Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to Victory in Pittsburgh
The Carolina Hurricanes head to Pittsburgh today to take on the Penguins in the tail end of a matinee back-to-back. Here’s what the Canes need to do to ensure a victory today.
Today’s matinee matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins is the first in a 4-game series between the two teams for the month of March.
Both teams are on the tail end of a back-to-back; the Carolina Hurricanes downed the New York Islanders in overtime yesterday by a score of 3-2. The Pittsburgh Penguins, however, weren’t so lucky.
The Penguins got beat down by the Washington Capitals in regulation yesterday by a score of 5-2.
The implications from both games yesterday should carry over into today’s tilt as well.
The Carolina Hurricanes need to start gaining ground fast, especially against other Metropolitan Division opponents. The Pittsburgh Penguins are the perfect opponent to do that against, seeing as how the two teams meet 4 times total this month.
The Carolina Hurricanes have quite the uphill battle ahead of them, starting with today’s game. Here’s what the Canes need to do to snag yet another 2 points against a Metro team.
1. Score First
After yesterday’s game, the Carolina Hurricanes are now 19-0-1 this season when scoring the first goal.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s article, the only other team in the league to be undefeated in regulation after scoring the first goal are the Washington Capitals.
Scoring the first goal is huge for the Carolina Hurricanes, as they have found themselves chasing more than their fair share of games here lately after conceding the first goal (or several goals, in some cases) to their opponents.
If there were ever an opponent to score on first, it’d be the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins have a vast array of scoring threats in their arsenal; obviously Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but even players like Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust have been on fire offensively this season.
The Canes need to score first in today’s game, and hold the subsequent lead for as long as possible to give themselves the best possible chance of toppling another Metropolitan Division opponent.
2. Defensive Drawbacks
A huge thorn in the Carolina Hurricanes’ side this season has been shoddy defensive play, and wholly out-of-character defensive mistakes.
These have to stop. These are a huge part of the Canes’ recent inconsistency, and are literally killing any momentum they manage to muster in any given game against any given opponent.
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The biggest culprit lately has been Joel Edmundson, although the entire defensive corps on the whole has just been flat lately.
The Islanders game yesterday was the first time in a long time the Canes’ defensive units actually played as a cohesive unit. Hell, Edmundson even got a goal in yesterday’s game.
Aside from that, when the best defenseman/penalty killer on the team is a forward named Brock McGinn, we’ve got a problem.
Not to say McGinn is bad or anything; in fact, quite the opposite. McGinn has really stepped up his defensive game lately, and has been the one consistently good thing about the Canes’ defense in a relatively short amount of time. Newcomer Brady Skjei has looked great, aside from the very few (but very costly) defensive mistakes he has made.
In any case, the Carolina Hurricanes need to figure out how to stay consistently solid on defense, especially while Petr Mrazek and James Reimer are out.
3. Is It Finally Geekie Time?
So, if you haven’t heard by now, the Carolina Hurricanes recalled forward Morgan Geekie from the Charlotte Checkers yesterday, and he is expected to join the team in Pittsburgh for today’s tilt.
Canes’ reporter Michael Smith said everyone seemed fine/not injured after the Islanders game, so Geekie could just be a ‘just in case’ call-up, or even slot in as a rotation guy.
The call-up shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone; Geekie has been on fire in the AHL lately. So far this season, Geekie has scored 22 goals and 20 assists for 42 points in 55 games played, just 4 points away from last year’s total with almost 20 less games played.
If Geekie slots in tonight, expect him to be noticeable on the ice and make an impact straight away, even if that impact isn’t on the scoresheet.
We’ve all been waiting for a call-up, and now that we’ve got one, I can’t say that I’m disappointed with it in the slightest.
Hopefully nobody is too banged up, but I think it’d be great to see Geekie get some ice-time in today. Who knows, it might even finally add the depth scoring the Carolina Hurricanes so desperately need right about now.
- Puck Drop: 1:30pm EST
- Location: PPG Paints Arena
- TV: NHL.TV, Fox Sports Carolinas
- Radio: 99.9 The Fan
- Uniform: Road White
- Potential Lineups:
- Svechnikov – Aho – Teravainen
- Foegele – Trocheck – Necas
- McGinn – Staal – Williams
- Dzingel – Martinook – Niederreiter
- Edmundson – Slavin
- Fleury – Skjei
- Gardiner – van Riemsdyk
- Potential Goalie Matchup:
- Carolina Hurricanes: Alex Nedeljkovic
- Pittsburgh Penguins: Tristan Jarry
4. 109. 3. 92. Prediction