Carolina Hurricanes: The March Against the Metro

Carolina have a brutal schedule coming up against Metropolitan opponents, but how does the two games they’ve started with compare to games prior?

After a very promising win yesterday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, the Carolina Hurricanes have finished three of their nine games this month against Metropolitan Division opponents sweeping a weekend back to back after a loss in Philadelphia.

What is unusual about the way they have started this month is that they’ve actually been winning. Carolina don’t have the greatest record against teams in their division this season, so what’s changed?

First of all, it’s clear people are getting to the front of the net more and creating screens and chaos in front of goalies. Morgan Geekie scored two goals from the edge of the crease yesterday in Pittsburgh in his season debut, and Justin Williams had two from the same area.

Creating the screen in front and getting pucks to the net is how you generate rebounds and high grade scoring chances which has lead to actual conversions and the team doing what we have expected them to do, score goals.

But its not enough. Something that has harmed them is the fact that they haven’t exactly been scoring for fun with the forwards. Only Vincent Trocheck, Williams, Geekie and the two Finns (Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen) have scored since the nuts 6-3 win in Toronto over two weeks ago.

Simply put that is not good enough when only 5 of 12 forwards have been finding the net.

What is promising is that the blue line is scoring. Jake Gardiner, Jaccob Slavin and Joel Edmundson have all found the back of the net in the two games against Metropolitan opponents this month. Although the offense not scoring is a major issue, when the defenders can pick up the slack like this, it is promising for when the forwards start to light the lamp again.

Goaltending has also improved drastically. Both Anton Forsberg and Alex Nedeljkovic made very good and timely saves in the games against the Penguins and Islanders. Making big saves on breakaways, and on stupid turnovers and really digging the team out of trouble on multiple occasions.

Carolina also have not been sleep walking to start the game. Against the Islanders, they scored the first goal and in Pittsburgh they played from intensity from the word go not allowing the penguins to keep the lead for long.

Scoring first against the Islanders really showed that the Canes were out and ready to play hockey from the word go, and that there was no chasing the game on Long Island.

More from Cardiac Cane

• 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase: Takeaways from the Canes’ Strong Showing in Florida
• Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
• Derek Stepan Ends His On Ice Career As A Hurricane
• The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
• Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes

There’s been no falling behind, and when they have fallen behind, they’ve been able to answer quickly, tie the game up, and then just remove the contest from the opponent, like Pittsburgh. When the first goal is scored by the opponent, Carolina have done a good job of ensuring that the game doesn’t get out of control and that they are back on level terms as soon as possible.

It’s also been promising from a lot of kids stepping up and playing very well. Guys like Haydn Fleury  and Geekie came up and sorted things out when the team needed them to. No one has been a passenger as a young guy.

Some of the veterans are in some slumps, but the kids are filling in for the time being and it’s resulted in two big wins over opponents the Carolina Hurricanes are in direct competition with for the playoffs.

It’s no secret that the Carolina Hurricanes needed to be better than they were against divisional opponents. Being 2-1 and only losing to Philadelphia who, at the time of writing this, have won 9 in a row? That’s very forgivable and a nice start to the season. Carolina travel to Detroit to play the Red Wings on Tuesday in another must in game, but this time is an Atlantic team.

If they keep winning, we may see more than 82 games again.

With 6 remaining games against the Metropolitan division, Carolina will see the Penguins three more times, New Jersey twice and the New York Islanders once more. Winning as many of these games as possible could be the difference between making the playoffs and missing. When a division is as compact as the Metropolitan, every point you can get is vital.

Question for Cardiac Cane readers: What do you think is sparking the Canes into their winning ways?