Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to Victory vs. Avalanche at Home

The Carolina Hurricanes take on the Colorado Avalanche tonight at home. Here’s what the Canes need to do to bounce back from a bad loss to Dallas earlier this week.

The Carolina Hurricanes are a rollercoaster this year.

They go from beating Toronto with their own zamboni driver, all the way to getting blown out at home 4-1 by the Dallas Stars.

Tonight’s game is going to be the most wild-card of games in that literally anything can happen.

Don Waddell rappels down from the rafters in full-turtleneck mode, straps on skates and scores a hat-trick? Sure! I’d be more prepared for that to happen than for this game to go ‘according to plan’ for either team.

The Carolina Hurricanes still remain on the outside looking in at a playoff spot, but the Colorado Avalanche are sitting pretty in the West; they’re currently 2nd in the Western Conference just behind St. Louis, and 4th in the league.

Earlier this season, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 3-1 on December 19th. The Canes can replicate this success again tonight, but it’ll take a ton of effort, both from individuals and the team as a whole. Let’s take a closer look.

1. 1st Line Edmundson?

So, this one is weird at first glance. The Carolina Hurricanes’ projected lineup has Joel Edmundson on the 1st pairing with Jaccob Slavin.

Took me a minute to figure out exactly why this is what Rod Brind’amour has chosen to do, especially considering Edmundson’s awful showing against the Dallas Stars.

Jaccob Slavin has a tendency to make everyone who plays next to him look better, and even actually play better at times.

Edmundson is being lined up on the 1st pairing to be (for lack of a better word) babysat by Jaccob Slavin.

Hopefully Slavin is successful with that tonight; Edmundson singlehandedly cost the Carolina Hurricanes the Dallas Stars game.

2. New Guys Settled In

By now, newly acquired players Vincent Trocheck and Brady Skjei have had a bit more time (albeit probably not enough time) to fit into the new system and figure out where they belong in it and how best to contribute to it.

A couple practices in a new system is nowhere near enough time for new players to fully integrate themselves into a new system, but I have a feeling we’ll be seeing much more steady games from both new guys tonight.

Skjei made a single mistake against the Dallas Stars and was absolutely flying the rest of the night. Trocheck was solid the whole game, but you could tell he was new to the system.

Tonight’s game against the Avalanche could really be a coming-out party for one or both of them.

3. Pride Night!

Tonight is Pride Night for the Carolina Hurricanes! This one isn’t necessarily a key to the game for the Canes to win, but I feel like it needs to be talked about on this platform that I am so privileged to have.

This is easily one of the most fun and inclusive nights of the hockey season for any team, let alone this one.

Our fanbase is filled with incredible people; these incredible people are all more than happy to celebrate diversity and spread love anywhere and anyway they can.

For every one of those people, though, there are a few bad apples that decide that their own personal vendetta against people who are ‘different’ than themselves is more important than amplifying and uplifting the voices of a community who still, in 2020, have their voices muffled, silenced, and taken from them on a consistent basis.

I am here to tell you that hockey is for you. No matter who you are, where you come from, who you love, or how you love. Hockey is for you today. Hockey is for you tomorrow. Hockey will be for you for years to come.

Where there are happy people, there will always be miserable people to try and drag the happy people down in whatever way they can.

Today is not about them. Today is not about the ‘reply guys’, or the rude folks on Facebook who are pitching a literal fit about having ‘degeneracy shoved down their throats’. Today is not about the closeminded numbskull hiding behind a computer screen to tell you how wrong you are. Today is about celebrating and uplifting the LGBT+ community.

Today is about you. Please do not allow those few miserable folks to ruin your feeling of inclusion. You are always welcome in my circle, and always will be welcome in the circle of true hockey fans and true Carolina Hurricanes fans. Keep on being you!