Carolina Hurricanes: Three keys to a W in the Windy city
Tonight, Carolina sees their first rematch of the season. They travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks. The last time these two teams met, the Carolina Hurricanes fell behind 1-0 and then 2-1 early before exploding to put up six goals before the halfway point of the game. Chicago would get a dead rubber goal later, but it would still end 6-3 as the Canes progressed to 7-0-0 off the back of it.
Now, Carolina is looking to go 9-0-0 in the standings. This time, the Hurricanes are rested and not on the second half of a back-to-back and we can expect the Hurricanes to come out with a little more energy than the last time these two hockey clubs contested. This doesn’t mean it should be any less entertaining.
Carolina will be looking to dominate this game in a fashion that they couldn’t seem to when they met the Arizona Coyotes. Tonight’s game provides an opportunity for the team to make amends for a poor performance in their last one and this is a team that will not need their butts kicked twice in order to get the message across. With the Carolina Hurricanes, we know they’re going to be back to their best.
We know that the team is in the Windy City, and this is the first time the Carolina Hurricanes will play in Chitown since the allegations regarding the scandal came out. This is going to be the first time that the Carolina Hurricanes will seek to destroy the organization that has disgraced itself with the allegations of sexual assault within the organization.
Now, the Carolina Hurricanes look to take two points from Chicago.
Defensive stability
Chicago is a team in the NHL with a lot of speed and skill among its forward unit. While it has been underperforming as a team, it’s not been for the lack of talent. When a team boasts 2 40 goal scorers, you know that trying to contain them is going to be very difficult and this is where Carolina’s defensive units will need to be up to the task.
With the team looking to shut down arguably the best American-born player of all time, it’s not going to be easy. On the road, against the crowd, and with the opponents having last change, this is going to be a somewhat daunting task, but it’s going to be a very big test for the rebuilt Carolina back-end. With the Canes facing one of their most dangerous opponents of the season tonight in terms of scoring.
All six defensemen (or 7 if that’s what the team opts for) are going to have to be at their best in order to hold the Chicago top six at bay. With that in mind, we know that the Carolina Hurricanes system allows them to have extra defensive stability with wingers dropping back to the circles with the center following the extra threat. It’s a good system, but they need to keep it up to beat Chicago.
With the Carolina Hurricanes looking to improve to 9-0-0 with a win in Chicago, the need for a strong defensive performance cannot be understated. We know that the Carolina team can certainly load up defensively. We know that the Carolina Hurricanes are capable of a strong defensive performance.
Freddie!
Carolina will once again turn back to their big Danish netminder. Knowing that the ever calming presence of Frederik Andersen is behind the Carolina Hurricanes team is a very helpful idea. Carolina’s blueline is incredibly chaotic at times, but the big Dane has been behind the team every step of the way so far this season.
Andersen’s numbers to start the season have been absolutely fantastic, and he’s going to go up against the reigning Vezina Trophy winner. With that in mind, Andersen is going to have to stand on his head yet again if the Carolina Hurricanes are going to keep up with a disgraced Blackhawks team.
Now that we know Andersen is proving a lot of his doubters wrong, the team is going to have a very capable netminder behind them all game long. It’s a lot to ask of the Danish goalie to bail them out if the team doesn’t show up, but if the Canes play up to their abilities on the ice, then this is going to be a very simple victory for the Carolina team.
With the Hurricanes and their ever-present talented goalie in the crease, then we know that the Hurricanes will be in this game. With the Carolina Hurricanes facing a deadly attack from the Chicago unit, it’s a strong challenge for both the team and goalie. It’s not going to be as easy a job as the previous games have been for Freddie.
Start on time
This game has an unusual starting time. With puck drop being at 8:30 PM EST, the Carolina Hurricanes won’t have very long to get into the swing of things with their gameday routine. Now, they need to find a way to win regardless of their broken routines. It’s going to be a case of starting on time and trying to put the game out of reach early.
Now that the Canes haven’t had a simple 7 PM EST puck drop with a day of rest before and after since the game against the Maple Leafs, it’s going to be a familiar situation. With the Carolina Hurricanes again being thrown through the wringer with their start time, at least they will have had time to accommodate getting used to the weird timings.
If the Carolina Hurricanes start early and on time, with goals early and often, then this game could be out of sight early. However, the Canes could also be way out of it if they do not start off on the right foot. It’s a very difficult task to build an early lead in this league, but it would mean so much more against someone like Chicago.
That is it for this one, folks! The Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks will drop the puck at 8:30 PM EST on Bally Sports South. If you cannot join Tripp Tracy and Mike Maniscalco for coverage of the game, then we will be live-tweeting the game out over at Cardiac Cane’s Twitter account. Until then, thank you for reading, and LET’S GO CANES!