3 keys to Hockey Fights Cancer night at PNC Arena between Caps and Canes
After a six-game road trip to see the sights on the Pacific Coast of the United States, the Carolina Hurricanes return to PNC Arena where the Washington Capitals are coming to town. A quick one-off game before the team heads on the road again. We get a matinee to start for the Canes and Caps to renew their rivalries for the first time in the new COVID-19 affected world.
Carolina is coming into this game off the back of a big win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center in Pennsylvania. Washington is coming into this game off of a big win at home over the Washington Capitals on Friday, as both teams bounced back from recent defeats at the hands of the Seattle Kraken. This is a game that is absolutely mouthwatering on paper.
This is a clash between two Metropolitan Division giants as the winner will not only pull clear at the top of the division but will conclude the day top of the NHL standings as the Florida Panthers lost to the Seattle Kraken last night. The winner will be hailed as the best team in hockey, the loser will have a lot of ground to make up. This is going to be a great game and an important game.
Even in November, this could be a game that decides playoff seeding. It could be a game that determines who gets home ice if these two meet in the playoffs. It could change the course of each team’s season. This is a monumental game for the Canes, and after they lost two in a row to conclude the western road trip, they need a win at home here to continue to build their gap from the playoff line.
Stay out of the box
When I say that Carolina is the most penalized team in the NHL, does anyone doubt this? They will need to limit the number of cracks they give Washington’s man advantage. It’s only a matter of time until they get their great number eight to unleash a cannon from his office just above the dots, so the best way to counter that is to stay at 5-on-5, and keep hold of the puck.
Going to the box is understandable in situations where you deny a clear goal, you take away a clear chance. Something like that makes sense, but don’t be taking offensive zone penalties and giving Washington chances to relieve pressure and get pucks to the Carolina net. Hemming an ageing Washington Capitals team in is going to be vital to getting two points in this one.
Carolina’s penalty kill is 2nd in the league, but that isn’t an excuse to keep going to the well. Eventually, you will get burned if you keep playing with fire. This Washington team has weapons of its own, despite most of them currently being on the injured reserve, They still know how to hurt teams, and they can still run rings around you if you do not treat them as a threat.
If you can keep the Washington powerplay units on the bench and keep them away from being a threat, then you will give yourself a chance to win this game. Don’t be lazy and keep moving your feet to get back into the play and you will be fine. Giving this Washington team too many attempts to hurt you with an extra man will eventually backfire.
Former coach and captain behind the benches
In 2006, we all know how that season ended. There was a relentless upstart team in Raleigh that blasted its way into the playoffs and rode a white-hot goaltender to the Stanley Cup for the first time in the history of the franchise as they would go through the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers to capture the historic trophy.
Peter Laviolette coached that team to a Stanley Cup and Rod Brind’Amour captained that team. These two will contest as bench bosses for the first time, and Carolina’s student gets to face the man who helped him master the playoffs to capture the cup. Poetic that it would be Brind’amour in his former teachers’ role, and Laviolette with the Canes rivals to make this story come true.
Laviolette employs a unique tactic in which he has his teams set up in a 1-3-1 formation to defend the blueline, retrieve pucks that are sent in deep, and put pressure on the puck carrier in an attempt to deny a clean entry to the zone. That means, it’s going to be very difficult to break the Capitals down, and Rod will have to figure out a solution to it.
Brind’amour teaches his team a shoot-first mentality, where shots from anywhere and everywhere are encouraged. Rod also has a way of getting the best from his players, and they’re going to need their coach’s leadership to guide them through a very difficult opponent from the US Capital. No game against Washington is boring, but this one, in particular, has an electric feel to it.
Yet another Carolina Hurricanes matinee game
Carolina has to be sick to death of the early games. 3:30 with Philadelphia, 4 with Los Angeles. That’s just within the last 2 weeks. They haven’t had a normal 7 PM start since the Anaheim game, and even that was 10 PM Eastern. Now, they’re on the right side of the country, and they have another early puck drop with the division rival that has tormented them since relocation.
Carolina’s all-time record in matinees is something that you do not want to look at in front of your children as it could scar them for life with how explicit it is, but they will have a chance for a win here regardless. Carolina comes into this game 15-3-1 and sitting at the top of the NHL at the time the puck drops. If they do not win this game, they will not be there anymore.
Make sure that you turn up to the game on time, do not start late or the game could be put out of reach, as it was in the game at FLA Live Arena at the start of November. This will be a daunting task for the Hurricanes, but the best teams can run this gauntlet and survive. It’s only true that they will have to beat their divisional opponents at some point, so why not start with the last Metro team to win the cup.
When this puck drops, all 20 players need to be ready to go. The coaches need to be alert, and the goaltenders need to be set. This is a big game for something this early in the season, and a Carolina Hurricanes victory would go a long way to seeing them certain of their playoff lives, even this close to American Thanksgiving. It would be a great result for a team that has struggled with sustained success.
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