After the Florida Panthers lost in the shootout last night, your Carolina Hurricanes stand alone as the final unbeaten team in the National Hockey League. That unbeaten streak will be put to the test tonight as the Hurricanes play their first matinee of the season against the Arizona Coyotes. With that, let us dive into how the Carolina Hurricanes can improve to 8-0-0 on the NHL season.
Arizona has struggled to start the season. Currently bottom of the NHL standings, the Coyotes record reads 0-7-1 and that might be a little complimentary. Their shootout loss was to the suddenly fantastic Buffalo Sabres, and they’ve been outscored 12-36 in their opening 8 games of the season. This doesn’t include the extra goal that Buffalo was awarded for the shootout.
Arizona has only beaten the netminder 12 times this season. To put that into perspective, Carolina amassed half of that in their most game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Arizona’s offense has not been up to the standards of some of the opponents Carolina has come up against already. However, that does not mean this is by any stretch a certain win.
Arizona still possesses a tremendous amount of talent, and whether it is just off to a slow start, or if it’s slacking a little bit, this Carolina Hurricanes team cannot afford to look ahead of this Coyotes roster if they want to pass on with their unbeaten record on the season. So here are the keys to staying unbeaten in the 2021-22 NHL season.