Three takeaways as Canes lose first matchup with Seattle
Carolina drops to 3-1-1 on this road trip as they fall 2-1 in Seattle as the Kraken win the first-ever matchup between the two teams. In a heartbreaking fashion, the Canes give up a late goal as the Kraken scored with less than 4 minutes remaining in the game to take a 2-1 lead that they would never relinquish. A disappointing result from a game that Carolina just straight up dominated from start to finish.
Now, this is not an excuse, but the officials from this game need to have a performance review. It was awful from the linesman and referees in this one when they miss blatant too many men infractions, call phantom calls on Carolina’s best penalty killer which leads directly to a goal against the Canes, and just missing more than even the average NHL official does.
Now, this is far from an ideal result, but the Canes need to move on now. They’re done on the Pacific coast for the year. While they still need to go out to Western Canada soon, this is the last game there for a while as the team now tracks back across the country to head to the city of brotherly love, where the Philadelphia Flyers will be waiting for the Canes to show up.
As for tonight, there’s a lot of positives to take from this game, but there’s a serious question that keeps coming up for the Carolina Hurricanes. We will address it a little later, but as for right now, we have some takeaways to get to from a disappointing result from Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington as the Canes fall 2-1 to the Seattle Kraken in their 1st ever contest.
Carolina’s forward scoring woes
I’ll give you a minute to think about this, but who was the Carolina Hurricanes’ last forward to put the puck in the net? I’ll tell you right now, no Canes forward has scored since that 2nd period in the back and forth Kings-Canes game. It’s been a long time, and while seven periods without a goal from the forwards isn’t a big deal, it remains a big question mark.
Carolina spends more than $50 million on their forward core, and they are just not putting the puck in the net. Yes, there’s more to hockey than just putting the puck in the net. Yet, the fact that none of the 13 guys have been able to do that in 140 minutes of on-ice action is a big red flag for this team moving forward. Someone needs to put the puck in the net for this forward core.
Obviously, there are going to be games where the forwards can’t get the puck to go in and they’ll be frustrated by a goalie. That happens, and that’s perfectly normal in the NHL. What’s concerning is when it becomes a common occurrence for the team. This means that they need to put the puck in when they play in Philadelphia on Friday. They need to score a handful, regardless of the result.
This team’s offensive core is one of the deepest in the league. They’ve got a forward core that can win playoff series’ and we saw that last year. It got deeper in this off-season, and they’re starting to falter. It’s going to be up to their stars to guide them through this rough patch and see them back to winning ways as soon as possible. We know the Canes are too good to struggle.
Carolina’s new-look forward lines did NOT work
Carolina played well in this game, but could not get the puck behind the Kraken’s netminder. After the overtime defeat in San Jose, the lines coming into this one were completely different and the consequences were dire. While the system the team played penned the Kraken in, Carolina’s lines could not get the puck into the cage. It did not feel like this was the Canes forward unit.
Now, the Hurricanes should not be able to use the line combinations as an excuse, as they will be mixed around at points during the season. But this always looked like a particularly weird mix for the team. There were genuine top six players on the fourth line, there were fourth-liners playing with the best players on the team, and the team’s best shooter playing with the shutdown center.
Obviously, I’m not paid to make these decisions, but there were a lot of red flags with this lineup from the getgo. Hindsight is always 20-20, but the Canes forward core was always just, wrong. It felt like players were playing way out of place, and the team never clicked like it was doing when they won 9 in a row to start the season, or even the 4 in a row from the St Louis game to the game against the Kings.
If you ask me now, are the lines changing for the game in the city of Brotherly Love on Friday, I wouldn’t have a clue what to tell you. They’re going to have to do something. If the lines are the same again, and they continue to be unable to put the puck in, there’s going to be questioned. It’s going to be an important game for the team to make sure they get on the board and score a load.
Carolina’s 7th defenseman steps up and does his part
When Carolina was told that their 7th defenseman was going to score in this game, you would have assumed that means the Canes were going to blow the Kraken away, but in fact, Brendan Smith was one of the best players from this game. He scored a beautiful slapshot goal, and he’s been really solid for the organization both on and off the ice. He’s done everything he’s been asked to do.
While Smith has been used sparingly at times during this season, he’s been solid whenever he’s been forced into service for the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s not a top-four defenseman, but he’s capable on the bottom pair, and he’s able to hold his own as he is a capable player. He’s even been tasked with killing penalties which means he’s clearly trusted in his own zone.
Smith’s obviously not going to make the top pairing, and he’s the extra when everyone is healthy and accounted for. This is not to say that he is not a good player. He’s been able to eat time on the third pairing without shipping out dramatic chances against, or even giving up too many goals. He’s been a solid bottom pairing defenseman and he’s hopefully going to be that only for the Canes moving forward.
He’s got a couple of goals during his time for the Carolina Hurricanes, and that is despite his offensive production not being his best strength. He’s certainly not been less than what the Carolina Hurricanes expected him to be. He’s been a better player than the Canes deserved to ask for when they signed him this summer at the time they were bringing in all sorts of free agents.