Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Tough Loss to Columbus

Shorthanded Canes Struggle to Create

Vincent Trocheck was scratched just ahead of game time with a reported lower-body concern, leaving the Hurricanes a skater short on the second leg of a back-to-back. Due to the team being just short of the cap, they only could have called up a taxi-squad player had they placed Martin Necas, Petr Mrazek, or Trocheck on long-term injured reserve, meaning they would not be able to play for 24 days.

The good news? This likely suggests that all three should be back playing for the Carolina Hurricanes at some point over the next couple weeks.

Alas, of course one of my pre-game keys was contributions from all over the lineup. I say “it’ll take 20 guys”, and the Canes dress 19. I’m cursed.

The main thing the loss of two top-six players brought to my attention was the lack of high-end creators. The Canes struggled to create any offense consistently, which can partially be accredited to the Blue Jackets team defense. They muck up lanes and play a grinding style, and the Hurricanes never consistently made tape-to-tape passes in the offensive zone or got shots through traffic. Columbus blocked 22 shots, while the Hurricanes only had 24 on net.

Necas and Trocheck have proven to be key play-drivers for the Canes this season, both showing the ability to gain clean zone entries and create offense for the team. Luckily, reports on both players seemed rather optimistic, with Trocheck being a possibility to re-enter the lineup Thursday night in Dallas.

Without them, Columbus did a fine job harassing Aho and Andrei Svechnikov all game, as aside from a couple individual efforts both were mostly kept quiet and, more importantly, off the scoresheet.

Here’s to just a little injury luck starting to go the Hurricanes’ way moving forward.