for defensive help in the days leading up to the trade deadline.

Speaking of defense and the deadline, one of the names the Carolina Hurricanes have been linked to is the Devils’ Sami Vatanen. Being an UFA, and with New Jersey sellers, Vatanen is one player that will have a new home come February 24th. There’s been a lot of rumors that he is a player that Canes are interested and tonight would have provided them with a nice opportunity to get a solid read on him up close and personal. Unfortunately, however, he won’t be playing do to a right leg injury.

At the end of the day, the Hurricanes can’t afford to give up another two points to another Metro Division team. It doesn’t matter if the Devils are in the playoff race or not, they need to treat this game as a must win. Should the Canes get the lead early, have solid contributions up and down the lineup to go along with a better effort in the defensive zone, they will be the ones walking away with two critical points.